felix
Bluelight Crew
still not convinced. until i see an official statement from NASA stating how 'stumped' they are, i'm not believing it.



Lethal drug meow meow will be banned by MPs in record time after an emergency meeting tomorrow.
A tough new law is likely to be brought in within days - one of the fastest ever passed and the last before the General Election.
where did his camera land? in the neighbour's garden? HAH!
OK, now i'm impressed.
Government plans to ban the dance drug mephedrone were thrown into chaos today by the resignation of a Home Office adviser, critics said.
Dr Polly Taylor quit the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs yesterday, accusing ministers of failing to take scientific advice seriously.
Her departure raises major questions over whether a ban on mephedrone, also known as M-Cat or Miaow Miaow, can be brought in before the general election.
Until she is replaced, the council is unable to offer formal advice to ministers, which they must receive before outlawing the drug.
A meeting of the ACMD this morning went into private session to discuss the resignation before opening its public meeting.
After it opened to the public, council chairman Les Iversen said the committee was "saddened and disappointed" by Dr Taylor's resignation. Her replacement will be appointed "as soon as possible", he added.
He said the council would submit its conclusions to Home Secretary Alan Johnson as planned this afternoon.
But critics accused Mr Johnson of presiding over chaos.
Liberal Democrat science spokesman Dr Evan Harris claimed the Government had "shot themselves in the foot".
Ministers had failed to learn the lessons of the row over the resignation of Professor David Nutt, former chairman of the ACMD, he said.
There would now be a "delay" while the council's empty positions were filled, he added.
He said: "The 1971 Act is very clear that, before the Government criminalises thousands of people by banning a drug, they must take advice on drug harm and other matters from a legally-constituted advisory council.
"They were warned repeatedly by me and major scientific organisations that, unless they pledged to allow their unpaid independent scientists the freedom and independence to give their advice without fear of reprisal by politicians, they would face more resignations.
"Scientists are simply not prepared to be treated like Professor David Nutt was.
"If it is necessary to act urgently to ban mephedrone then, in provoking this resignation by his refusal to respect the scientists who offer advice, the Home Secretary will now be forced to wait a delay while the council is properly constituted.
"This episode tells us what we should have learned from the BSE disaster - if we treat scientists badly, then the Government will not get the best advice and we will all suffer as a result."
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: "This is a completely chaotic situation.
"Alan Johnson has had months to sort out the problems on the council and to get it back into a position where it can do its job properly.
"If he has failed to do so, and as a result made it impossible to deal with drugs like mephedrone, then it is an enormous and unacceptable failure."
Major concerns were raised over the explosion in the use of mephedrone following a series of deaths in recent weeks.
The Home Office maintained it would act "immediately" on receiving the advice.
The ACMD was still able to fulfil its legal role, a spokesman said.
He said: "We have said we intend to act immediately on receipt of the ACMD's advice and this is still our intention.
"Based on its current formation, the ACMD is still able to fulfil its statutory role and provide advice on mephedrone today on which we can act."
Twenty-five deaths have been potentially linked to mephedrone use, Prof Iversen said.
Eighteen people in England and seven in Scotland died after taking mephedrone or similar drugs, according to figures reported by the ACMD.
Prof Iversen told the committee it was unclear until full post-mortem results and inquests whether it caused the deaths.
But he added: "I'm sure that you like us are quite alarmed by these increasing statistics of possible deaths attributed to this drug."
Home Secretary Alan Johnson is to ban mephedrone and other synthetic so-called "legal highs" within weeks.
It comes after the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommended they be classified as Class B drugs.
Class B drugs, which include cannabis and amphetamine sulphate, carry a maximum sentence of five years for possession or 14 years for supply.
There has been recent pressure to ban mephedrone, linked in media reports to at least four deaths in the UK.
Mr Johnson said he would be introducing legislation in Parliament on Tuesday and hoped to get cross-party support.
He added the importation of mephedrone and the chemical compounds associated with it have been banned with immediate effect and the UK Border Agency instructed to seize any shipments.
Mr Johnson said: "As a result of the council's swift advice, I am introducing legislation to ban not just mephedrone and other cathinones but also to enshrine in law a generic definition so that, as with synthetic cannabinoids, we can be in the forefront of dealing with this whole family of drugs.
"This will stop unscrupulous manufacturers and others peddling different but similarly harmful drugs."
The Association of Chief Police Officers lead on drugs Chief Constable Tim Hollis said the home secretary's announcement "sends out a clear message to young people that this is a dangerous and harmful drug and should not be taken".
He added: "It will also serve to suppress sales and provide police with enforcement powers that will allow us to target those dealing in this drug."
The Conservatives welcomed the move but said it would "go further" by introducing a temporary ban classification to tackle other similar "legal highs" that may come on to the market.
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: "This is clearly the right step to take regarding mephedrone but we should not be complacent."
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said the action could have come earlier had the home secretary not decided to sack the former ACMD chief adviser in a row over the effects of cannabis.
"His intervention sparked a number of resignations from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and left the government scrabbling around for independent advice," he said.
Harry Shapiro from the charity DrugScope said: "As it appears that there is a lot of mephedrone in circulation, users and dealers will probably use up their existing supplies over the coming months...
"Legislation has a role, but primarily the focus should be on prevention, education and tackling drug use as a public health issue."
Resignation letter
Mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant, is known by various names, including "m-cat", and "meow meow".
So far there is no conclusive scientific proof that mephedrone has been responsible for any deaths in the UK, and scientists are still trying to work out whether it is harmful on its own or if taken with something else.
But there have been at least 18 deaths in England where cathinones - the group of drugs into which mephedrone falls - have been implicated, an ACMD meeting on Friday revealed.
Seven provided post mortem evidence of mephedrone, and a further seven deaths in Scotland have been linked to the drugs.
There had been speculation the 11th-hour resignation of Dr Polly Taylor from the ACMD could delay a ban because of rules about its membership.
Lib Dem science spokesman Dr Evan Harris said a ban would have to wait until the council was "legally constituted" under the terms set out in the the Misuse of Drugs Act.
The law says any move to ban a drug must follow consultation with the ACMD.
But a spokesman from the Home Office said: "Based on its current formation the ACMD is still able to fulfil its statutory role and provide advice on mephedrone today on which we can act."
The interim chair of the ACMD, Professor Les Iversen, said the ACMD was "saddened and disappointed" that Dr Taylor - the council's veterinary medicine expert - had resigned.
Dr Taylor said she "did not have trust" in the way the government would treat the council's advice.
In her resignation letter, Dr Taylor told the home secretary: "I feel that there is little more we can do to describe the importance of ensuring that advice is not subjected to a desire to please ministers or the mood of the day's press."
A British great grandmother has been slapped with a fine of 1,000 pounds and ordered to wear an electronic tag for trading a goldfish to a teenaged boy.
Council officials caught pet shop owner Joan Higgins, 66, in an undercover sting. Legal proceedings - costing an estimated 20,000 pounds - against her took eight months following which she was fined and slapped with a curfew.
And now Joan is not allowed to babysit her great grandson at his mother's home or go to bingo.
Her son Mark, 47, of Sale, Greater Manchester, was asked to pay a fine of 750 pounds and ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work.
However, he has criticised the prosecution. "I think it's a farce and legal lunacy and I told the council that. What gets me so cross is that they put my mum on a tag. She's nearly 70, for goodness' sake," the Daily Star quoted Mark, as saying.
He added: "Mum has been running the shop for 28 years and this is the first time that anything like this has ever happened."
Last July the mother and son duo were caught selling goldfish to a 14-year-old boy, who was sent to the shop by Trafford council bosses.
A bill passed in 2005 makes it illegal to sell goldfish to under-16s and offenders can be sent to jail for up to a year.
At a hearing at Trafford Magistrates Joan and Mark pleaded guilty to selling the fish