SOUTH ATLANTIC ANOMALY : Bermuda triangle of the space.

There are many places on earth that are famous for their mysterious powers,  Like Bermuda triangle,  devil's sea etc. But ever wondered if there existed one such place in space? Then you are right,  Because there actually is one and It is called the South Atlantic Anomaly.

It is a region over South America and South Atlantic ocean centred at about 30 degrees west and 30 degrees south. It is a little larger than the entire United States.  Some say its a danger to anything that enters it.

The SAA or South Atlantic Anomaly is responsible for numerous problems with satellites and spacecrafts, from messing up their programs to actually shutting down their function. NASA has reported that modern laptops have crashed when space shuttle flights pass through the anomaly. And International Space Station(ISS) avoids scheduling spacewalks when passing through it (which happens 5 times a day ).

The Hubble space telescope is actually turned off when passing through the anomaly  (which passes through SAA for 10 successive orbits each day).

While Bermuda triangle and Devil's sea are merely lines drawn on map, South Atlantic Anomaly is a measurable physical presence. It is the area where the band of radiation known as earth's inner Van Allen radiation belt comes closest to earth's surface.

According to NASA, when a spacecraft enters into this area, it gets bombarded with protons exceeding energies of 3000 hits per square centimeter per second. This can produce glitches in data,  problems with operation of onboard electronic systems, premature ageing of computers, detectors and other spacecraft components. No wonder why they switch off Hubble space telescope as it passes through the anomaly then. But still the phenomenon is not fully understood.

The SAA is thought to be the reason for early failures of the Globalstar Network's satellites. In October 2012,  The Space X CRS-1 Dragon spacecraft attached to the International Space Station experienced a transient problem as it passed through the anomaly.

Its just not technical problems either,  some astronauts report seeing shooting starts in their field of vision as they pass through the SAA. NASA sticks with the previous theory for explaining this too.

Ricardo Campana, at National Institute for Astrophysics in Bologna, Italy,  has analysed radiation data from an X-Ray monitoring satellite called BeppoSAX, They found out that the anomaly is slowly moving westward.
The team is now designing a space telescope that will orbit through the lower part of the  danger zone, which is not well studied.

The causes of anomaly are not fully understood. But scientists point out high amount of radiation causes the anomaly. But there is more to be studied about this before being so sure.  Some conspiracy theorists even pin this on aliens. But we can hope the scientists get a complete  answer to explain this phenomenon  soon.

SPORTS VISUALIZATION : AND HOW AN AIRFORCE PILOT SURVIVED A VIETNAMESE PRISON.

Many athletes claim they play their game in their minds before actually playing it.  For example prior to the evening of premier league football match,  Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney habitually asks the club's Kitman,  what color shorts, shirts and socks the team will wear the next day. He doesn't ask it to make him look good, he asks it to boost up his performance .  He once said,  "I lie in bed the night before the game,  visualise myself scoring goals or doing well".  Knowing exactly which kit He will be wearing helps him conjure up a richer and more detailed and authentic vision.  He says it helps very much when he actually play on the ground.

While we may assume doing so is just a mental exercise that enables them to better focus on the game, there might be concrete changes happening inside the body.  Take for instance AIRFORCE colonel George Hall.

GEORGE HALL

George Hall was an American soldier who was held prisoner in Vietnam for a number of years. He was locked up in a small dark prison 8. 5' x 8. 5' dimensions for nearly 6 years. While most would lose their minds in those circumstances, George tried to be happy (or so to say).  In order to keep his sanity, he played a round of golf over his favorite course back home in his mind.  This was despite of being difficult physical condition he was kept in.

Regardless of being weak and 100lbs lighter than before,  one of the first things Hall wanted to do after his release was to play a legitimate round of golf.  He was invited to the greater New Orleans open.  On departing to Vietnam,  he had played off a four handicap. To his friend's amazement,   Five and a half later, on his return he played to his original handicap.

When asked he said,  even though he has'nt played it on the ground,  he played it mentally everyday and he knew every blade of grass,  every sand traps,  every bunker,  every sand traps,  the cool breezes and all the shots he knew to play.

Psychologists believe his body had developed muscle memories based simply on his imaginations

THE LIONS OF NJOMBE AND THE WITCH DOCTOR WHO CONTROLLED THEM

An unarmed person is the most helpless creature a predator can hunt down. There are many cases in the history where animals preferred human flesh over anything else.

The year is 1932 the most prolific of maneaters  in the history,  The njombe pride of more than 15 lions started their killing spree near the town of njombe in the southern region of Tanzania.
Prior to the pride's bloody spree,  The colonial government  had reduced the number of prey animals in the area in an effort to control a rinderpest outbreak that was destroying the cattle herds.  The lions quickly settled on human flesh.

The legend has it that,  The lions were controlled by a witch doctor  of the local tribe called matamula mangera who sent the lions into rampage as a revenge against his own people after being deposed off his post.

Unlike most lions,  the njombe pride did its killing in the afternoon.  Using night hours to travel as much as 15 to 20 miles to an unsuspecting village.

The tribesmen were so terrified of the lions that they wouldn't even dare to speak about them.  Believing even a simple mention would cause the lions to appear.  They begged the tribal chief to restore matamula mangera to his original post but he refused.

The lions kept on attacking and eventually took the lives of 1500 people (some say over 2000). One of the worst cases of animal attacks ever recorded.

George Rushby, a famed hunter decided to put an end to the killings.  He believed that these lions were so clever,  they actually used a relay system to drag the bodies into the safety of the Bush.

He hunted down and killed 15 lions of the pride,  and rest eventually abandoned the area finally ending the nightmare.

But the village people believed the lions left only because the tribal chief finally agreed to restore matamula mangera to his old job.

There is mystery in it.  there is adventures of a great hunter in it.  But whatever the truth may be the story of the lions of njombe still terrifies people.