Crop circle

A crop circle is a sizable pattern created by the flattening of a crop such as wheat, barley, rye, maize, orrapeseed. Crop circles are also referred to as crop formations, because they are not always circular in shape. The documented cases have substantially increased from the 1970s to current times. Sony VAIO VPC CW2MFX/PU Battery

In 1991 two hoaxers confessed and claimed authorship of circles throughout England. Twenty-six countries reported approximately ten thousand crop circles in the last third of the 20th century. Ninety percent of those were located in southern England. Sony VAIO VPC S11V9E/B Battery

Many of the formations appearing in that area are positioned near ancient monuments, such as Stonehenge. According to one study, nearly half of all circles found in the UK in 2003 were located within a 15 km (9.3 miles) radius ofAvebury.

Archeological remains can cause cropmarks in the fields, Sony VAIO VPCB119GJ/B Battery

in the shapes of circles and squares, but they don't appear overnight and they are always in the same places every year.

Early reports

In 1686, British scientist Robert Plot reported crop circles in his The Natural History of Stafford-Shire, and said they could be caused by airflows from the sky.^[2] Sony VAIO VPCB11AGJ Battery

A 1880 letter to the editor of Nature by amateur scientist John Rand Capron, describes how a recent storm had created several circles of flattened crops in a field.^[3]

In the 1960s, in Tully, Queensland, Australia, and in Canada, Sony VAIO VPCB11AVJ Battery

there were many reports of UFO sightings and circular formations in swamp reeds and sugar cane fields.^[4] For example, in 1967, a group of circles appeared in a field in Duhamel, Alberta, Canada, and the Department of National Defence opened an investigation.^[5] Sony VAIO VPCB11V9E Battery

The most famous case is the 1966 Tully "saucer nest", when a farmer said he witnessed a saucer-shaped craft rise 30 or 40 feet (12 m) up from a swamp and then fly away. When he went to investigate the location where he thought the saucer had landed, he found a nearly circular area 32 feet long by 25 feet wide, Sony VAIO VPCB11X9E Battery

where "[t]he grass was flattened in clockwise curves to water level within the circle and the reeds had been uprooted from the mud".^[4][6] The local police officer, the RAAF and the University of Queensland concluded that it was most probably caused by natural causes, like a down draught, a Willy-Willy, or awaterspout.^[6] Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/P Battery

 In 1973, G.J. Odgers, Director of Public Relations, Department of Defence (Air Office), wrote to a journalist that the "saucer" was probably debris lifted by the causing willy-willy.^[6] Hoaxers Bower and Chorley were inspired by this case to start making the modern crop circles that appear today.^[4] Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/R Battery

Modern crop circles

The majority of reports of crop circles appeared since the 1970s,^[7] and spread in the late 1970s as many circles began appearing throughout the English countryside. This phenomenon became widely known in the late 1980s, after the media started to report crop circles in Hampshire and Wiltshire. Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/W Battery

After Bower's and Chorley's 1991 confession that they were responsible for most of them, circles started appearing all over the world.^[2] To date, approximately 10,000 crop circles have been reported internationally, from locations such as the former Soviet Union, the UK, Japan, the U.S., and Canada. Sony VAIO VPCCW19FJ/W Battery

Skeptics note a correlation between crop circles, recent media coverage, and the absence of fencing and/or anti-trespassing legislation.^[8]

Although farmers have expressed concern at the damage caused to their crops, local response to the appearance of crop circles can be enthusiastic, Sony VAIO VPCCW1AFJ Battery

with locals taking advantage of the increase of tourism and visits from scientists, crop circle researchers, and individuals seeking spiritual experiences.^[9] The market for crop-circle interest has consequently generated bus or helicopter tours of circle sites, walking tours, T-shirts, and book sales. Sony VAIO VPCCW1AHJ Battery

The last decade has witnessed crop formations with increased size and complexity of form, some featuring as many as 2000 different shapes,^[2] and some incorporating complex mathematical and scientific characteristics.^[10][11][12] Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E Battery

Bower and Chorley

In 1991, self-professed pranksters Doug Bower and Dave Chorley made headlines claiming it was they who started the phenomenon in 1978 with the use of simple tools consisting of a plank of wood, rope, and a baseball cap fitted with a loop of wire to help them walk in a straight line. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/B Battery

Inspired by Australian crop circle accounts from 1966, Doug and Dave reportedly made more than 200 crop circles from 1978–1991 and claimed to be responsible for most if not all circles made prior to 1987.^[2][13][14] After their announcement, the two men demonstrated making a crop circle. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/L Battery

Despite general acceptance of their story, crop circle researchers remain skeptical of many of their claims.^[14] After their revelation, crop formations started appearing in countries all over the world, increasing in number, size, and complexity.^[2] They are most likely made by imitators of Bower and Chorley.^[2] Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/P Battery

Art and business

Since the early 1990s, the UK arts collective founded by artists Rod Dickinson and John Lundberg (and subsequently includes artists Wil Russell and Rob Irving), named the Circlemakers, Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/R Battery

have been creating some crop circles in the UK and around the world both as part of their art practice and for commercial clients.^[15][16]

On the night of July 11–12, 1992, a crop-circle making competition, for a prize of several thousand UK pounds (partly funded by the Arthur KoestlerFoundation), Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/W Battery

was held in Berkshire. The winning entry was produced by three Westland Helicopters engineers, using rope, PVC pipe, a trestle, and a ladder. Another competitor used a small garden roller, a plank, and some rope.

In 2002, Discovery Channel commissioned five aeronautics and astronautics graduate students from MIT to create crop circles of their own, Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/B Battery

aiming to duplicate some of the features claimed to distinguish "real" crop circles from the known fakes such as those created by Bower and Chorley. The creation of the circle was recorded and used in the Discovery Channel documentary Crop Circles: Mysteries in the Fields.^[17] Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/L Battery

Legal implications

In 1992, Hungarian youths Gábor Takács and Róbert Dallos, both then 17, were the first people to face legal action after creating a crop circle. Takács and Dallos, of the St. Stephen Agricultural Technicum, Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/R Battery

a high school in Hungary specializing in agriculture, created a 36-metre (118 ft) diameter crop circle in a wheat field near Székesfehérvár, 43 miles (69 km) southwest of Budapest, on June 8, 1992. On September 3, the pair appeared on Hungarian TV and exposed the circle as a hoax, showing photos of the field before and after the circle was made. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/W Battery

As a result, Aranykalász Co., the owners of the land, sued the youngsters for 630,000 Ft (approximately US$3,000) in damages. The presiding judge ruled that the students were only responsible for the damage caused in the circle itself, amounting to about 6,000 Ft (approximately US$30), Sony VAIO VPCCW26EC Battery

and that 99% of the damage to the crops was caused by the thousands of visitors who flocked to Székesfehérvár following the media's promotion of the circle. The fine was eventually paid by the TV show, as were the students' legal fees.

