The Book of THoTH Newsletter Issue 156

[ReverendChaos]

Newsletter for the week of August 17th to August 23rd

Hello to everyone! To all of our new subscribers out there, welcome
to the book of THoTH Newsletter and to our Book of THoTH Google
group. Thanks for taking the time to subscribe and thanks for joining
our group. We're glad that you've joined our mailing list and hope
that you enjoy what we have to offer in its pages.

As of this newsletter, we've have had 32 new members to join us at BoT
since last week. To those who've joined, we say thanks for taking the
time to be a part of the greatest paranormal site on the web! Due to
this new addition of members, we now stand at 8,207 members strong. A
huge thanks to each and everyone of you for helping to make this site
what it has become! We couldn't do it without you.


This Week at BoT:
In case you haven't noticed, one of the recent changes that we've made
to the forums include a new section. This is the Daily News, Views &
Gizmos section. In this section, you find an assortment of tips,
news, and downloads to peruse through. From daily horoscopes to free
books online, there's something in this section that should please
everyone.

To take a look for yourself, go to Daily News, Views & Gizmos.
http://www.book-of-thoth.com/forum-61.html&sid=cb2bc88006dc7b82c59c46937ad6bb85


We have someone new who has won the BoT GoldStar last week. Our last
winner, Daddio, has passed the most prestigious award to Penthar.
Daddio awarded Penthar with the GoldStar by explaining that, "Courage
is also a trait that I can appreciate. It takes a special type to
disarm a subject and explain it without offending or taking offense.
I've seen it done a time or two." Congratulations and welcome back,
Penthar!

Since I'm a few days late on the newsletter this week, Penthar has
since passed the GoldStar along to another worthy individual. That
person is Lonecat. Penthar has given this award to Lonecat for his
"heroic work in keeping people up to date on the goings on" in
astronomy. Congratulations, Lonecat! It's truly deserved for keeping
us informed and intrigued.

In the BoT LabCoat contest, Juno54, one of last week's winner, has
posted a question. That question is:
Explain why some peoples hair turns green-ish in summer (other than
using hair products that make it so).

If you know the answer and want a chance at wearing the coveted and
highly stylish BoT LabCoat, then see the "BoT LabCoat Quiz Part IX" in
the Science section of the forums.
http://www.book-of-thoth.com/ftopic-21115-90.html


This Week in the Forums:
"UK UFO Conference" is mythman's thread that informs us of this year's
"Beyond Knowledge 2009" conference. Held in the UK, it will be on
September 12th and 13th. To find out more about this, be sure to see
mythman's thread in the UFO section.
http://www.book-of-thoth.com/ftopict-21510.html

For a short but interesting ghost story, take a look in the Ghost &
Spirit section to read over Crux's thread. In it, he describes
something that appears to sit down on the bed next to him. Is his
house haunted? To read more and to lend your views, see "The bed
sinks down next to me and no one's there".
http://www.book-of-thoth.com/ftopict-21514.html

In the Mysticism and Occult section, DogStar has a thread asking about
the co-existence of science and mysticism. The question is, should
they? To read DogStars view and to add your own to the discussion,
see "Science/mysticism. Should They Co-exist."
http://www.book-of-thoth.com/ftopict-21471.html

Will a pole reversal and total darkness overtake the earth in the near
future? This is what the "Mayan Council" is advising people to
prepare for. Will this signal the end of time? Or is there no need
for worry? To read more and to view a video on this topic, see
tiaka9's thread, "Mayan Council and a possible pole shift", in the
Phenomena section.
http://www.book-of-thoth.com/ftopict-21511.html

Silversurfer has provided us with an interesting article in the Edge
of Science section that tells about researchers using artificial
lightning to create a template for growing blood vessels. To read
more about this exciting find, be sure to see "Lightning Helps Create
Artificial Blood Vessels" leave a comment.
http://www.book-of-thoth.com/ftopict-21494.html


Random Site Feature of the Week:
Like keeping up with the weather? Who doesn't, even if it's just for
good conversation. If you want to keep up to date with what's going
on in the air over your place, then see our Meteorology page.
http://www.book-of-thoth.com/meteorology.html


Strange Fact of the Week:
Several years ago in Tomika, Japan, it was reported that contractor
Tadanori Tanaka discovered the activity of ghosts in his 24-unit
apartment building. Several worried residents reported curtains
moving by themselves, the sounds of children's footsteps running in
the hallways, and appliances floating to the kitchen ceilings.
Psychic Yoshiko Shimo was called, and arrived at the apartment with 15
monks. The group chanted nonstop for three days until all of the
spirits were driven out.


