The Solar wind today is 447 km/sec and the proton count is the highest I have ever seen at 16.3
protons per cubic centimeter. There are there sunspot clusters on the Sun with currently no threat
for solar flares. Why the high proton count then? They must be arriving from somewhere other
than the Sun. Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon are beaming through the evening twilight,
forming a bright triangle visible through city lights and even thin clouds. A CME hit Earth's
magnetic field on Feb. 26th at ~2100 UT. The impact was weak and does not appear set to cause a
strong geomagnetic storm.
Fruit and seeds hidden in an Ice Age squirrel's burrow in Siberian permafrost have been
resurrected into a flower by Russian scientists.
Using a pioneering experiment, the Sylene stenophylla has become the oldest plant ever to be regrown
and it is fertile, producing white flowers and viable seeds.
The seeds date back 30,000 to 32,000 years and raise hopes that iconic Ice Age mammals like the woolly
mammoth could also eventually be resurrected.
The researchers, who published their findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in
the US, said the results prove that permafrost serves a natural depository for ancient life forms.
"We consider it essential to continue permafrost studies in search of an ancient genetic pool, that of preexisting life, which hypothetically has long since vanished from the earth's surface," the scientists said in
the article.
Woolly mammoth tusks dug up from Siberian permafrost in 1999
Canadian researchers had earlier regenerated some significantly younger plants from seeds found in
burrows.
Svetlana Yashina of the Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy Of Sciences, who led the
regeneration effort, said the revived plant looked very similar to its modern version, which still grows in
the same area in northeastern Siberia.
The Russian research team recovered the fruit after investigating dozens of fossil burrows hidden in ice
deposits on the right bank of the lower Kolyma River in northeastern Siberia.
They were firmly cemented together and often totally filled with ice, making any water infiltration
impossible - creating a natural freezing chamber fully isolated from the surface.
The burrows were located 125ft (38m) below the present surface in layers containing bones of large
mammals, such as mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, bison, horse and deer.
"The squirrels dug the frozen ground to build their burrows, which are about the size of a soccer ball,
putting in hay first and then animal fur for a perfect storage chamber," said Stanislav Gubin, one of the
authors of the study, who spent years rummaging through the area for squirrel burrows. "It's a natural
cryobank."
"If we are lucky, we can find some frozen squirrel tissue," said Mr Gubin. "And this path could lead us all
the way to mammoth."
The myth of the eight-hour sleep
Comments (321)
By Stephanie Hegarty BBC World Service
Continue reading the main story
In today's Magazine
 Nike launches the era of Paralympic chic
 What can rap lyrics teach us about business?
 Political donations: Lessons from the past
 Could vegetarians eat a 'test tube' burger?
We often worry about lying awake in the middle of the night - but it could be good for you. A growing
body of evidence from both science and history suggests that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural.
In the early 1990s, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr conducted an experiment in which a group of people were
plunged into darkness for 14 hours every day for a month.
It took some time for their sleep to regulate but by the fourth week the subjects had settled into a very
distinct sleeping pattern. They slept first for four hours, then woke for one or two hours before falling into
a second four-hour sleep.
Though sleep scientists were impressed by the study, among the general public the idea that we must
sleep for eight consecutive hours persists.
In 2001, historian Roger Ekirch of Virginia Tech published a seminal paper, drawn from 16 years of
research, revealing a wealth of historical evidence that humans used to sleep in two distinct chunks.
His book At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, published four years later, unearths more than 500
references to a segmented sleeping pattern - in diaries, court records, medical books and literature, from
Homer's Odyssey to an anthropological account of modern tribes in Nigeria.
Roger Ekirch says this 1595 engraving by Jan
Saenredam is evidence of activity at night
Much like the experience of Wehr's subjects, these references describe a first sleep which began about
two hours after dusk, followed by waking period of one or two hours and then a second sleep.
"It's not just the number of references - it is the way they refer to it, as if it was common knowledge,"
Ekirch says.
