Eerie outpost unnerves US Marines with strange lights and whispers in the night

The Marines found the bone as they scraped a shallow trench. Long, dry and unmistakably once part of a human leg, it was followed by others. They reburied most of them but also found bodies. Three of the graves were close together; in another was a skeleton still wearing a pair of glasses. The Marines covered the grave and told their successors to stay away from it.

Observation Point Rock sits a few hundred metres south east of Patrol Base Hassan Abad, where a company from 2/8 Marines has been stationed for the past seven months. It is a lonely and exposed outpost 20 metres (65ft) above the surrounding landscape, which has been in Nato hands since it was captured from the Taleban in 2008.

Groups of Marines are posted to guard it, usually for a couple of months at a time, and “the Rock” has acquired a peculiar reputation. American troops widely refer to it as “the haunted Observation Point”.

It is hard to say how much the 100F (38C) heat, round-the-clock guard shifts and months spent living in trenches and peering out of sandbagged firing points have gilded the legend of OP Rock. The only break from the tedium, apart from dog-eared magazines and an improvised gym, has been small-arms or rocket-propelled grenade attacks from the Taleban, usually on a Sunday morning.

But as Sergeant Josh Brown, 22, briefed his successor when a detachment of men from Golf Company was swapped for an incoming contingent from Fox Company, he warned of the strange atmosphere and inexplicable phenomena that plagued OP Rock. “The local people say this is a cursed place,” he said. “You will definitely see weird-ass lights up here at night.”

Others in the outgoing unit had reported odd sounds. “It is weird what you hear and don’t hear around here,” he added.

Each successive detachment that guards the Rock appears to add its own layer to the legend, which has spread through the Marine units pushing into southern Helmand.

There is talk of members of the Taleban entombed in caves below; the bodies buried on the summit are identified confidently as dead Russian soldiers from the ill-fated Soviet invasion.

Corporal Jacob Lima’s story is the latest addition. One night he was woken by the sound of screaming. It was Corporal Zolik, a Marine who has since been moved to a unit farther south. “He was yelling and begging me to go up to the firing point he was guarding,” Corporal Lima, 22, told the men taking over from him. “When I got there he said that he was sitting there when he heard a voice whisper something in his ear. He said it sounded like Russian. He begged me to stay in there with him till he was relieved from guard duty. After that he really didn’t like standing post up there.”

The Marines’ predecessors, a unit of Welsh Guards, also produced tales of the unexpected. “The Brits claimed to see weird things, hear noises,” Corporal Lima said. “Lots of them said it’s creepy at night, especially from midnight till 4am. You see a lot of unexplained lights through night-vision goggles.”

Its elevation has clearly made the Rock a natural defensive position for centuries. It is not a rock, though it resembles one. Medieval arrow slits and the remains of fortified turrets on its eastern flank show that this was once a large mud fort that collapsed in on itself and was probably built upon in turn. The locals say that it dates back to Alexander the Great, and another similar structure is visible in the distance to the south, part of a supposed line of such forts built at some point in Afghanistan’s history of invasion and war.

When US Marines seized the post last summer they dropped a 2,000lb (900kg) bomb on one side, collapsing part of the structure on to what its current occupants claim was a cave where Taleban fighters were sheltering.

“This place really sucks,” said Lance Corporal Austin Hoyt, 20, putting his pack on to return to the main base. “The Afghans say it’s haunted. Stick a shovel in anywhere and you’ll find bones and bits of pottery. This place should be in National Geographic — in the front there are weird-looking windows for shooting arrows. You know, they say the Russians up here were executed by the Mujahidin.”

He looked meaningfully at his successors and prepared to leave.

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Panda Security Publishes Virus Yearbook 2009

PandaLabs, the anti-malware laboratory of Panda Security, has published its 2009 Virus Yearbook, examining the most intriguing malicious codes to emerge over the last 12 months.

Rather than spotlighting the most widespread viruses, or those that have caused the most infections, PandaLabs has selected those which stood out most for their use of social engineering or visible effects on users' PCs. For this reason, some of the more well-known malicious codes (such as the Koobface virus) are absent from the list.

