Extraordinary claims. Ordinary investigations.

Funny commercial from Thailand, with many local folkloric ghosts. And a transvestite.
[via Neatorama]

The map above does not represent the most common destination for fleeing Hollywood villains. It’s in fact the South Atlantic Anomaly, a region where the Earth’s inner van Allen radiation belt makes its closest approach to the planet’s surface. The result is that, for a given altitude, the radiation intensity is higher over this region than elsewhere. Brazilians are blessed indeed.

The Anomaly in the radiation belt results from the fact that the planet’s magnetic field is not perfectly aligned with its geographic center and poles. Which means the magnetic field is slightly stronger in the North, and moves around the geographic poles, leaving the area around Brazil and the South Atlantic closer to the radiation belts.

Fortunately, the effects of it over humans on the surface of the planet are not significant. Unfortunately, it’s very relevant to orbiting satellites — the Hubble Space telescope does not take observations while passing through the South Atlantic Anomaly, for instance. Satellite failures are much more common in this stronger radiation zone.

It also affects satellites with humans inside, like the International Space Station. Light Flashes, thought to be produced by radiation directly stimulating the retina of astronauts, are reportedly more common when they are flying through the zone.

As the Anomaly is due to the Earth’s magnetic field, and since it’s always moving — including several complete reversals — it probably danced around the planet for the past billion years. It’s curious indeed that such a “special area” would even exist. And right now, it’s Brazilian.

Click above to see more undeniable physical evidence that angels do exist. The description in Portuguese reads:

“See the incredible photos taken on the night of October 10 by two different people with two different cameras …  The images speak for themselves. The next day, always at sunset, new photos were taken by Regina, as fantastic as the ones taken the day before.”

Amazing, huh? Perhaps not, and you’ll have realized these are just insects no more than a couple of feet away from the camera, slightly unfocused and reflecting the flash. Digital cameras have a greater depth of field, meaning they can capture small things very near the lens.

The effect is similar to the one seen in this image, and identical to this one, with a moth.

[hat tip to ufologist Claudeir Covo for suggesting the link]

Click the “Play” button above to listen to the full historic transmission of Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds“, on Halloween 1938. You can also read the script here.

Interestingly, the famous ensuing panic was also largely fictional. Though millions listened to the broadcast and a significant fraction of them were genuinely frightened, very few of them actually took action. Sociologist Robert Bartholomew has a nice article about the Martian panic.

But real panic would happen with later radio dramatizations of the play. In Chile, 1944, provincial military troops prepared for the invasion. And in Ecuador, 1949, the local version of the prank resulted in 15 deaths. The panicked mob, upon realizing there were no Martians, turned against fellow Earthlings at the radio station.

Think it couldn’t happen again? Think again, and read more about Alternative 3, which incidentally just hit the DVD.

[via magonia]

Matt Crowley’s work has been already suggested by Loren Coleman on Cryptomundo, and a quick summary was also published last year on CSI’s Skeptical Briefs.

But for those who haven’t read it yet, check his full length work on Bigfoot casts:

Dermal Ridges and Casting Artifacts. It’s investigative skepticism at its best.