During this waking period people were quite active. They often got up, went to the toilet or smoked
tobacco and some even visited neighbours. Most people stayed in bed, read, wrote and often prayed.
Countless prayer manuals from the late 15th Century offered special prayers for the hours in between
sleeps.
And these hours weren't entirely solitary - people often chatted to bed-fellows or had sex.
A doctor's manual from 16th Century France even advised couples that the best time to conceive was not
at the end of a long day's labour but "after the first sleep", when "they have more enjoyment" and "do it
better".
Ekirch found that references to the first and second sleep started to disappear during the late 17th Century.
This started among the urban upper classes in northern Europe and over the course of the next 200 years
filtered down to the rest of Western society.
By the 1920s the idea of a first and second sleep had receded entirely from our social consciousness.
Continue reading the main story
When segmented sleep was the norm
 "He knew this, even in the horror with which he started from his first sleep, and threw up the
window to dispel it by the presence of some object, beyond the room, which had not been, as it
were, the witness of his dream." Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1840)
 "Don Quixote followed nature, and being satisfied with his first sleep, did not solicit more. As for
Sancho, he never wanted a second, for the first lasted him from night to morning." Miguel
Cervantes, Don Quixote (1615)

"And at the wakening of your first sleepe You shall have a hott drinke made, And at the wakening
of your next sleepe Your sorrowes will have a slake." Early English ballad, Old Robin of
Portingale
 The Tiv tribe in Nigeria employ the terms "first sleep" and "second sleep" to refer to specific
periods of the night
Source: Roger Ekirch
 Roger Ekirch's website
He attributes the initial shift to improvements in street lighting, domestic lighting and a surge in coffee
houses - which were sometimes open all night. As the night became a place for legitimate activity and as
that activity increased, the length of time people could dedicate to rest dwindled.
In his new book, Evening's Empire, historian Craig Koslofsky puts forward an account of how this
happened.
"Associations with night before the 17th Century were not good," he says. The night was a place
populated by people of disrepute - criminals, prostitutes and drunks.
"Even the wealthy, who could afford candlelight, had better things to spend their money on. There was no
prestige or social value associated with staying up all night."
That changed in the wake of the Reformation and the counter-Reformation. Protestants and Catholics
became accustomed to holding secret services at night, during periods of persecution. If earlier the night
had belonged to reprobates, now respectable people became accustomed to exploiting the hours of
darkness.
This trend migrated to the social sphere too, but only for those who could afford to live by candlelight.
With the advent of street lighting, however, socialising at night began to filter down through the classes.
In 1667, Paris became the first city in the world to light its streets, using wax candles in glass lamps. It
was followed by Lille in the same year and Amsterdam two years later, where a much more efficient oilpowered lamp was developed.
London didn't join their ranks until 1684 but by the end of the century, more than 50 of Europe's major
towns and cities were lit at night.
Night became fashionable and spending hours lying in bed was considered a waste of time.
A small city like Leipzig in central Germany employed 100 men to
tend to 700 lamps
"People were becoming increasingly time-conscious and sensitive to efficiency, certainly before the 19th
Century," says Roger Ekirch. "But the industrial revolution intensified that attitude by leaps and bounds."
Strong evidence of this shifting attitude is contained in a medical journal from 1829 which urged parents
to force their children out of a pattern of first and second sleep.
"If no disease or accident there intervene, they will need no further repose than that obtained in their first
sleep, which custom will have caused to terminate by itself just at the usual hour.
"And then, if they turn upon their ear to take a second nap, they will be taught to look upon it as an
intemperance not at all redounding to their credit."
Today, most people seem to have adapted quite well to the eight-hour sleep, but Ekirch believes many
sleeping problems may have roots in the human body's natural preference for segmented sleep as well as
the ubiquity of artificial light.
This could be the root of a condition called sleep maintenance insomnia, where people wake during the
night and have trouble getting back to sleep, he suggests.
The condition first appears in literature at the end of the 19th Century, at the same time as accounts of
segmented sleep disappear.
