Portents And Omens And Signs

Oh my.

A new enigma is spreading on the Internet. Some even call it a new kind of miracle. According to various Web sites, for the past several years unusual and unexplainable circles of light have been observed in many towns and cities. They began in the United States, but soon spread throughout the world.

"These circles," according to a writer named J.D. Rabbit at one of these sites, "most commonly appear on the sides of houses. … In most cases they appear when the sun is out, generally when the sunlight is at a suitable angle to reflect from one or more windows onto the house adjacent. Some are seen only in the early morning; others appear at midday or late afternoon for a few hours; others can only be seen in spring and fall; and some have even been observed by bright moonlight. Many have been observed in the same place year after year, while others appear for a while and then vanish."

You know, it's just astonishing how otherwise apparently sane people can go completely Borneo over some weird conspiracy theory. If I saw a weird "circle of light", I'd immediately begin to look for the source, not jump to the conclusion that something mysterious was going on.

"At this time of great political, economic, and social crisis," says Benjamin Creme, "Maitreya will inspire humanity to see itself as one family, and create a civilization based on sharing, economic and social justice, and global cooperation." Creme is the leader of Share International, a religious movement that awaits the coming of "Maitreya," a sort of extraterrestrial master who will enlighten the world. According to Creme, circles of light are just "another sign of Maitreya's presence in the world."

Good luck on that whole extraterrestrial thing, Ben. Especially when your omen turns out to be a reflection.

"It certainly is a curious reflection of sunlight on some windows," says Stefano Bagnasco, a physicist at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Turin, and a member of the Italian skeptic group CICAP. "I was able to directly observe some of these 'signs,' and in each case the building in front of which they appeared was completely covered with windows. Whenever the sun was in the right position to strike this reflecting surface, it would immediately produce the phenomenon. This is something that can certainly appear as quite odd, since these reflections cannot take place when both the windows and the building in front of it are perpendicular to the ground (unless the sun is very low on the horizon). But it happens quite frequently with inclined or open windows, like those found in modern buildings."

They have some pictures showing the "phenomenon" as well, so go over and take a look.