Here are the viruses PandaLabs believes deserve a mention:

* Biggest headache. Conficker.C (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/204292/Conficker.C) was without a doubt the most obnoxious virus this year. It first appeared on December 31, 2008, and has spent the last year infecting companies and home users alike. The insidious and tenacious nature of this malicious code has earned it first place in Panda's ranking.
* Harry Potter of viruses. Although there is no reference to the world's most popular fictional wizard, the on-screen messages Samal.A (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/204412/Samal.A) displays are all about magic. When it infects a computer, users will see the message "Ah ah you didn't say the magic word" (see photo on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/4221345649/), and the cursor then flickers, waiting for users to enter a word. The truth is it doesn't matter what is entered, because after three attempts, the phrase "Samael has come. This the end" (see photo on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/4222107778/), will be displayed and the computer is restarted.
* V for Vendetta. While it's still unclear who exactly the real target of this worm is, DirDel.A (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/205263/DirDel.A) wreaks vengeance on infected users, progressively replacing folders in different directories with copies of itself. The worm is carried in a file called Vendetta.exe with a typical Windows folder icon (see photo on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/4222107854/).
* Plain nuisance. The Sinowal.VZR (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/205521/Sinowal.VZR) Trojan has infected thousands of computers under the guise of plane tickets supposedly purchased by the user (see photo on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/4221345717/).
* All-action virus. Once infected with Whizz.A (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/206552/Whizz.A), computers will start emitting a series of beeps, the mouse pointer moves uncontrollably around the screen, and the CD/DVD tray opens and closes, while the screen is 'decorated' with a row of bars (see photo on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/4222107900/).
* Snooper. Waledac.AX (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/208608/Waledac.AX) ensnares its victims by claiming to offer a free application for reading SMS messages on anyone's cell phone. Waledac.AX is seemingly ideal for people who want to check up on their partners, explaining why so many users fell victim to this intelligent virus.
* Most affectionate. BckPatcher.C (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/209172/BckPatcher.C) tops this category, as it changes the desktop wallpaper to an image reading "virus kiss 2009" (see photo on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/4221350771/). What a charmer!
* Touch of the sniffles. PandaLabs couldn't fail to mention a couple of the viruses, WinVNC.A and Sinowal.WRN, (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/213107/WinVNC.A and http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/215722/Sinowal.WRN) that used the widespread alarm surrounding swine flu to trick users and infect their systems.
* Incompetent newcomer. The Ransom.K Trojan (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/214317/Ransom.K) encrypts documents on infected computers, and then asks for a $100 ransom to release them. However its creator, probably lacking in experience, included a programming error which allows users to release the files with a simple key combination.
* Most deceitful. This year, the winner in this category is FakeWindows.A (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/215885/FakeWindows.A), which infects users by passing itself off as a license activation process for Windows XP.
* Party animal. Banbra.GMH (http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/216004/Banbra.GMH) arrives in an email promising photos of Brazilian parties (with dancing girls included). Who could resist?

More information about these and other threats is available at www.pandasecurity.com.

About PandaLabs

Since 1990, its mission has been to detect and eliminate new threats as rapidly as possible to offer clients maximum security. To do so, PandaLabs has an innovative automated system that analyzes and classifies thousands of new samples a day and returns automatic verdicts (malware or goodware). This system is the basis of collective intelligence, Panda Security's new security model which can even detect malware that has evaded other security solutions.

Currently, 99.4 percent of malware detected by PandaLabs is analyzed through this system of collective intelligence. This is complemented through the work of several teams, each specialized in a specific type of malware (viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, phishing, spam, etc), who work 24/7 to provide global coverage. This results in more secure, simpler and resource-friendly solutions for clients.

More information is available in the PandaLabs blog: http://www.pandalabs.com

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New Boots!

My unexpected flurry of wood sales this weekend was greatly appreciated. I've been trying to save up enough money for a new Stihl, and that helped me get a little closer. But first I thought I'd treat myself to a new pair of boots. I've been surviving with the cheap $20 Pamida boots as necessary, but they are not very warm and don't last long. Most years by the time Spring rolls around my socks are sticking out and getting caught on the brush while cutting wood!