"For most of evolution we slept a certain way," says sleep psychologist Gregg Jacobs. "Waking up during
the night is part of normal human physiology."
The idea that we must sleep in a consolidated block could be damaging, he says, if it makes people who
wake up at night anxious, as this anxiety can itself prohibit sleeps and is likely to seep into waking life
too.
Continue reading the main story
Stages of sleep
Every 60-100 minutes we go through a cycle of four stages of sleep
 Stage 1 is a drowsy, relaxed state between being awake and sleeping - breathing slows, muscles
relax, heart rate drops
 Stage 2 is slightly deeper sleep - you may feel awake and this means that, on many nights, you
may be asleep and not know it
 Stage 3 and Stage 4, or Deep Sleep - it is very hard to wake up from Deep Sleep because this is
when there is the lowest amount of activity in your body
 After Deep Sleep, we go back to Stage 2 for a few minutes, and then enter Dream Sleep - also
called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep - which, as its name suggests, is when you dream
In a full sleep cycle, a person goes through all the stages of sleep from one to four, then back down
through stages three and two, before entering dream sleep
Source: Gregg Jacobs
 Gregg Jacobs' site - CBT for Insomnia
Russell Foster, a professor of circadian [body clock] neuroscience at Oxford, shares this point of view.
"Many people wake up at night and panic," he says. "I tell them that what they are experiencing is a
throwback to the bi-modal sleep pattern."
But the majority of doctors still fail to acknowledge that a consolidated eight-hour sleep may be
unnatural.
"Over 30% of the medical problems that doctors are faced with stem directly or indirectly from sleep. But
sleep has been ignored in medical training and there are very few centres where sleep is studied," he says.
Jacobs suggests that the waking period between sleeps, when people were forced into periods of rest and
relaxation, could have played an important part in the human capacity to regulate stress naturally.
In many historic accounts, Ekirch found that people used the time to meditate on their dreams.
"Today we spend less time doing those things," says Dr Jacobs. "It's not a coincidence that, in modern
life, the number of people who report anxiety, stress, depression, alcoholism and drug abuse has gone up."
So the next time you wake up in the middle of the night, think of your pre-industrial ancestors and relax.
Lying awake could be good for you
Earth's Clouds Are Getting Lower, NASA Satellite Finds
ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2012) — Earth's clouds got a little lower -- about one percent on average -- during
the first decade of this century, finds a new NASA-funded university study based on NASA satellite data.
The results have potential implications for future global climate.
See Also:
Earth & Climate
Climate
Global Warming
Environmental Issues
Geography
Earth Science
Severe Weather
Reference
Consensus of scientists regarding global warming
Instrumental temperature record
Temperature record
Greenland ice sheet
Scientists at the University of Auckland in New Zealand analyzed the first 10 years of global cloud-top
height measurements (from March 2000 to February 2010) from the Multi-angle Imaging
SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. The study, published recently in the
journal Geophysical Research Letters, revealed an overall trend of decreasing cloud height. Global
average cloud height declined by around one percent over the decade, or by around 100 to 130 feet (30 to
40 meters). Most of the reduction was due to fewer clouds occurring at very high altitudes.
Lead researcher Roger Davies said that while the record is too short to be definitive, it provides a hint that
something quite important might be going on. Longer-term monitoring will be required to determine the
significance of the observation for global temperatures.
A consistent reduction in cloud height would allow Earth to cool to space more efficiently, reducing the
surface temperature of the planet and potentially slowing the effects of global warming. This may
represent a "negative feedback" mechanism -- a change caused by global warming that works to
counteract it. "We don't know exactly what causes the cloud heights to lower," says Davies. "But it must
be due to a change in the circulation patterns that give rise to cloud formation at high altitude."
NASA's Terra spacecraft is scheduled to continue gathering data through the remainder of this decade.
Scientists will continue to monitor the MISR data closely to see if this trend continues.
For more information, visit:
http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/news/template/news_item.jsp?cid=466683 .
