Dr Jim Vaile’s Weblog

I have said this before and I will say it again: natural mysteries can be solved through scientific diligence. The monumental crystals inside Mexico’s “Cueva de los Cristales” have long been a scientific mystery. Some even said that there were extra-terrestrial forces at play.

Last spring a geologist at the University of Granada in Spain figured it out, cracked the code. The crystals enormous size was a result of their formation in abnormally rich mineral water within a very narrow temperature range. The whole phenomenon is explained in this article here.

There were never any aliens. There were never any spirits. And now, all the naysayers who denied science twiddle their thumbs in silence. Heh!!

Maybe 2008 will be a good year after all.

Everyone is so caught up with the holidays that potential breakthroughs are being overlooked right and left!!! Geologists near Lake Peigneur in Louisiana have found that the lake is emitting volatile methane gas bubbles from an UNKNOWN NATURAL SOURCE.

Here is the article.

I believe that a similar natural gas source is responsible for the Buttermilk sinkholes.

Deluded teenagers and fad-makers have turned the Buttermilk phenomenon into a campfire story - the steam in these screen stills from the video I’ve put up on the main site show that the rifts in the ground were caused by pressure swellings not alien creatures.

I believe that the mountain is undergoing an accelerated tectonic movement and spontaneous sinkholes such as the one that occurred here are very likely to re-occur.
I recommend that all activity on the mountain should be suspended until authorities can perform the necessary tests to guarantee everyone’s safety.

Now that I’ve added this video showing the violent strata shift to the BIA website I’ve been receiving faux emails from pranksters with subject lines like Buttermilk Is Alive and the Monster in the Mountain. Rest assured, nothing has changed in m mind, I know there is no creature lurking underneath the snow.

So to answer the question about the mountain swallowing things, I believe the region shares the sharp velocity mantle transitions that characterize the Cenozoic Uplift, but in the case of the Buttermilk sinkholes in particular, I suspect the terrain shifts are a result of the mantle being porous - which is extremely rare for this area, not sure how it developed - which gains pressure as gas fills up those spaces, until it is released violently through spontaneous fissures in the ground, and then recedes as the gas is expelled. I developed this theory in 1994 (see March log entry on my site) and for the most part it still holds water today.

So Buttermilk might be “alive” - just not the way they mean on the damn tee shirts.

Just returned from the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco where they claim to have discovered the energy source behind auroras borealis, which most of us know as the “northern lights”.  Using five - yes, FIVE - NASA satellites they propose that the energy comes from charged particles that come from the sun and travel through magnetic fields all across the planet only to explode in a shimmering display of light.

Great work guys. (And people call ME crazy!) 

I’m not serious of course, I’m sure this new research on the lights was conducted in a thorough fashion and the report is sound. What gets my goat is, NASA is using five multi-million dollar satellites to explain the northern lights because they are pretty, popular, and great for tourism. Something like Buttermilk, which is darker and scary and swallows vagrants - now that’s easier to dismiss as myth. Its all politics.

This site does a good job of showing how the Northern Lights is similar to Buttermilk because it started as magic and myth but gradually earned a scientific explanation - in this case, solar winds and magnetic fields.

Its that time of the year again, as the major sports conglomerates prepare for their annual display of brute strength and neon colored regalia. The youth are collecting in Aspen and milling about the mountain socializing and gossiping, leaving about wrappers and making noise at night. I’ve been hearing “Buttermilik is Alive” murmured here and there, so perhaps its coming back into fashion.

I APOLOGIZE BUT ALL POSTS PRE-DATING THE MIGRATION ON DECEMBER 1 WILL NOT BE IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE.

Any members in need of a particular post with the date should email me directly - I have a printout archive of all posting since the forum’s inception and would be happy to track it down for you.