In 2000, Matthew Williams became the first man in the UK to be arrested for causing criminal damage after making a crop circle near Devizes.^[18] Sony VAIO VPCCW26FX/B Battery

In November 2000, he was fined £100 and £40 in costs.^[19] As of 2008, no one else has been successfully prosecuted in the UK for this reason.^[20]

Explanations

Formations usually appear overnight,^[2] although some are reported to have appeared during the day.^[21] Sony VAIO VPCCW28EC Battery

Various theories have been put forth ranging from natural phenomenon and man-made hoaxes, to the paranormal and even animals.^[2] While it is not known how all crop circles are formed, the most likely theory is that all of them were made by hoaxers. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/P Battery

Man-made

The scientific consensus explanation for crop circles is that most or all are constructed by human hands as a prank.^[23]The most widely known method for a person or group to construct a crop formation is to tie one end of a rope to an anchor point, and the other end to a board which is used to crush the plants. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/R Battery

All characteristics of crop circles are fully compatible with them being made by hoaxers, but there is no actual evidence.^[22] Bower and Chorley confessed in 1991 to making the first crop circles in South England.^[2] When some people refused to believe them, Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/W Battery

they purposefully added straight lines and squares to show that they couldn't have natural causes.^[2] In a copycat effect, increasingly complex circles started appearing in many countries around the world, including fractal figures.^[2] Physicists have suggested that the most complex formations might be made with the help of GPS Sony VAIO VPCCW29FJ/W Battery

and lasers.^[2] In 2009, a circle formation was made over the course of three consecutive nights, and was apparently left unfinished, with some half-made circles.^[2]

The main criticism of alleged non-human creation of crop circles is that while evidence of these origins, Sony VAIO VPCCW2AFJ Battery

besides eyewitness testimonies, is essentially absent, some are definitely known to be the work of human pranksters, and others can be adequately explained as such. There have been cases in which researchers declared crop circles to be "the real thing", Sony VAIO VPCCW2AHJ Battery

only to be confronted with the people who created the circle and documented the fraud.^[24] In his 1997 book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Carl Sagan discussed alien-based theories of crop circle formation. Sagan concluded that no empirical evidence existed to link UFOs with crop circles.^[25] Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E Battery

 Many others have demonstrated how complex crop circles can be created.^[26][27] Scientific American published an article by Matt Ridley,^[13] who started making crop circles in northern England in 1991. He wrote about how easy it is to develop techniques using simple tools that can easily fool later observers. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/B Battery

He reported on "expert" sources such as the Wall Street Journal, who had been easily fooled and mused about why people want to believe supernatural explanations for phenomena that are not yet explained. Methods of creating a crop circle are now well documented on theInternet.^[26] Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/L Battery

Some crop formations are paid for by companies who use them as advertising.^[20][26] Many crop circles show human symbols, like the hearth and arrow symbol of love, stereotyped alien faces^[28] or the logo of local soccer club Feyenoord.^[29] Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/P Battery

Hoaxers have been caught in the process of making new circles, for example, in 2004 in the Netherlands.^[29]

Cereologists (crop circle researchers, normally those favourable to paranormal explanations) discount on-site evidence of human involvement as attempts of discrediting the phenomena.^[29] Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/R Battery

 Some cereologists even argue a conspiracy theory, with governments planting evidence of hoaxing to muddle the origins of the circles.^[29]

Weather

Some cereologists have suggested that crop circles are the result of extraordinary meteorological phenomena ranging from freak tornadoes to ball lightning, Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/W Battery

but there is no evidence of any crop circle being created by any of these causes.^[2][22]

In 1880, an amateur scientist, John Rand Capron, wrote a letter to the editor of journal Nature about some circles in crops, and blamed them on a recent storm, saying their shape was "suggestive of some cyclonic wind action".^[3] Sony VAIO VPCCW2S5C CN1 Battery

In 1980, Terence Meaden, a metereologist and physicist, proposed that the circles were caused by whirlwinds whose course was affected by southern England hills.^[2] As circles became more complex, Terence had to create increasingly complex theories, blaming electromagneto-hydrodynamic "plasma vortexes".^[2] Sony VAIO VPCF112FX/B Battery

The meteorological theory became popular and it was even endorsed in 1991 by physicist Stephen Hawking who said that, "Corn circles are either hoaxes or formed by vortex movement of air".^[2] The weather theory suffered a serious blow in 1991, Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery

but Hawking's point about hoaxes was confirmed, when Bower and Chorley confessed that they had been responsible for making all those circles.^[2]

Paranormal

Since becoming the attention of widespread media attention in the 1980s, crop circles have become the subject of speculation by various paranormal, Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery

ufological, and anomalistic investigators ranging from proposals that they were created by bizarre meteorological phenomena to messages from extraterrestrial beings.^{[22][30][31][32]}

Many crop circles have been found near ancient sites such as Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire. Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery

They have also been found near mounds of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, also known as tumulibarrows, or barrows and chalk horses, or trenches dug and filled with rubble made from brighter material than the natural bedrock, often chalk. Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery

There has also been speculation that crop circles have a relation to ley lines. Many New Agegroups incorporate crop circles into their belief systems.

Some have related crop circles to the Gaia hypothesis, alleging that "Gaia", the earth, Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery

is actually alive and that crop circles are messages or responses to stimuli such as global warming and human pollution. It asserts that the earth may be modeled as if a single super-organism, in that earthly components (e.g. biota, climate, temperature, sunlight, etc.) influence each other and are organized to function and develop as a whole.^[35] Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery

Among others, paranormal enthusiasts, ufologists, and anomalistic investigators have offered hypothetical explanations that have been criticized aspseudoscientific by skeptical groups like the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery

Responding to local beliefs that "extraterrestrial beings" in UFOs were responsible for crop circles appearing, the Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) described crop circles as "man-made". Thomas Djamaluddin, research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at LAPAN stated: Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery

"We have come to agree that this 'thing' cannot be scientifically proven. Scientists have put UFOs in the category of pseudoscience."^[40]

Animal activity

In 2009, the attorney general for the island state of Tasmania stated that Australian wallabies had been found creating crop circles in fields of opium poppies, Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ Battery

which are grown legally for medicinal use, after consuming some of the opiate-laden poppies and running in circles.^[41]

Changes to crops

Scientists have found differences between the crops inside the circles and outside of them, and they are still studying them. Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ Battery

It has been reported that the pulvini of wheat in 95% of the crop circles investigated were elongated in a pattern falling off with distance from the centre, and that seeds from the bent-over plants grew much more slowly under controlled conditions. Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ Battery

Furthermore, traces of crop circles patterns are sometimes found in the crop the following year.^[2]

Folklore

Researchers of crop circles have linked modern crop circles to old folkloric tales, to support the claim that they are not artificially produced.^[7] Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B Battery

Circle crops are culture-dependant: they appear mostly in Western countries and Japan, but they don't appear at all in Muslim countries.^[42]

Fungi can cause circular areas of crop to die, probably the origin of tales of "fairie rings".^[7] Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E Battery

Tales also mention balls of light many times, but never in relation to crop circles.