MISR, built and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is one of five
instruments on NASA's Terra spacecraft, launched in December 1999. The instrument uses nine cameras
at different angles to produce a stereo image of clouds around the globe, allowing measurement of their
altitude and movement. For more on MISR, visit: http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/ . For more on Terra,
visit: http://terra.nasa.gov/ .
Another NASA mission that studies clouds is NASA's CloudSat, also built by JPL and launched in 2006.
CloudSat is the first satellite that uses an advanced radar to "slice" through clouds to see their vertical
structure, providing a completely new observational capability from space. CloudSat's primary goal is to
furnish data needed to evaluate and improve the way clouds are represented in global models, thereby
contributing to better predictions of clouds and thus to their poorly understood role in climate change and
the cloud-climate feedback.
Mona Leigh - BIO
Mona Leigh is a musician, producer, vocalist, songwriter, author, photographer and
videographer, actor, artist and poet.
Company is Unified Concepts Media.
Mona is also is an award winning paralegal who worked for one of the premiere Law
firms in the world, Fenwick and West in the SF Bay Area. Mona graduated at the top of
her class and was Graduate of the Year in Paralegal at College America in 1995 (4.0
GPA) and received awards from The California State Bar Association, the Santa Clara
County Bar Association and The Support Network For Battered Women for Pro Bono
legal services provided to those in need.
Mona is also a trained radiologist and has worked in the medical field assessing
information, trends in diagnoses and how that information relates to the world wide
‘illness’ that we all seem to be living with as the norm.
Had a NDE in December of 2009:
DRUIDRY: Mona is an ovate in the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids; member since
1994 and studies current druid philosophical activities and druids in history. Has spent
time exploring the forests of Washington State with the Order’s Chosen Chief, Philip
Carr-Gomm over Samhain 1997. (story of the grove vs the desires of the people to
invade this grove and stand around on living, thriving flora and fauna).
AUTHOR: Mona has authored two books related to quantum ‘activism’ including
working with the energy of various ‘semi precious’ stones and gems in healing and
manifesting reality. All comes down to focus. EVERYTHING comes down to focus
when talking about quantum ‘creativity’.
MUSIC: Over a lifetime of performance she has appeared and/or performed with such
greats as the legendary John Lee Hooker, Grammy winner Arkansas Larry Davis
(Texas Flood), Dr. John, Elvin Bishop, Buddy Miles (Jimi Hendrix Band Of Gypsies),
Tim Bogert (Vanilla Fudge, Beck, Bogert and Appice) to name only a few...Mona started
playing music at age 2 and a half years when her folks bought her a small piano for
Christmas and she ‘sat down and started playing songs, including twinkle twinkle little
star’…though she had never played music before.
VIDEOGRAPHY: Mona is a member of the ECETI family and filmed several of James
Gilliland’s World Transformation conferences.
Phenomenal Photography: Mona has quite a knack for ‘picking up’ unusual
phenomena in photography including the now famous “Mary” photo of the veil of light
that James uses on the cover of his book “Becoming Gods”.
[Brooks; I’ll be sending you a few of those photos]
ACTING: Mona worked in the late Brittany Murphy’s last film, "Something Wicked 2010"
in Eugene, OR. Mona can currently be seen in the several independent movies: Find
out more about Mona Leigh acting at the Internet Movie Database
PRODUCER: Besides her albums and singles (which are available on CDBaby.com,
Amazon, ITunes and her website at MonaLeigh.tv she also read, recorded and
mastered “Whispering Whale” by author Ed Zivica into audio book form. This is a
fascinating post apocalyptic novel that demonstrates just how quickly our world could
descend into the stone age once again.
RESEARCH: Currently working with physicists and engineers on a revolutionary
method of cleaning and restoring nuclear pollution sites in the US and Japan.
TALKING POINTS:
ECETI: Both of us have had life altering experiences at the Ranch; we could discuss yours and
mine and how ‘things’ have changed for us since then.