Years ago I bought a pair of insulated rubber boots from Farm and Fleet (I wear uninsulated rubber boots while milking the cows and doing chores). They were pretty warm and lasted fairly long. I have big feet, so even when I get the right size they go on hard and pull off hard, because they are all rubber and no laces. When I bought them before, they were $35 and the last time I looked at them they were $50. But still, since it was a treat for me, I was willing to spend the $50 on them.

When I got to the farm store, I was very disappointed. The boots I wanted were now $80 and there was no way I was going to spend that much money on a pair of rubber boots. All the other boots they had were the same as the crappy Pamida boots I have been buying. So I left, without buying them.

On the way out of town, I was passing Gander Mountain when Ashley said that I should stop there and see what they have. What the heck, so I did. Well, they had a lot of boots there, real boots like Sorels and LaCrosse! It has been a very long time since I had a real pair of boots. They were way too much money though, and I was just about to give up, when I noticed some LaCrosse boots stacked on a pallet for $80. And luck was with me, they had my size!

So, for the same $80 that the farm store wanted for rubber boots, I came home with a pair of real boots! It's been a long time.


And no better way to try out my very own pair of real boots than to go cut some wood. It was a bit nipley, but my feet were warm! This is a pile of tops, leftover from the tornado in 2004 and the logging that followed. Some really good wood in there yet.


All cut up with the last one of my $50 Stihls. That old 026 is getting pretty tired, but I'm slowly getting closer to buying a new one.


After selling a bunch of firewood this weekend, and refilling my monthly supply on the porch, I've got room in my stacks up at the house. I hauled this up and didn't have to add it to my stacks in the woods.


Uh oh! I lost my stupid gas can!


The deer have really been munching on the turnips!


When the deer aren't using their own paths,...


...they use my ATV tire tracks. It's easier for them to get around in the tire tracks than walking through the deeper snow. Plus they help me by keeping the trails packed.


And a shot of Old Smokey chugging away at -10°F below zero (-24°C/250°K).


- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill

Big changes have satellite subscribers speaking out

Satellite subscribers aren't happy with changes to their local news stations. A bill passed by congress requires Nielsen Media Research to define all T.V. markets by County.

They say change is good, but this is a big change for anyone with Direct-TV or the Dish Network and customers aren't happy about it.

Satellite subscribers in Adams County are flipping out over changes to their local channels.

Sally Kopke says, "People are not happy. People are just not happy."

Sally Kopke lives 60 miles outside of Madison in Southern Adams County. For years she's watched Madison's local news. But within the year DISH Network changed that and now she can only get the Wausau/Rhinelander local news.

Kopke says, "I said no no no this doesn't make any sense. I argued and argued and talked to everybody in the world at Dish Network and said this is ridiculous and they said this is the way it has to be."

Earlier this month Direct TV did the same thing forcing all satellite subscribers in Adams County to make the switch to Wausau news. She even tried putting an antenna on top her house, but it doesn't pick up Madison's signal.

Kopke says, "That's what you get for living outside of a market, so what can I say."

Kopke lives a mile off of highway 13 in a rural home in Adams County. Out here satellite is the only option.

"The quality is fine if I was interested in what happens 140 miles away from me."

She says it just doesn't make any sense. For example, Juneau and Adams County are right next to each other, yet, residents in Northern Juneau County still get Madison's news.

For Kopke it's pure frustration considering she's just 5 miles from the Columbia County border and Madison's T.V. market.

Kopke says, "Just the frustration. The total frustration of not being able to get any kind of satisfaction or clarity of the issue or why does it have to be this way when it is so inconvenient."

Adams County residents aren't alone in these changes. For example if you live in Whittenberg five miles outside of Marathon County satellite subscribers now get Green Bay news because they're in Shawano County.

Same thing, if you live in Colby, those customers will get Eau Claire news, because it's Clark County.

It all just depends on your mailing address.

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Deputies: US man calls police emergency line looking for ride to bar

Authorities say a Florida man who called police dispatchers claiming that he had been beaten and shot at was hoping the tale would get him a ride to a bar.

Instead, 37-year-old Gregory J. Oras is facing charges of misusing the emergency call system and battery of a law enforcement officer.

The St. Petersburg Times said an arrest report says Oras called police dispatchers three times before his arrest early Tuesday in Oldsmar, northwest of Tampa. He told the dispatchers he had a broken nose and bleeding ears, and claimed people were shooting at him.

Authorities say he was actually looking for a ride to another bar.

The report also says Oras kicked a Pinellas County sheriff's deputy in the knees and a Taser was used to subdue him before he was arrested.

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Firewood Sales Surprisingly Strong This Weekend

I was totally surprised by how many firewood customers I had on New Year's Eve. Many of which were buying it for bonfires! And yet today, Saturday the 2nd of January, sales are still going strong. Of course, the girls think they are entitled to a share of the profits. I told them that I have already paid all of my helpers, and it was only me! Like they've ever touched so much as a piece of bark!

- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill

This Morning's Temperature

Outside:


Inside, no furnace, using only free wood heat:


- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill

Russia may send spacecraft to knock away asteroid

Russia is considering sending a spacecraft to a large asteroid to knock it off its path and prevent a possible collision with Earth, the head of the country's space agency said Wednesday.

Anatoly Perminov said the space agency will hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis, telling Golos Rossii radio that it would invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project once it is finalized.

When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated the chances of it smashing into Earth in its first flyby in 2029 were as high as 1-in-37, but have since lowered their estimate.

Further studies ruled out the possibility of an impact in 2029, when the asteroid is expected to come no closer than 18,300 miles (29,450 kilometers) above Earth's surface, but they indicated a small possibility of a hit on subsequent encounters.

In October, NASA lowered the odds that Apophis could hit Earth in 2036 from a 1-in-45,000 as earlier thought to a 1-in-250,000 chance after researchers recalculated the asteroid's path. It said another close encounter in 2068 will involve a 1-in-330,000 chance of impact.

Without mentioning NASA findings, Perminov said that he heard from a scientist that Apophis is getting closer and may hit the planet. "I don't remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032," Perminov said.

"People's lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would allow to prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people," Perminov said.

Scientists have long theorized about asteroid deflection strategies. Some have proposed sending a probe to circle around a dangerous asteroid to gradually change its trajectory. Others suggested sending a spacecraft to collide with the asteroid and alter its momentum, or using nuclear weapons to hit it.

Perminov wouldn't disclose any details of the project, saying they still need to be worked out. But he said the mission wouldn't require any nuclear explosions.

Hollywood action films "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon," have featured space missions scrambling to avoid catastrophic collisions. In both movies space crews use nuclear bombs in an attempt to prevent collisions.

"Calculations show that it's possible to create a special purpose spacecraft within the time we have, which would help avoid the collision without destroying it (the asteroid) and without detonating any nuclear charges," Perminov said. "The threat of collision can be averted."

Boris Shustov, the director of the Institute of Astronomy under the Russian Academy of Sciences, hailed Perminov's statement as a signal that officials had come to recognize the danger posed by asteroids.

"Apophis is just a symbolic example, there are many other dangerous objects we know little about," he said, according to RIA Novosti news agency.

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shooting stars

The Moon and the planet Mars rise in mid-evening, with bright orange Mars not far to the left of the Moon. The Quadrantid meteor shower is at its best tonight as well, although the moonlight will overpower most of its "shooting stars."

- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill

Sublime Sand: Desert Dunes Seen From Space

Deserts are known for being desolate and lifeless, but they are also quite striking and beautiful, especially when seen from above. Different types of sand, topography, wind and climate combine to form a tremendous variety of landscapes. Shifting dunes are carved into an endless number of constantly changing shapes.

The images in this gallery, taken by orbiting astronauts and satellites, show some of the most beautiful, most haunting, biggest, rarest and most stunning desert vistas on Earth.

Algeria’s Sand Sea

The Issaouane Erg covers almost 15,000 square miles in eastern Algeria. This sea of sand in the central Sahara desert has three different scales of dunes. Mega-dunes, also known as draas or whalebacks, form over hundreds of thousands of years and can be several hundred miles long. Mesoscale dunes form on top of the mega-dunes, and move on decade time scales. Smaller dunes form on and around the larger dunes. They are sculpted into different shapes by the wind, and are constantly shifting.

In the image above, captured by astronauts on the International Space Station in 2005, mesoscale dunes have been shaped into star dunes that look a bit like starfish and crescent dunes.


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