(AA) In the wake of the recent string of solar flares, some Americans--particularly Gulf Coast residents--may be wondering whether there are places in the U.S. that are safe from such natural disasters. The short answer? No. The Midwest may not be vulnerable to hurricanes, but twisters drop in regularly. Major earthquakes don't tend to strike New England, but strong winds can peel the roof off a northeastern house and snowstorms can shut down cities.

"Every location in the country is exposed to one disaster or another," says Wendy Rose, spokeswoman for the Institute for Business & Home Safety, a Tampa, Fla.-based nonprofit insurance industry group that aims to reduce losses from natural catastrophes.

Still, some places are less susceptible than others to natural hazards. To get an idea where they might be, we partnered with Sperling's Best Places ( www.bestplaces.net), a data collection company based in Portland, Ore. Sperling's has compiled weather and disaster data for 331 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S., and we used the information to discern the safest--and least safe--areas in which to live.

By Martin Gray

Early in the spring of 1986 I began a year-long pilgrimage around Europe by bicycle. Over four seasons I cycled through eleven countries to visit, study and photograph more than 135 holy places. In succeeding years I traveled to Europe several additional times, visiting other countries and their sacred sites. These travels took me to the sacred places of Megalithic Greek and Celtic cultures as well as to the pilgrimage sites of medieval and contemporary Christianity. For many thousands of years our ancestors have been visiting and venerating the power places of Europe. One culture after another has often frequented the same power places. The story of how these magical places were discovered and used is filled with myths of cosmic and cometary induced world destroying cataclysms, astronomers and sages, and nature spirits and angels. Misconceptions about the so-called Ice Age and its glacier coverage Before beginning our discussion of the megalithic use of power places in ancient Europe we should first address certain misconceptions regarding the cause of the transition between the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras. According to conventional beliefs (deriving from incorrect assumptions of the Uniformitarian theory of Charles Lyell and the Ice Age or glacial theory of Louis Agassiz in the early 1800's) enormous glaciers once covered vast regions of the northern hemisphere. These conventional beliefs state that the levels of the world's oceans were lower during the glacier age because of all the water supposedly frozen up in the polar ice cap. Between 13,000 and 8000 BC the vast glaciers melted and the levels of the world oceans rose by 120 meters. The effect of this glacial melting and sea level rise on archaic European life marked the end of the Paleolithic and the beginning of the Neolithic.

This idea of a so-called Ice Age, with enormous glaciers covering vast areas of the northern hemisphere, has been debated by numerous scientific studies in the fields of geology, paleontology, biology, zoology, climatology, anthropology and mythology. Readers interested in learning more about these studies and their revelations regarding the Ice Age and its less-than-previously-assumed glacier coverage, as well as alternative dates for the occurrence of the Ice Age, will enjoy the books Cataclysm: Compelling Evidence of a Cosmic Catastrophe in 9500 BC, by Allan & Delair and Ice Age Civilizations, by James Nienhuis. The factual material presented in this scholarly book is slowly making its way into university courses and text books around the world, thereby rewriting our understanding of early Neolithic times.

Cosmic and cometary induced cataclysms - 9500, 7640, 3150 and 1198 BC Prior to embarking on a discussion regarding the discovery and use of power places by humans during Neolithic times there is another - and critically important - matter that must be explored first. This concerns the pass-by and actual impact of cosmic and cometary objects at four distinct periods in the prehistoric past. To begin to explore this matter let us first refer to the enigmatic writings of the 4th century BC Greek philosopher Plato. In the Timaeus dialogues, these being a record of discussions between the Greek statesman Solon and an Egyptian priest, Plato report the following:

"You Greeks are all children. You have no belief rooted in the old tradition and no knowledge hoary with age. And the reason is this. There have been and will be many different calamities to destroy mankind, the greatest of them by fire and water, lesser ones by countless other means. You remember only one deluge, though there have been many."

What might these calamities be which Plato's Egyptian informants are referring to? Evidence has accumulated from a variety of scientific disciplines which demonstrate that a massive cosmic object (probably a portion of an astronomically-near supernova explosion) passed close by the earth in approximately 9500 BC. This cosmic event caused a worldwide cataclysm of enormous proportions, including massive shifting of the earth's surface, devastating volcanic activity, mega-tsunami waves, subsidence of regional landmasses, and mass extinctions of both animals and humans. In this regard it is vitally important to note that many of the geological and biological effects previously attributed to the hypothesized glacier movements of ice age times could NOT have been caused by the slow movement of ice but were in fact caused by the rapid and vast displacement of oceanic bodies of water (this being caused by the irresistible gravitational pull of the enormous cosmic object passing by the earth). Additionally, the species-wide animal extinctions caused by this event occurred far beyond the geographical boundaries set for the 'Ice Age glaciations' by orthodox theorists.

The shifting of the earth's surface, termed crustal displacement by its primary theorist, Charles Hapgood, was also studied by Einstein who reported, "One can hardly doubt that significant shifts of the earth's crusts have taken place repeatedly and within a short time."