SIX FINGERS AND MENTAL TELEPATHY: I really enjoyed your story of the memory
of a previous home in a different ‘galaxy’. My first memory as a child is that of watching
my folks ‘argue’ while I was sitting in my high chair and thinking: Why are these people
using their mouths to communicate…where I come from we just ‘think’ what we want to
communicate.
WORLD INTENTION DAY VIDEO: This is the result of decades of research into ‘reality’
and quantum ‘activism’, seeking ways to ‘outweigh’ the ‘fear factor’ that as humans we
are physically addicted to, and how we can shift consciousness and creativity to reflect
the realization of oneness, love and joy, thereby creating harmony and a new paradigm.
Fear is an addiction to our society, whether we believe it or understand how it works,
the chemicals released into the body with the ‘fight or flight’ response do become
addicting to us and keep us locked into self defeating patterns.
The video is an exercise in putting my love of music, writing, photography and
videography together with my ‘spiritual’ and philosophical conclusions and beliefs to
focus on shifting consciousness in such a way as to meet the critical mass of ‘how many
light-workers does it take to change a paradigm?
THE VIDEO has inspired me to work toward making the 22nd of every month “World
Intention Day” and I’m putting together a website at www.WorldPeace22.com, currently
under construction.
WHY IT ISN’T WORKING: Ever wondered why after a huge section of the populace has
been devouring programs such as “What The Bleep Do We Know” and “The Secret”
that it seems that things not only don’t improve, they get worse?
What if we created our reality with our imagination, with mind pictures of our ideas and
thoughts? What if some one (or some entity) knew this and knew that negative, fearful
energy brings about the most banal of creations, and that happy, joyful energy brings
about happiness and joy...would they do something like putting out 'false news reports'
knowing that if they plant the right 'pictures and images' into your psyche, (en
masse)along with the 'fear, panic, danger' undercurrent running subliminally and
consciously in the background of our lives...well, we could all be "directed" by this
person/entity to create the world that THEY want via manipulation of the masses. Post
a false news report that many will find traumatic, painful and frightening and 'voila',
before it can be retracted or shown to be false, a fairly large group of people just
'envisioned' all of the images that go with the 'traumatic news', while at the same time
investing this news with a good deal of fearful energy. What we have is a non stop
barrage of ‘negative, fearful’ news; we get much of this upon first waking up every day,
with our local and national ‘news’ programs.
This is how ‘we’ are being manipulated to create chaos by the ‘powers that be’, the
powers that control everything we see, read, watch, eat, etc.
THE BIGGEST SECRET: We don’t create things by repeating affirmations such as “I’m
rich, I’m healthy, I’m whatever…” but with the images we create in our minds; this is
where John Lennon had it so right: Imagine…
DUELING REALITIES: Both MSM and most of the alternative media push the same
drug…fear…(war, murder, mayhem, false flags, lying politicians, financial collapse, so
even though people like David Icke, Alex Jones and so many others appear to be trying
to ‘fix’ things…the message is still the same: “The World is not safe and neither are
YOU”…listen to me…I have the answer. If the answer actually came to fruition all of
these people would be out of work. This is why they search but never ‘find’…meanwhile
we have the ‘illuminati’
BROOKS AND MONA: Similarities:
Both have Scottish ancestry who did pretty amazing things and the Clan McCrea
(McCray) were gifted the Castle “Eileen Donan” for saving the king from his own
bodyguards; the McCreas were the bodyguards to the bodyguards of the King and
foiled some assassination plot against the King resulting in the ‘gift’ of the castle.
My heritage has also been traced back to Guinebond Belleau, a famous Norman
Chieftan who was Field Marshall for William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings and
members of that ‘line’ held the property of the family of Anne Boleyn for some time.
Most of my American ancestors got here in the very early 1600’s and I’m related to two
signers of the Declaration Of Independence; another ancestor is Commodor Whipple (of
the Gaspee affair). Also descended from most of the Whipples of America; including
Mr. Whipple (toilet paper salesman) and Simon Whipple Aldrich, who’s tombstone reads
(Vampire).
Also related to Fred Whipple (Observatory).