A 17th century English woodcut called the Mowing-Devil depicts the devil with a scythe mowing (cutting)^[43] a circular design in a field of oats. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H Battery

The pamphlet containing the image states that the farmer, disgusted at the wage his mower was demanding for his work, insisted that he would rather have "the devil himself" perform the task. This is, however, not a historical precedent of crop circles because the stalks were cut down, not bent.^[7] Sony VAIO VPCF11MFX/B Battery

 The circular form indicated to the farmer that it had been caused by the devil.^[7]

In the 1948 German story Die zwölf Schwäne (The Twelve Swans), a farmer every morning found a circular ring of flattened grain on his field. After several attempts, his son saw twelve princesses disguised as swans, Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E Battery

who took out their disguises and danced in the field. It was probably inspired by the belief that natural fungi rings were created by dancing wolves or fairies.^[7]

In popular culture

The popularization of crop circles was mainly due to two different crop circles that had unusual circumstances surrounding them: Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B Battery

the Julia set in Britain, and the Scorpio set in the Netherlands. The Julia set was discovered in 7 July 1996, near Stonehenge, formed by complex Julia set figures, appearing at some time between 5 PM and 5:30 PM, with no indication of what or who had caused it. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E Battery

The Scorpio was discovered in 1 August 2001, and cereologists claimed that it corrupted the photos in their digital cameras, and that they could detect ley lines via dowsing.^[21]

They are commercialized in T-shirts, yearbooks, etc., and there is even a boardgame and a videogame. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI Battery

Musician Stephen J. Smith composed crop-circle music. Crop circles are prevalent in the 2002 movie Signs and its 2003 imitation Silent Warnings.

Diessenhofen is a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ Battery

Diessenhofen is first mentioned in 757 as Deozincova.^[3] In 2000, the village of Willisdorf was incorporated into the municipality. The earliest traces of a settlement are Stone and Bronze Age scattered objects found in the shallow valleys of the district and on the banks of the Rhine. Sony VAIO VPCF127HGBI Battery

A hoard of coins from the Roman era (251-270), and the remains of three towers of the Danube-Iller-Rhein Limes (4th century) show Roman settlements in the area. The reference in a deed of the Abbey of St. Gall from 757 mention an Alamanni village, which was probably on the plateau south of the church. Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI Battery

In 1178 Count Hartmann III. of Kyburg, raised the village to town and probably appointed a Ministerialis(unfree knights in the service of a feudal overlord) family as the Stewards of Diessenhofen. By 1245, at the latest, it was the center of a bailiwick and a castle was built in town. Sony VAIO VPCS111FM/S Battery

Compared to Schaffhausen and Stein am Rhein, Diessenhofen was a modest market town. Hartmann granted the town a measure of freedom and self-government. He used the castle and bridge over the Rhine to secure and defend his possessions on both sides of the Rhine. Sony VAIO VPCS115EC Battery

After the extinction of the Kyburgs and the transition of sovereignty to the Habsburgs in 1264, the city developed as one of the cornerstones of the region. The Stewards, who sat at Unterhof Castle, temporarily united both the Vogt and Schultheissoffices into a single person. Sony VAIO VPCS115FG Battery

By 1320 the citizens chose a Town Council of 8-12 members, and during the 15th Century this evolved into a 24-28 member Grand Town Council. In 1349, the Duke of Austria wrestled the Vogt office away from the Stewards and granted it to another Ministerialis. Sony VAIO VPCS117GG Battery

These two developments made citizenship rights in Diessenhofen increasingly important.^[3]

The loss of Habsburg influence and the decline of the Habsburg supported Stewards gradually transformed the city between 1415 and 1442. Sony VAIO VPCS117GGB Battery

Diessenhofen was captured in 1460 during the conquest of Thurgau by the Swiss Confederation. The town was besieged for ten days before it was captured, but, much like Frauenfeld, it retained certain privileges in the new Thurgau. These included both thehigh and low courts and the recently acquired customs, tax and Vogt rights, Sony VAIO VPCS118EC Battery

as well as the castle. After 1574 they also acquired the rights over the left bank of the Rhine and the possessions of Paradise Monastery. During the 16th Century, the town gained the low court rights over most of the modern Diessenhofen District. Sony VAIO VPCS119FJ/B Battery

Diessenhofen's court decisions did not have to be approved by the Governor in Frauenfeld, but went directly to the Confederation Council, in contrast to the rest of Thurgau. The city only had to pay homage to the Governor every two years.^[3]

The patronage of the church of St. Dionysius is mentioned in 1468. Sony VAIO VPCS119GC Battery

The advowson right in the 12th Century was included in the possession of the Count of Thurgau. By 1230 it was held by the Kyburgs. In 1264, the city government through the Habsburgs had the right. Practically, the citizens exercised the right after 1383 and it was legally confirmed in 1415. Sony VAIO VPCS11AFJ Battery

When the Protestant Reformation entered the town in 1524, many citizens converted to the new religion. The Masswas abolished in 1529 by the Protestant pastor, who also ordered the confiscation of Catholic Church property. Diessenhofen supported the city of Zurich in theSecond war of Kappel in 1531, Sony VAIO VPCS11AGJ Battery

which ended in a Protestant defeat. After the defeat, the Catholic cantons reintroduced the Mass in 1532. The church remained ashared church until the construction of the Catholic Church in 1966-67. In 1349 the Jewish community of Diessenhofen was driven out of town. Sony VAIO VPCS11AHJ Battery

In 1401 a Jewish man was successfully prosecuted for ritual murder, which led to further persecution in Winterthur and Schaffhausen. During the 13th Century, two Nunneries were built between Diessenhofen and Schaffhausen, St. Katharinental and Paradise, which remained in operation until their dissolution in the 19th Century. Sony VAIO VPCS11AVJ Battery

Since the Early Middle Ages the district has been known as the granary of the Thurgau due to its extensive and productive grain fields. Additionally, already in the 9th Century widespread viticulture is mentioned in the Upper Rhine region. Sony VAIO VPCS11J7E/B Battery

Until the 19th Century, the city was largely self-supplied for food and served as a collection point for food heading from the farms to the surrounding cities (especially Schaffhausen and Zurich). In the 12th Century are a weekly markets in town. Sony VAIO VPCS11M1E/W Battery

Starting in 1387 two yearly markets opened and by the 19th Century that it had increased to eight yearly markets. The local industry covered only the simplest needs of the city and its limited market area. The limited industry and area provided too little money to support the formation of trade-oriented guilds. Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E Battery

Diessenhofen was never dominated by a single industry or a special craft. It never was involved in the international Lake Constance trade industry. The town's location on the Rhine favored the development of fisheries, and it benefited from the salt trade. Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E/B Battery

Bridge and transit tariffs provided the majority of the town's income until the abolition of internal tariffs in 1848.^[3]

Geography

Diessenhofen has an area, as of 2009, of 10.12 square kilometers (3.91 sq mi). Sony VAIO VPCS11X9E/B Battery

Of this area, 4.24 km² (1.64 sq mi) or 41.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 3.67 km² (1.42 sq mi) or 36.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.62 km²(0.63 sq mi) or 16.0% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.51 km² (0.20 sq mi) or 5.0% is either rivers or lakes.^[4] Sony VAIO VPCS123FGB Battery

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 5.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 1.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.8%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.3% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 5.8%. Sony VAIO VPCS125EC Battery

Out of the forested land, 33.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 40.9% is used for growing crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.^[4]

The municipality borders on the west and north with Germany and the canton of Schaffhausen. Sony VAIO VPCS128EC Battery

On the east is the district ofSteckborn, on the southeast, the municipality of Schlatt bei Diessenhofen, and on the south the municipality of Basadingen-Schlattingen.