Trivia Question of the Week:
When was the term "UFO" first used?


Answer to Last Weeks Trivia Question:
What does Taos, New Mexico and Havana, Cuba have in common?

A strange humming sound. It's been identified as a persistent low-
frequency sound, often being described as a "distant diesel engine
idling". Scientists have no idea what is the cause of the hums, and
the ones on Taos and Havana are actually only two of several around
the world. There is also one in Hawaii that is said to be a
precursor to volcanic activity.


This Week in History:
August 23, 1305: Scottish leader and national hero, William Wallace,
was executed in London.

August 23, 1914: Japan declared war on Germany in World War I.

August 24, 79: Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the towns of Pompeii
and Herculaneum.

August 24, 1572: 70,000 French Protestants, or Huguenots, were killed
in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.

August 25, 1718: New Orleans was founded by French settlers and named
after the Duke of Orleans.

August 25, 2003: NASA launched the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope.

August 26, 1847: Liberia was proclaimed an independent republic.

August 26, 1920: The 19th Amendment giving U.S. women the right to
vote went into effect.

August 27, 1859: Edwin Drake drilled the first successful U.S. oil
well near Titusville, Pa.

August 27, 1883: A massive volcanic eruption on the island of
Krakatoa blew up most of the island and resulted in tsunamis that
killed over 36,000 people.

August 28, 1609: Henry Hudson discovered Delaware Bay.

August 28, 1922: The first commercial to be broadcast on radio aired
on station WEAF in New York City. The ten minute advertisement for the
Queensboro Realty Company cost $100.

August 29, 1533: Atahualpa, the last ruler of the Incas, was murdered
as Francisco Pizarro completed his conquest of Peru.

August 29, 1842: The Treaty of Nanking was signed, ending the Opium
Wars and ceding the island of Hong Kong to Britain.


This Week's Birthdays:
Gene Kelly (August 23, 1912) - Gene Kelly was an American dancer,
actor, singer, director, producer, and choreographer. Known for his
energetic and athletic dancing style, he dominated the Hollywood
musical film genre from the mid 1940s until his death in the late
1950s. He was named by the American Film Institute as being one of
the greatest male stars of all time.

Felix Mottl (August 24, 1856) - Mottl was an Austrian conductor and
composer. Regarded as one of the most brilliant conductors of his
day, he composed operas, several songs, and other pieces of music. He
was most noted for his conducting and producing of Wagner's music and
made a reputation for himself at the Karlsruhe Opera where he was a
conductor. He literally died while doing what he loved, as he passed
away in 1911 while conducting a performance of "Tristan" in Munich.

Sir Hans Adolf Krebs (August 25, 1900) - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs was a
German medical doctor and biochemist. He is best known for his
identification of two important metabolic cycles: the urea cycle and
the citric acid cycle. The citric acid cycle was the key sequence of
metabolic chemical reactions that produces energy in cells and later
became known as Krebs Cycle. It was for this finding that he won the
Nobel Prize in 1953.

Mother Teresa (August 26, 1910) - Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic
nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity and won the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. After the Missionaries of
Charity grew under her leadership, they expanded their ministry to
other countries, leading her to become internationally known as an
advocate for the poor and helpless. She was beatified by Pope John
Paul II after her death and was given the title Blessed Teresa of
Calcutta.

C.S. Forester (August 27, 1899) - Born Cecil Louis Troughton Smith,
Forester was an English novelist who rose to fame with his adventurous
military themed tales. He is most noted for his Horatio Hornblower
series and for "The African Queen". During World War II, he moved to
the U.S. where he wrote propaganda to encourage the country to join
the Allies.

Leo Tolstoy (August 28, 1828) - Tolstoy was a Russian novelist,
philosopher, education reformer, Christian anarchist, and pacifist.
Most famous for "War and Peace", he is widely regarded as one of the
greatest novelists of all time.