To read more about the cosmic object pass-by and the ensuing crustal displacement of 9500 BC, refer to Cataclysm by D.S. Allan & J.B. Delair, The Atlantis Blueprint by Colin Wilson and Rand Flem-Ath, and Catastrophobia by Barbara Hand Clow.

Approximately 2000 years later, in roughly 7640 BC, a cometary object sped towards the earth. This time, however, rather than passing by the earth as the cosmic object of 9500 BC had done, the cometary object actually entered the atmosphere, broke into seven pieces, and impacted the earth at known locations on the planet's oceans. The following map shows the general location of each of the seven impacts.

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Contrary to popular belief, Nikola Tesla did not die penniless or poor. He was heavily subsidized meaning he received money from the U.S. Government for his expenses. Much mystery still surrounds his death, some going as far as suggesting he was murdered. He died during WWII in 1943 and about two years later (after they finally figured out all his technology) the US military industrial complex succeeded in becoming the number one global superpower. Coincidence? We think not.

Moving on, Dr. Puharich reveals rare details about the life and work of his fellow Serbo-Croatian-American scientist including how it was rumored that Tesla was castrated at a young age to remain pure and other interesting things you may have never heard.

Do Free Energy and Consciousness Seem Unrelated?

In actuality, zero-point scientists and engineers perceive a high degree of interrelatedness between free energy and consciousness. This relationship has up to now escaped the normal view — but it's important. The relationship between consciousness and zero-point energy affects our ability to manifest a free-energy technology in our world. And our understanding of this relationship will eventually change our world in fundamental ways — ways that most would find hard to believe.

Peter Lindemann said, "There is really only ONE FORCE preventing the public availability of free energy technology, and that is the unspiritually-motivated behavior of the human animals." But he makes it clear that when free energy does appear in the public domain, it will mark "the dawning of a truly civilized age."

So the quality of human spirituality is the first part of an equation that will determine whether or not free energy becomes part of our future. But there is a second part, and that involves the way in which consciousness itself is involved in zero-point energy. In this respect, human consciousness is more — much more — than just an isolated electromagnetic phenomenon emitted from the human brain, for it interacts with All That Is in profound ways.

Free Energy and a Healthy Environment

It is obvious to most researchers that if ZPE or any clean free-energy device were to take hold in the world, the environment would become healthier, since these types of machines do not pollute. But the idea that human spirituality might affect the very release of free energy in the first place is new to most people.

I would like now to make clear the concept that cleaning pollution from the Earth has the very same restraints as making free energy available has. Human spirituality and higher consciousness are necessary if the Earth is to become clean again. And I am not the first one to make this statement. We pointed out that the United Nations itself has come to this very same conclusion: Spirit of Ma'at August 2001 Editorial: "In June of 1992, governmental bodies from almost every country in the world came together in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Here, the greatest scientific minds on earth were assembled to discuss the seriousness of the global situation. Their intent was to join forces, pinpoint the problems, determine the extent of the damage, and then find solutions.

"They did not find solutions. Or, rather, they did not find solutions that could be implemented by governmental or scientific bodies. It was going to take, they discovered, the cooperation of all of us, and a change in our mindset, to reverse the destruction of our planet. And they listed 27 principles which, if followed by the peoples of the world, could bring about the return of environmental balance. (See Rio Conference Document.)" This change in our mindset to reverse the destruction of our planet is the same change in our mindset that will allow free energy to emerge in everyday life. Read the Rio Conference Document and it becomes clear. As the United Nations affirmed, eliminating poverty and caring for our brother and sister are essential for there to be environmental health. It seems it is also necessary for free energy and ZPE to be released to the world.

We all need to care about each other.

There's a vampire on the loose, and he likes to leave the lights on like Motel 6. Whether you're at work, at home or out on the town, this vampire is taking a bite out of your wallet and harming the environment. But, there's no need to barricade the house and stock up on garlic just yet. This vampire works entirely though your electrical outlets and stopping this monster can be as easy as pulling a few plugs. Vampire energy is estimated to cost U.S. Consumers around 3 billion a year.

The villain in question is vampire power, also known as standby power and phantom load, from what is called a vampire device. You can also find it referred to as vampire energy, leaking energy, wall warts, standby loss, idle current, phantom power, ghost load, ghost charge, and vampire load.  The terms refers to the electricity many gadgets and appliances waste just by being plugged in (even if they're switched off). After all, what do you think your cell-phone charger does all day while it's plugged into the wall? If it's warm when you get home from work, then it's been using electricity -- even if it had nothing to charge.

­Individually, your rechargeable electric toothbrush may not put that much strain on the local power plant, but the big picture is far more troubling. In the United States alone, vampire power costs consumers more than $3 billion a year [source: Energy Information Administration]. Over time, many microwaves and televisions actually consume more electricity during the hours they're not in use than the times you're actually using them to heat up dinner and watch your favorite show.

How do you fight off the ravages of vampire power? In this article, you'll learn why this energy loss happens and how to slay it once and for all.