Diessenhofen has a population (as of December 2011) of 3,457^[1] As of 2008, 30.7% of the population are foreign nationals.^[5] Sony VAIO VPCS129GC Battery

Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 1.5%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaksGerman(81.8%), with Italian being second most common ( 5.2%) and Albanian being third ( 3.9%).^[6]

As of 2008, the gender distribution of the population was 50.7% male and 49.3% female. Sony VAIO VPCS12C7E/B Battery

The population was made up of 1,088 Swiss men (33.4% of the population), and 564 (17.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,171 Swiss women (35.9%), and 437 (13.4%) non-Swiss women.^[5]

In 2008 there were 23 live births to Swiss citizens and 14 births to non-Swiss citizens, Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B Battery

and in same time span there were 17 deaths of Swiss citizens and 3 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 6 while the foreign population increased by 11. There were 4 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B Battery

2 Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 34 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 28 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was an increase of 25 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 32 people. Sony VAIO VPCY115FGS Battery

This represents apopulation growth rate of 1.8%.^[5]

The age distribution, as of 2009, in Diessenhofen is; 297 children or 9.0% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 384 teenagers or 11.6% are between 10 and 19. Sony VAIO VPCY115FX/BI Battery

Of the adult population, 430 people or 13.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 460 people or 13.9% are between 30 and 39, 516 people or 15.6% are between 40 and 49, and 472 people or 14.2% are between 50 and 59. Sony VAIO VPCY115FXBI Battery

The senior population distribution is 418 people or 12.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 224 people or 6.8% are between 70 and 79, there are 99 people or 3.0% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 14 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older.^[7] Sony VAIO VPCY118EC Battery

As of 2000 the average number of residents per living room was 0.58 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics.^[8] Sony VAIO VPCY118GX/BI Battery

About 33.7% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage or a rent-to-own agreement).^[9]

As of 2000, there were 1,325 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household.^[6] Sony VAIO VPCY119FJ/S Battery

In 2000 there were 338 single family homes (or 67.1% of the total) out of a total of 504 inhabited buildings. There were 46 two family buildings (9.1%), 36 three family buildings (7.1%) and 84 multi-family buildings (or 16.7%).^[10] There were 732 (or 22.7%) persons who were part of a couple without children, Sony VAIO VPCY11AFJ Battery

and 1,722 (or 53.4%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 175 (or 5.4%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 6 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 9 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 23 who lived in a household made up of unrelated persons, Sony VAIO VPCY11AGJ Battery

and 107 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.^[11]

The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2008, was 1.72%. As of 2007, the construction rate of new housing units was 0.6 new units per 1000 residents.^[6] Sony VAIO VPCY11AHJ Battery

In 2000 there were 1,528 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 4 room apartment of which there were 471. There were 88 single room apartments and 162 apartments with six or more rooms.^[12] As of 2000 the average price to rent an average apartment in Diessenhofen was 900.07 Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$720, £410, €580 approx. Sony VAIO VPCY11AVJ Battery

exchange rate from 2000). The average rate for a one room apartment was 649.00 CHF (US$520, £290, €420), a two room apartment was about 628.34 CHF (US$500, £280, €400), a three room apartment was about 788.98 CHF (US$630, £360, €500) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1614.00 CHF Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E/S Battery

 (US$1290, £730, €1030). The average apartment price in Diessenhofen was 80.7% of the national average of 1116 CHF.^[13]

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 43.96% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (16.98%), Sony VAIO VPCY11S1E Battery

theCVP (12.61%) and the FDP (11.63%). In the federal election, a total of 909 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 47.3%.

Heritage sites of national significance

Unterhof Castle, City Archives in the Rathaus (Town council house), Former Dominican Monastery of St. Katharinental with its granary, Sony VAIO VPCY11V9E/S Battery

the zum Goldenen LöwenHouse and the Goldener Leuen Collection, the Rheinbrücke (Rhine Bridge), and the city walls with Siegelturm are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. Both the town of Diessenhofen and St Katharinental Monastery are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/BI Battery

Economy

As of 2007, Diessenhofen had an unemployment rate of 1.59%. As of 2005, there were 74 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 25 businesses involved in this sector. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/G Battery

668 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 54 businesses in this sector. 901 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 143 businesses in this sector.^[6]

In 2000 there were 2,220 workers who lived in the municipality. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/L Battery

Of these, 964 or about 43.4% of the residents worked outside Diessenhofen while 967 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 2,223 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality.^[16] Of the working population, 12.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 44.7% used a private car.^[6] Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/P Battery

Religion

From the 2000 census, 955 or 29.6% were Roman Catholic, while 1,335 or 41.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 3 Old Catholics (or about 0.09% of the population) Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery

who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland there are 98 individuals (or about 3.04% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 96 individuals (or about 2.97% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/P Battery

There were 3 individuals (or about 0.09% of the population) who were Jewish, and 318 (or about 9.85% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 11 individuals (or about 0.34% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 269 (or about 8.34% of the population) belong to no church, Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/SI Battery

are agnosticor atheist, and 139 individuals (or about 4.31% of the population) did not answer the question.^[17]

Education

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S5C CN1 Battery

In Diessenhofen about 66.5% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatoryupper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).^[6]

Diessenhofen is home to the Diessenhofen primary and secondary school district. Sony VAIO VPCEA20 Battery

In the 2008/2009 school year there are 691 students at either the primary or secondary levels. There are 131 children in the kindergarten, and the average class size is 18.71 kindergartners. Of the children in kindergarten, 63 or 48.1% are female, 32 or 24.4% are not Swiss citizens and 30 or 22.9% do not speak German natively. Sony VAIO VPCEB10 Battery

The lower and upper primary levels begin at about age 5-6 and lasts for 6 years. There are 200 children in who are at the lower primary level and 236 children in the upper primary level. The average class size in the primary school is 20.1 students. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM Battery

At the lower primary level, there are 93 children or 46.5% of the total population who are female, 52 or 26.0% are not Swiss citizens and 48 or 24.0% do not speak German natively. In the upper primary level, there are 100 or 42.4% who are female, 59 or 25.0% are not Swiss citizens and 63 or 26.7% do not speak German natively. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/BI Battery

At the secondary level, students are divided according to performance.