John Locke (August 29, 1632) - John Locke was an English philosopher
who is considered the first of the British empiricists. His ideas had
enormous influence on the development of epistemology and political
philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential
Enlightenment thinkers. It is said that his writings influenced
Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish thinkers, as well as the American
revolutionaries.

Two of our BoT members also have birthdays this week. Those are
theprotector whose birthday was on the 23rd and CallistoCF who
celebrates on the 27th. Happy Birthday to both of you! May you have
a wonderful day and a great year ahead.


Tech Tip of the Week:
If you've recently installed a new driver on your compute and believe
that it is causing some problems for your computer, you may want to
roll it back to the previous version of the driver. This week, we'll
tell you how to do just that.

First, open up the Device Manager. With Windows Vista, you can simply
type Device Manager into the start menu search box. If you have this
disabled or if you have Windows XP, go to your control panel in
Classic View and open up the Device Manager.

Once you have the Device Manager open, browse down and find the device
that is having problems. Right click it and click on Properties. Go
to the Driver tab, and then click on the "Roll Back Driver" button.

You'll see a prompt that tells you that rolling back your driver may
reduce the functionality or security of the device. It will also ask
you if you're sure you want to roll back to the previous one. Go
ahead and click on Yes. Once you're done, click on OK, close all of
your windows, and reboot.

If you're still having troubles, or if you have more, you can always
go back to the same spot to update the driver later. This will
install the latest version again.


Unsolved Question of the Week:
This weeks unsolved question of the weeks deals with Bigfoot and his
worldwide equivalents.

All throughout history, a number of cultures have recorded
descriptions of large, hairy, ape-like creatures that roam the forests
and woodlands and well as snowy mountains. He is known by several
names: The Yeti and the Abominal Snowman of the Himalayas, Sasquatch
in Canada, Bigfoot in most of the United States, and he's got several
names given to him by dozens of American Indian tribes who have
legends relating to him. Probably one of the oldest mentions of a
similar creature is in the epic "Beowulf" where he is known as
Grendel. Are these all the same type of creature? Or are they
different species of the same creature? Or just a fanciful story made
up by members of different cultures that all happen to feature a large
ape-man?

Where do these stories come from? Many are legends that are
impossible to trace. But many times legends have their roots in some
type of actual event, and there are quite a number of eye witness
accounts of this creature being sighted. Debatable photos and videos
have been taken of him, as well as casts of his footprints and even
hand prints. There has reportedly even been DNA tests performed on
possible blood and hair found, with the results showing it to be
something in the primate family, but belonging to neither a human or
any known ape. Yet so far, no conclusive evidence has been presented
on this elusive being's existence.

Hoaxes abound concerning Bigfoot. So much so that people are often
too quick to write off any new sighting as just another fraud. People
to this day still argue over the validity of the famous Patterson
film. Whether it is real or not, we may never know. But what we do
know is that everyone from farmers, hunters, and travelers, to members
of law enforcement have reported sightings of him. As the population
has grown and cities have sprung up throughout the land, the sightings
of Bigfoot are no longer confined to the little known tales of
American Indians, but have spread to include eyewitness reports from a
growing population, a few of which have surprisingly occurred not far
at all from large cities.

One of the popular skeptical arguments against the creature is "how
come they aren't seen more often?" In other words, where are the
official reports from the scientists and experts if there are so many
sightings? If he's keeping hid so well, he must be be smarter than
them. Well, just like with any other wild animal, it's probably safe
to assume that the creature knows how to hide himself and to avoid
contact with the population. Any sighting of him is sheer luck and a
mistake on his part. Just like with other animals. There are places
that have a small population of cougars for example, but given a
single cougar's large territorial range, the people living there can
very well go their entire lives without ever seeing one. But they are
definitely out there.

Some day Bigfoot's existence could very well be certified with enough
footprints, hair samples, and the right witnesses. But sadly, until
the creature is probably captured, we may never know what he is and
why he's here.


Quote of the Week:
"An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it."
- Jef Mallett


That concludes this week's edition of the BoT newsletter. We hope
that you've enjoyed it, found it a nice change in your inbox, and are
looking forward to receiving the next one. As always, we should have
lots more waiting in store for you.

Until next time, keep your eyes to the skies and the door to your mind
unlocked. You never know who might drop by for a visit.