Once I considered that , it was easy to generate a scenario that would make SOME sense in an occam's razor manner. I finally got around to snope-ing, er, snooping on the web and found a few interesting speculative leads. One is noted below. Look around the site and see if their speculation on the generation of orbs and other "ufo's" seems remotely plausible.
I am a self admitted mystic crank ( with a soft heart), but obviously there often is a rational explanation for numerous "supernatural phenomenon" I once or still believe in. I can be anti woo also, when anti woo is what is called for or needed! I once considered the idea that these fantastic and intriguing acts of vandalism were inspired by some unknown force of human unconsciousness or a trans-dimensional agent or Agent, or something along those lines. As it looks to me now, I doubt it very much.
I am posting this in the spirit of esoteric parapolitical and parascientific threads that have come up here lately in the way of chemtrails, orgone, morgellons and the like (please pardon if this particular subject is old hat around here). Also, because I am curious if other RI'ers have developed similar notions about such phenomenon as the cropcircles, or have any other plausible scenarios regarding where they come from. What they may mean can be better understood if we have a better idea of who authored them.
Disclaimer: In all likelihood, this site has some glaring faults. please point them out if that is your inclination, but I am askin' y'all to consider the overall premise and support or critique it accordingly, not in regards to this PARTICULAR article.
http://www.ovnis.atfreeweb.com/5_crop_circles.htm
It is likely that these geometric designs are due to the firing of an aerial military microwave cannon, piloted by computer. The arguments supporting this view are as follows:
Why Microwaves:
Research by Dr Levengood (of BLT Research Team), an American biophysicist, corroborated by the analyses of Ken Larsen, a British biologist, has shown that the way in which the stalks (wheat, rapeseed…) are flattened without being broken or damaged [p. 25…] is typical of a UHF microwave effect. Thus one can see stalks of rapeseed curving at 90 degrees, the flowers of which are still intact, although those same rapeseed stalks break easily when one attempts to bend them over by hand [p. 151]. The new position taken up by the plant becomes fixed. It continues to grow horizontally [p. 3 and 158] and breaks if one tries to return it to the upright position [p. 140].
Phenomena of electromagnetic origin have been observed at the locations: irregular compass behaviour [p. 172], disturbance of electrical apparatus [p. 44, 60 and 172-173], disturbance of radio frequencies, luminous flashes [p. 34, 52, 65 and 95], cracking sounds [p. 52, 63, 66 and 172-173], animals obviously unwell [p. 65 and 81], dowsing effects [p. 177-178], etc. Numerous positive effects (spontaneous cures, feelings of peace…) or negative effects (temporary paralysis, mental confusion, loss of memory, terror…) have also been observed in humans [LP98]. Let us remember that certain effects could also be explained by a reaction of fertilisers or pesticides subjected to microwave radiation, a reaction which could release toxic gases [LP98, who mentions organic phosphates]. The appearances of luminous flashes and the cracking sounds are not inevitably objective phenomena and they could be only feelings induced in the brain of the witness by an electromagnetic field. Albert Budden gives an example of such magnetophosphenes: "If the brain of the subject is exposed to an [alternating] magnetic field whose frequency varies from 10 to 100 Hz and whose power varies from 200 to 1,000 G, the subject will see flashes of light [...] in the top left corner of his visual field." [AB98 p. 59-60, citing research by L. Ruttan, M. Persinger and S. Koren].
The investigator Busty Taylor showed that samples of plants or ground taken in a crop circle could be attracted by a simple magnet [AB98 p. 50-51]. That could be explained by the fact that the ferromagnetic particles present in the dust of the atmosphere were bound with the site of the circle, after or during its creation. Some of these particles have been scrutinised under microscope. They seemed to have melted when touching the soil or the plants to create a fine cracked glaze.
A bird was found within one particular formation and its body appeared literally to have exploded, as if it had been cooked alive in a microwave oven. In other formations some dried out hedgehogs were discovered [LP98]. Also wheat grains are dehydrated and crunchy. They are less conductive according to work by Dr Levengood.
Microwave laser technology appeared during the 50s and has been improving in keeping with the increasing complexity of the crop circles. Is it a mere coincidence?
More than 50% of the circles observed in England have appeared during cloudy or rainy weather: the cloud cover would allow the origin of the microwave firing to be hidden. Microwaves are able to pass through clouds and act through falling rain, and they are perhaps less damaging to plants when it is raining.
Certain patterns suggest the use of a rotating beam with variable diameter according to the circles in question [PDCA89 p. 156], which might correspond to either the natural or deliberate dispersion of a maser beam, fired from a high altitude. The diameter is estimated to be less than 30 centimetres at a distance of 20 kilometres.
Why by Computer:
The geometric designs observed today are typical of those one can see on computers: 3D designs, fractal designs… Certain patterns are, mathematically speaking, pretty complex (fig. 5-b).
Fig. 5-b: a few of the pictograms observed in England
The designs are drawn very rapidly, by day and by night, sometimes in front of witnesses who report seeing the ears of wheat flattening out in front of them in a few dozens of seconds. Three accounts of this type have been recorded up to the present day, coming from known and trustworthy witnesses [LP98]. Numerous other accounts have come from unfortunately less trustworthy persons.
Why an Aerial Shooting:
There are no traces of access to the sites even when the field is not lined by tractor tracks because the crop is not sprayed, or when the ground is muddy [PDCA89 p. 68, 107, 113 and 155]. We must remember that a field of mature rapeseed cannot be crossed on foot because the plants (as high as 1,50 metres) are tightly interwoven.
There are sometimes broken or burned tree branches directly above the circles [p. 174 and 184].
Why by the Military:
HPM (High Power Microwave) technology is used by the military today for destroying enemy electronic equipment.
President Reagan’s "Star Wars" (SDI) proposed the setting up of various antimissile laser devices. Let us mention only the GBL (Ground-Based Laser), a ground cannon aimed at a reflecting satellite which sends the light beam to a combat satellite mirror, and the SBL (Space-Based Laser) which aims directly at the target. Even if the global project has been abandoned, some of its devices may have been completed on a small scale. The firing can also be carried out from a plane (airborne laser) or a dirigible balloon positioned at a height of 20 kilometres and stabilised for example by ionic propulsion engines. As the reader will appreciate, the necessary technical means appear to be accessible only to the military.
In 1991, a design appeared in front of the country residence of the British Prime Minister John Major, pointing towards the house. Obviously this dwelling was under strict surveillance because of a fear of IRA terrorist acts. What other organisation apart from the secret services would be behind such a design? Numerous crop circles have also been observed in fenced military areas under surveillance.
The military wish to maintain the belief in extraterrestrials and are carrying out psychological warfare tests. They have the means for decoying the observers with fake saucers so that the circles will be attributed to extraterrestrials.
The military secret services are not held back by the risk of killing. Unfortunately the "circles" have already produced one victim: on the 22nd October 1987, as his jet was passing above a crop circle, the pilot ejected and then detached himself from his parachute before hitting the ground [cf PDCA89 p. 104]. Some aerial photographers report that the designs have a noticeable influence on them and on the aircraft controls when it is flying above them.
The British military is co-operating extensively with the American military and may have agreed to the use of "its" land.
The authentic formations have, of course, lead to numerous imitations which were at first rare and clumsy but nowadays are more common and sometimes impressive if the hoaxers have worked as a team for long hours. Competitions have been organised but no hoax has been able to withstand close scrutiny.
In order to distinguish an authentic pattern from a hoax, investigators concentrate mainly on the bending of the plant's stalk at its base, the plant having always to remain unbroken, something which imitators find impossible to achieve as they tread down their design in all directions during its making. Freddy Silva sometimes uses infrared photography on which one must see appear traces of disturbances in the spread of water within the soil if the design has really been created by heat-inducing rays. Debbie Benstead and other researchers often clearly identify a metallic taste in their mouths when they walk within an authentic formation [LP98] which could be due to a residual electromagnetic field interfering with tooth filling inside their mouth.
In 1991, according to research by George Wingfield, the CIA and the British Ministry of Defence secretly persuaded two retired gentlemen, David Chorley and Douglas Bower, to declare that they were the authors of the crop circles that had been observed to date, without providing evidence to support their statement. When this explanation became clearly insufficient, some agricultural students then made their appearance claiming they were making the circles. Now that it is almost admitted that microwaves are involved, are we to see appear in the media a group of scientist hoaxers who make designs in the fields from their telecommunications satellite?
random afterthought cum temp sig line: para-political/par-apolitical?