The secondary level begins at about age 12 and usually lasts 3 years. There are 220 teenagers who are in the advanced school, of which 125 or 56.8% are female, 45 or 20.5% are not Swiss citizens and 41 or 18.6% do not speak German natively. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/T Battery

There are 19 teenagers who are in the standard school, of which 8 or 42.1% are female, 5 or 26.3% are not Swiss citizens and 5 or 26.3% do not speak German natively. Finally, there are 16 teenagers who are in special or remedial classes, of which 6 or 37.5% are female, 8 or 50.0% are not Swiss citizens and 8 or 50.0% do not speak German natively. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/WI Battery

The average class size for all classes at the secondary level is 19.92 students.

The Nazca Lines /ˈnæzkə/ are a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. They were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX Battery

The high, arid plateau stretches more than 80 kilometres (50 mi) between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana about 400 km south of Lima. Although some local geoglyphs resemble Paracas motifs, scholars believe the Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture between 400 and 650 AD.^[1] Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/BI Battery

The hundreds of individual figures range in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds,spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks, orcas, llamas, and lizards.

The lines are shallow designs made in the ground by removing the reddish pebbles and uncovering the whitish/grayish ground beneath. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/T Battery

Hundreds are simple lines or geometric shapes; more than seventy are zoomorphic designs of animals such as birds, fish, llamas, jaguar, monkey, or human figures. Other designs include phytomorphic shapes such astrees and flowers. The largest figures are over 200 metres (660 ft) across. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/WI Battery

Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose of the designs, but in general they ascribe religious significance to them. Other theories have been summarized as follows:

"The geometric ones could indicate the flow of water or be connected to rituals to summon water. Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX Battery

The spiders, birds, and plants could be fertility symbols. Other possible explanations include: irrigation schemes or giant astronomical calendars."

Due to the dry, windless, and stable climate of the plateau and its isolation, for the most part the lines have been preserved. Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/BI Battery

Extremely rare changes in weather may temporarily alter the general designs.

Discovery and construction

Contrary to the popular belief that the lines and figures can only be seen with the aid of flight, they are visible from atop the surrounding foothills. Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/T Battery

They were first discovered by the Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe, who spotted them when hiking through the foothills in 1927. He discussed them at a conference in Lima in 1939.^[3]

Paul Kosok, a historian from Long Island University, is credited as the first scholar to seriously study the Nazca Lines. Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/WI Battery

In the country in 1940-41 to study ancient irrigation systems, he flew over the lines and realized that one was in the shape of a bird. Another chance helped him see how lines converged at the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. He began to study how the lines might have been created, as well as to try to determine their purpose. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX Battery

He was joined by Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and archaeologist to help figure out the purpose of the Nazca Lines. They proposed one of the earliest reasons for the existence of the figures; to be markers on the horizon to show where the sun and other celestial bodies rose. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/BI Battery

Archeologists, historians and mathematicians have all struggled with determining the purpose of the lines.

Determining how they were made has been easier than figuring why they were made. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/BIC Battery

Scholars have theorized the Nazca people could have used simple tools and surveying equipment to construct the lines. Archaeological surveys have found wooden stakes in the ground at the end of some lines, which support this theory. One such stake was carbon-dated and was the basis for establishing the age of the design complex. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/T Battery

The scholar Joe Nickell of the University of Kentucky has reproduced the figures by using tools and technology available to the Nazca people. The National Geographic called his work "remarkable in its exactness" when compared to the actual lines.^[4] Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX Battery

With careful planning and simple technologies, a small team of people could recreate even the largest figures within days, without any aerial assistance.^[3]

On the ground, most of the lines are formed by a shallow trench with a depth of between 10 cm (3.9 in) and 15 cm (5.9 in). Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/BI Battery

Such trenches were made by removing the reddish-brown iron oxide-coated pebbles that cover the surface of the Nazca desert. When this gravel is removed the light-colored earth which is exposed in the bottom of the trench produces lines which contrast sharply in color and tone with the surrounding land surface. Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/T Battery

This sublayer contains high amounts of lime which, with the morning mist, hardens to form a protective layer that shields the lines from winds, thereby preventing erosion.

The Nazca "drew" several hundred simple but huge curvilinear animal and human figures by this technique. Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/WI Battery

In total, the earthwork project is huge and complex: the area encompassing the lines is nearly 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi), and the largest figures can span nearly 270 metres (890 ft). Some of the measurements for the figures include that the Hummingbird is 93 meters (310 ft) long, the Condor is 134 meters (440 ft), Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM Battery

the Monkey is 93 meters (310 ft) by 58 meters (190 ft), and the Spider is 47 meters (150 ft). The extremely dry, windless, and constant climate of the Nazca region has preserved the lines well. The Nazca desert is one of the driest on Earth and maintains a temperature around 25 °C (77 °F) all year round. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/BI Battery

The lack of wind has helped keep the lines uncovered and visible to the present day.

The discovery of two new small figures was announced in early 2011 by a Japanese team from Yamagata University. One of these resembles a human head and is dated to the early period of Nazca culture or earlier and the other, undated, an animal. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/T Battery

In March 2012 the university announced that a new research center would be opened at the site in September 2012 to study the area for the next 15 years.The team has been doing field work there since 2006 when it found about 100 new geoglyphs. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/WI Battery

Purpose

Archeologists, ethnologists, and anthropologists have studied the ancient Nazca culture and the complex to try to determine the purpose of the lines and figures. One hypothesis is that the Nazca people created them to be seen by their gods in the sky. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX Battery

Kosok and Reiche advanced a purpose related to astronomy and cosmology: the lines were intended to act as a kind of observatory, to point to the places on the distant horizon where the sun and other celestial bodies rose or set in the solstices. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/BI Battery

Many prehistoric indigenous cultures in the Americas and elsewhere constructed earthworks that combined such astronomical sighting with their religious cosmology, as did the laterMississippian culture at Cahokia in present-day United States. Another example is Stonehenge in England. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/T Battery

But, Gerald Hawkins and Anthony Aveni, experts in archaeoastronomy, concluded in 1990 that there was insufficient evidence to support such an astronomical explanation.^[7]

Reiche asserted that some or all of the figures represented constellations. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/WI Battery

By 1998, Phyllis B. Pitluga, a protégé of Reiche and senior astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, had concluded that the animal figures were "representations of heavenly shapes. But she contends that they are not shapes of constellations but of what might be called counter constellations, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX Battery

the irregular-shaped dark patches within the twinkling expanse of the Milky Way."^[8]Aveni criticized her work for failing to account for all the details.

In 1985, the archaeologist Johan Reinhard published archaeological, ethnographic, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/B Battery

and historical data demonstrating that worship of mountains and other water sources predominated in Nazca religion and economy from ancient to recent times. He theorized that the lines and figures were part of religious practices involving the worship of deities associated with the availability of water, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/G Battery

which directly related to the success and productivity of crops. He interpreted the lines as sacred paths leading to places where these deities could be worshiped. The figures were symbols representing animals and objects meant to invoke the gods' aid in supplying water. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/L Battery

But, the precise meanings of many of the individual geoglyphs remain unsolved as of 2012.

Henri Stierlin, a Swiss art historian specializing in Egypt and the Middle East, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/P Battery

published a book in 1983 linking the Nazca Lines to the production of ancienttextiles that archeologists have found wrapping mummies of the Paracas culture.^[9] He contended that the people may have used the lines and trapezes as giant, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/W Battery

primitive looms to fabricate the extremely long strings and wide pieces of textile that are typical of the area. By his theory, the figurative patterns (smaller and less common) were meant only for ritualistic purposes. This theory is not widely accepted, Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX Battery

although scholars have noted similarities in patterns between the textiles and the Nazca Lines, which they take as sharing in a common culture.

Alternative explanations

Phillis Pitluga, senior astronomer at the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum and a protégé of Reiche, did computer-aided studies of star alignments. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/B Battery

She asserted that the giant spider figure is an anamorphic diagram of the constellation Orion. She further suggested that three of the straight lines leading to the figure were used to track the changingdeclinations of the three stars of Orion's Belt. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/G Battery

In a critique of her analysis, Dr. Anthony F. Aveni noted that she did not account for the other twelve lines of the figure; he commented generally on her conclusions, saying:

I really had trouble finding good evidence to back up what she contended. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/L Battery

Pitluga never laid out the criteria for selecting the lines she chose to measure, nor did she pay much attention to the archaeological data Clarkson and Silverman had unearthed. Her case did little justice to other information about the coastal cultures, save applying, Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/P Battery

with subtle contortions, Urton's representations of constellations from the highlands. As historianJacquetta Hawkes might ask: was she getting the pampa she desired.

Some individuals propose alternative hypotheses. The Swiss author Erich von Däniken suggests the Nazca lines and other complex constructions represent higher Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/W Battery

technological knowledge than commonly believed to be existing when the glyphs were created. Von Däniken maintains that the Nazca lines in Peru are runways of an ancient airfield that was used by extraterrestrials mistaken by the natives to be their gods. His theory has not been accepted by scholars. Sony VAIO VPCEB190X Battery

Jim Woodmann believes that the Nazca Lines could not have been made without some form of manned flight to see the figures properly. Based on his study of available technology, he suggests that a hot air balloon was the only possible means of flight. Sony VAIO VPCEB19FX Battery

To test this hypothesis, Woodmann made a hot-air balloon using materials and techniques that he understood to be available to the Nazca people. The balloon flew, after a fashion. Most scholars have rejected Woodmann's thesis as ad hoc,^[3] because of the lack of any evidence of such balloons.^[11] Sony VAIO VPCEB19GX Battery

Environmental concerns

People trying to preserve the Nazca Lines are concerned about threats of pollution and erosion caused by deforestation in the region.

The Lines themselves are superficial, they are only 10 to 30 cm deep and could be washed away... Sony VAIO VPCEB1AFX Battery

Nazca has only ever received a small amount of rain. But now there are great changes to the weather all over the world. The Lines cannot resist heavy rain without being damaged.

After flooding and mudslides in the area in mid-February 2007, Sony VAIO VPCEB1AFX/B Battery

Mario Olaechea Aquije, archaeological resident from Peru's National Institute of Culture, and a team of specialists surveyed the area. He said, "[T]he mudslides and heavy rains did not appear to have caused any significant damage to the Nazca Lines, Sony VAIO VPCEB1AGX Battery

" but the nearby Southern Pan-American Highway did suffer damage, and "the damage done to the roads should serve as a reminder to just how fragile these figures are."

A geoglyph is a large design or motif (generally longer than 4 meters) Sony VAIO VPCEB1AGX/BI Battery

produced on the ground and typically formed byclastic rocks or similarly durable elements of the landscape, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth. A positive geogplyph is formed by the arrangement and alignment of materials on the ground in a manner akin to petroforms, Sony VAIO VPCEB1BGX Battery

while anegative geoglyph is formed by removing patinated clasts to expose unpatinated ground in a manner akin to petroglyphs.

Ancient

The most famous geoglyphs are the Nazca Lines in Peru. The cultural significance of these geoglyphs for their creators remains unclear, despite many hypotheses.^[1] Sony VAIO VPCEB1BGX/BI Battery

The "Works of the Old Men" in Arabia, "stone-built structures that are far more numerous than (the) Nazca Lines, far more extensive in the area that they cover, and far older," ^[2] have been described as geoglyphs by Amelia Sparavigna, a physics professor at Politecnico di Torino in Italy.^[3] Sony VAIO VPCEB1CGX Battery

The use of this term to describe these features is probably inaccurate, as recent research has shown that most were not constructed primarily as art, but were rather built to serve a range of purposes including burial sites and funerary customs, Sony VAIO VPCEB1CGX/BI Battery

aiding in the trapping of migratory animals, and as cleared areas for camps, houses and animal enclosures.^[4]

Since the 1970s, numerous geoglyphs have been discovered on deforested land in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil, leading to claims about Pre-Columbian civilizations. Sony VAIO VPCEB1DGX Battery

 Alceu Ranzi, a Brazilian geographer, is accredited with first discovering the geoglyphs whilst flying over Acre.^[8]

Other areas with geoglyphs include Megaliths in the Urals, South Australia (Marree Man), Western Australia and parts of theGreat Basin Desert in the southwestern United States. Sony VAIO VPCEB1DGX/BI Battery

Hill figures, turf mazes and the stone-lined labyrinths of Scandinavia,Iceland, Lappland and the former Soviet Union are types of geoglyph.

Modern

Not all geoglyphs are ancient. The Land Art movement created many new geoglyphs as well as other structures; Sony VAIO VPCEB1EGX Battery

perhaps the most famous example is Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson. Many towns and cites in the Western United States use hillside letters(also known as "Mountain Monograms") on the hills above their locations. Contemporary Australian sculptor Andrew Rogers has created geoglyphs around the world called Sony VAIO VPCEB1EGX/BI Battery

"The Rhythms of Life". You Yangs National Park is the home of a geoglyph constructed by Rogers in recognition of the indigenous people of the area. It depicts Bunjil, a mythical creature in the culture of the local Wautharong Aborigines. Sony VAIO VPCEB1FGX Battery

In 2008/2009 Alfie Dennen created Britglyph, a locative art focused Geoglyph created by having participants across the United Kingdom leave rocks at highly specific locations and uploading media created at each location. Sony VAIO VPCEB1FGX/BI Battery

When taken together and viewed on the main project website an image of a watch and chain inspired by John Harrison's marine chronometer H5 was created.

The Alien was an Indian-American science fiction film under production in the late 1960s which was eventually cancelled. Sony VAIO VPCEB1GGX Battery

It was being directed by the celebrated Indian director Satyajit Ray and co-produced by Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures. The script was written by Ray in 1967, loosely based onBankubabur Bandhu (Banku Babu's Friend or Mr. Banku's Friend), Sony VAIO VPCEB1GGX/BI Battery

a Bengali science fiction story he had written in 1962 for Sandesh, the Ray family magazine, which gained popularity among Bengalis in the early 1960s. Bankubabur Bandhu was eventually adapted into a television movie by Satyajit Ray's son Sandip Rayalongside Kaushik Sen in 2006. Sony VAIO VPCEB1HGX Battery

The plot revolved around a spaceship that landed in a pond in rural Bengal. The villagers began worshiping it as a temple risen from the depths of the earth. The alien, known as "Mr. Ang", established contact with a young village boy named Haba (meaning "Dumb" in Bengali) Sony VAIO VPCEB1HGX/BI Battery

through dreams and also played a number of pranks on the village community in course of its short stay on Planet Earth. The plot contained the ebullient presence of an Indian businessman, a journalist from Calcutta and an American engineer. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX Battery

Ray's biographer W. Andrew Robinson describes one particular scene from the screenplay as follows: "In a series of fantastically quick, short steps over the lotus leaves, the Alien reaches the shore of the pond. He looks down at the grass, examines the blade and is off hopping into the bamboo grove. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/B Battery

There the Alien sees a small plant. His eyes light up with a yellow light. He passes his hand over the plant, and flowers come out. A thin, soft high-pitched laugh shows the Alien is pleased."^[2]

Production

The Alien had Columbia Pictures as producer for this planned US–India co-production, and Peter Sellers and Marlon Brando acting in lead roles. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/G Battery

However, Ray was surprised to find that the script he had written had already been copyrighted and the fee appropriated by Mike Wilson (Ray's representative in Hollywood). Wilson had copyrighted the script as co-writer, despite not being involved in any way in its creation. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/L Battery

Marlon Brando later dropped out of the project and though an attempt was made to bring James Coburn in his place, Ray became disillusioned and returned to Calcutta. Columbia expressed interest in reviving the project several times in the 1970s and '80s but nothing came of it. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/P Battery

Legacy

What differentiated The Alien from previous science fiction films was the portrayal of an alien from outer space as a kind and playful being, invested with magical powers and capable of interacting with children, in contrast to earlier science fiction movies which portrayed aliens as dangerous creatures. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/W Battery

 However, noted sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein had published his 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land a year before Ray's story. It featured a kind and peaceful lone alien with psychic abilities, and his interactions with people on Earth. Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX Battery

When the New Hollywood film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was produced in 1982 by the same company that had contracted with Ray in 1967, many, including Arthur C. Clarke, saw striking similarities in the movie to Ray's earlier script - Ray discussed the collapse of the project in a 1980 Sight & Sound feature, Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX/B Battery

with further details revealed by Ray's biographer Andrew Robinson (in The Inner Eye, 1989). Ray believed that Steven Spielberg's film "would not have been possible without my script of The Alien being available throughout America in mimeographed copies." Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX/W Battery

When the issue was raised by the press, Spielberg denied this claim and said "I was a kid in high school when his script was circulating in Hollywood."^[3] Star Weekend Magazine disputes Spielberg's claim, pointing out that he had graduated from high school in 1965 and began his career as a director in Hollywood in 1969.^[4] Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX Battery

 Besides E.T., it is also believed that another earlier Spielberg film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), may also have been inspired by The Alien.^[3][5]

The 2003 Bollywood film Koi... Mil Gaya, directed by Rakesh Roshan, appears to be based on Satyajit Ray's The Alien. Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX/BI Battery

In particular, the film appears to parallelThe Alien more closely than E.T. in that it revolves around a mentally retarded person coming in contact with a friendly alien.

In 2003, Satyajit Ray's son Sandip Ray began working on adapting Ray's original 1962 story Bankubabur Bandhu into a Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX/WI Battery

Bengali television movie of the same name.^[3]The adapted film, directed by Kaushik Sen, was eventually shown on television in India in 2006. This version is based on Ray's original story Bankubabur Bandhuwhere the protagonist was a school teacher named Banku Babu, Sony VAIO VPCEB1MFX Battery

in contrast to his script for The Alien where the protagonist was a boy named Haba.

The Alien film series is a science fiction horror film franchise, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) and her battle with anextraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien". Sony VAIO VPCEB1MFX/BI Battery

Produced by 20th Century Fox, the series started with the 1979 film Alien, which led to three movie sequels, as well as numerous books, comics and video game spinoffs.

Related to the franchise are the "Alien vs. Predator" films (Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem), Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX Battery

based on the related franchise which combines the Aliens with the Predators from the Predator film series, and the 2012 film Prometheus, based on elements from the original Alien film.

The spaceship Nostromo visits a desolate planetoid after receiving an unknown signal from a derelict alien spacecraft. Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/B Battery

While exploring the ship, one of theNostromo's crewmen discovers an egg-like object, which releases a creature that attaches itself to his face and renders him unconscious. Some time later, the parasite dies and the crewman wakes up, seemingly fine. Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/L Battery

However, an alien creature later bursts out of his chest and, after rapidly growing into an eight-foot creature, starts killing other members of the crew.

After completion of the film Dark Star (1974), executive Dan O'Bannon thought to develop some of the ideas Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/P Battery

 (especially the theme of "alien hunts crew through a spaceship") and create a science-fiction horror film. It was provisionally called Memory. Screenwriter Ronald Shusett collaborated with O'Bannon on the project, adding elements from a previous O'Bannon script, Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/W Battery

 Gremlins, which featured gremlins causing mayhem aboard a World War II bomber and wreaking havoc with the crew. The duo finished the script, initially entitled Star Beast, and O'Bannon noticed the number of times the word "alien" occurred in the script, and so he adoptedAlien for the film's title. Sony VAIO VPCEB1PFX Battery

The writers imagined a low-budget film, but Star Wars' success inclined Fox to invest millions on the production.^[3]

In the original script the ship has an all-male crew (though the script's 'Cast of Characters' section explicitly states that Sony VAIO VPCEB1PFX/B Battery

"The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women"), including the Ripley character, who would be played by actor Tom Skerritt. Later, when producer Alan Ladd, Jr., andscript-doctors Walter Hill and David Giler heard rumors of Fox working on other titles with strong female leads,^[1] Sony VAIO VPCEB1QGX Battery

Sigourney Weaver was cast as Ripley^[4] and Skerritt became Captain Dallas.

Swiss painter and sculptor H. R. Giger designed the alien creature's adult form and the derelict ship,^[5] while Moebius created visuals for the spacesuits^[1] andRon Cobb provided most of the on-set design.^[6] Sony VAIO VPCEB1QGX/BI Battery

Aliens (1986)

Lieutenant Ellen Ripley, the only survivor of the Nostromo, awakens from hypersleep 57 years later, aboard a new space station. She discovers that the planetoid from the first movie (now known as LV-426) is now home to a terraforming colony. Sony VAIO VPCEB1RGX Battery

When contact with the colony is lost, Ripley accompanies a squad of Marines there aboard the Sulaco.

The first film of the series, directed by Ridley Scott, was successful, but Fox did not consider a sequel until 1983, Sony VAIO VPCEB1RGX/BI Battery

when James Cameron expressed his interest to producer David Giler in continuing the Alien story. After Cameron's The Terminator became a box office hit, Cameron and partner Gale Anne Hurd were given approval to direct and produce the sequel to Alien, scheduled for a 1986 release.^[7] Sony VAIO VPCEB20 Battery

Cameron wrote the screenplay from a story he developed with Giler and Walter Hill.

Alien 3 (1992)

Due to a fire aboard the Sulaco, an escape pod is released. It crash-lands on the refinery/prison planet Fiorina "Fury" 161. Ripley is the only survivor. Unknown to her, an egg was aboard the ship. Sony VAIO VPCEC20 Battery

The creature is born in the prison and begins a killing spree. Ripley later discovers there is also an alien queen growing inside her.

Following the second movie, Aliens, Weaver was not interested in returning to the series and so producers David Giler and Walter Hill commissioned a third Alienfilm without the Ripley character. Sony VAIO VPCEE20 Battery

The premise was to return Ripley in a fourth installment, but Fox's president Joe Roth did not agree with Ripley's removal and Weaver was approached to make Alien 3. Released in 1992, the film was troubled from the start of production; Sony VAIO VPCEF20 Battery

without even a finished script and having already spent a million before then, pop music video director David Fincher, the third director considered for the film, was hired to helm the project.^[8] After production was completed in late 1991, the studio reworked the film without Fincher's involvement or consent.^[9] Sony VAIO VPCF112FX/B Battery

Giler, Hill and Larry Ferguson wrote the screenplay, based on a story from an earlier script by Vincent Ward.

Alien Resurrection (1997)

Two hundred years after the events of the previous film, Ellen Ripley is cloned and an Alien queen is surgically removed from her body. Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery

The United Systems Military hopes to breed Aliens to study on the spaceship USM Auriga, using human hosts kidnapped and delivered to them by a group of mercenaries. The Aliens escape their enclosures, while Ripley and the mercenaries attempt to escape and destroy the Auriga before it reaches its destination, Earth. Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery

While fans and critics did not receive Alien 3 well, the film still made millions worldwide at the box office and piqued Fox's interest in continuing the franchise. In 1996, production on the fourth Alien film, Alien Resurrection, began. Ripley was not in the script's first draft, Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery

and Weaver was not interested in reprising the role, though later joined the project after being given a reported million dollar salary and more creative control (including being able to approve director Jean-Pierre Jeunet).^[10] The film, released in 1997, Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery

experienced an extended production and was described by screenwriter Joss Whedon as having done "everything wrong" with his script.^[11]

Alien vs. Predator (2004)

In 2004, a Predator ship arrives in Earth orbit to draw humans to an ancient Predator training ground on Bouvetøya, Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery

an island about one thousand miles north ofAntarctica. A buried pyramid which gives off a "heat bloom" attracts humans led by Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen), who unknowingly activates an alienegg production line. Three Predator hunter initiates enter the structure, Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery

killing all humans in their way with the intention of hunting the newly formed alien warriors. Two Predators die in the ensuing battle, while the third allies itself with the lone surviving human, Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan) in order to battle the escaped Queen Alien. Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery

The Queen is defeated, but not before she fatally wounds the last Predator. The orbiting Predator ship uncloaks and the crew retrieve the fallen Predator. A Predator elder gives Alexa a spear as a sign of respect, and then departs. Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery

Once in orbit it is revealed that a chestburster was in the corpse, though this specimen has Predator mandibles.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Set immediately after the previous film, the Predalien hybrid on board the Predator scout ship, Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ Battery

which just separated from the mothership from the previous film, has grown to full adult size and sets about killing the Predators on-board the ship, causing it to crash in Gunnison, Colorado. The last survivor activates a distress beacon with a video of the Predalien, which is received by a veteran Predator, Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ Battery

who sets off towards Earth to "clean up" the infestation. When it arrives, the Predator tracks the Aliens into a section of the sewer below town. He removes evidence of their presence as he goes by using a corrosive blue liquid. It uses a laser net to try to contain the creatures, but the Aliens still manage to escape into the town above. Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ Battery

The Predator fashions a plasma pistol from its remaining plasma caster and hunts Aliens all across town (accidentally cutting the power to the town in the process). During a confrontation with human survivors, the Predator loses its plasma pistol. Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B Battery

The Predator then fights the Predalien singlehandedly, and the two mortally wound one another just as the US military drops a tactical nuclear bomb on the town, incinerating both combatants as well as the few remaining humans in the city. The salvaged plasma pistol is then taken to Ms. Yutani. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E Battery

Prometheus (2012)

Prometheus is a 3-D science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. The film was originally intended as a direct prequel to the 1979 science fiction horror film Alien, set approximately 30 years before the events depicted in the film. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H Battery

While the finished film explored a more stand-alone mythology based upon the race of giant beings discovered by the crew of theNostromo in Alien, it is, as acknowledged in the end credits, based on elements from the original film. Filming began in March 2011 and Prometheus was released on May 30, 2012, in Belgium, Sony VAIO VPCF11MFX/B Battery

France, and Switzerland, and on June 1, 2012 in the United Kingdom. It was released on June 8, 2012, in North America.

Future films

Whedon had written an Earth-set script for Alien 5, but Weaver was not interested in this setting, and sought to return the story to the planetoid from the first film. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E Battery

She has remained open to a role in a fifth installment on the condition that she likes the story.^[12] Before 20th Century Fox greenlit Alien vs. Predator, James Cameron had been collaborating on the plot for a fifth Alien film with another writer. However, upon learning of Fox's plans for a crossover, he ceased work on his concept. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B Battery

Before he saw the film, Cameron had felt that it would "kill the validity of the franchise", and that "it was Frankenstein Meets Werewolf" – like "Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other". Although he liked Alien vs. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E Battery

Predator, Cameron ruled out any future involvement with the series.^[13]

In a 2002 interview, Ridley Scott stated that a new Alien project "would be a lot of fun", but that "the most important thing was to get the story right". Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI Battery

Scott's concept for the plot was "to go back to where the alien creatures were first found and explain how they were created".^[14] In late 2008, Weaver hinted in an interview with MTV that she and Scott were working on anAlien spinoff film, Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ Battery

which would focus on the chronicles of Ellen Ripley rather than on the Aliens, however nothing has materialized since.

IGN listed Alien as the thirteenth best film franchise of all time.^[37] Alien was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning for