Showing posts with label mathematics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mathematics. Show all posts

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Great Balls Of Stone

In the 1940’s, plantation workers clearing tropical jungle areas in Costa Rica discovered hundreds of spherical balls hidden beneath the foliage. The largest weighed almost 16 tons and was as tall as a man; the smallest was roughly the size of a tennis ball. When seen from the air, the balls were arranged in patterns – gigantic triangles, circles, squares and cosmological arrangements.


The balls were originally thought to be a product of perhaps Incan or Mayan civilisations, yet some archaeologists estimated their age at 400,000 years! Further examination revealed that the balls were almost perfectly symmetrical within a centimetre or two, and it was highly unlikely that they were the product of man. Incredible rumours began to spread regarding the ‘power’ of the balls – it was said that electronic equipment refused to function in their immediate vicinity, and that people experienced abnormal behaviour after coming into contact with them.

Found mainly in the Diquis Delta region, the balls are also found on Isla del Cano, to the west of Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast. In the subsequent years since their discovery, many of the balls were looted and can be found in the streets and gardens of San Jose. Some believed that riches could be found within the stones, which lead to many being destroyed by zealous thieves. In the late 1970’s, three large balls discovered near Guadalahara were sent to the American University in New York state. The balls were cut and analysed, revealing the complicated internal structure – a coiled alloy of rare-earth metals whose chemical properties were mysterious. The scientists at American University declared that the balls were not man-made, but most likely formed by natural events.

Yet this does not explain the patterns the balls formed when first discovered. Would natural origins arrange the balls in triangles and circles and squares? It is said that there are no straight lines in nature, which lends speculation to the ‘natural’ theory. Of course, many theories have been expounded relating to the ‘Giant Balls Of Costa Rica’, the most outlandish being that they were used by giant creatures for some sort of gameplay. Similar balls have been found in other parts of the world and continue to fascinate to this day.

by Max Drake


(Max Drake is a freelance designer for GritFX. Max has an interest in all things weird and will have regular posts on this blog.)

For more on the “Giant Balls Of Costa Rica”, visit http://www.mysteryspheres.com/info.htm

Friday, June 20, 2008

MINDBOGGLING CROP CIRCLE

Mathematicians were confounded after a crop circle formation was discovered in a barley field near Barbury Castle in Wiltshire, England on the 1st June 2008. The circle is, apparently, a coded image representing the first ten digits of pi.


Measuring 285 feet in diameter, the formation had experts and enthusiasts perplexed until it was eventually identified by retired astrophysicist, Mike Reed.

Maths codes and geometric patterns have long been important factors in crop circle formations – the most famous of which was a formation in a field near Stonehenge some 12 years ago which depicted a complex set of fractals known as The Julia Set.

Yet despite the abundance of crop circle formations each year, their occurrence is rarely mentioned in the mainstream media, if at all. Most people still consider the crop circle phenomenon a hoax, regarding as proof the infamous TV demonstration many years ago of a circle being formed by a couple of guys with some rope and board. However, as most crop circle researchers attest, the most intricate geometric and mathematical formations (such as the recent pi formation in Wiltshire) would be impossible to create with such precise detail and on such a scale.

Other factors which should not be dismissed include the magnetic energy often recorded in the centre of crop circles and the biological changes that occur in the affected crops. These and many other factors cannot be explained by the ‘rope and board’ theory.

So what the hell are they? Who or what causes the formations to appear? Many theories have been extrapolated regarding crop circles, from electromagnetic fields to extraterrestrial meddling. Perhaps it is beam weaponry technology – maybe some bored NASA geeks using orbiting satellites fitted with invisible beam weapons are making their ‘hoax marks’ on the Earth’s surface.

Then again, maybe the extraterrestrial theory is more plausible.

by Max Drake


(Max Drake is a freelance designer for GritFX. Max has an interest in all things weird and will have weekly posts on this blog.)


For more on the crop circle phenomenon, including a more intricate explanation of the 1st June Wilshire formation, visit http://www.cropcircleconnector.com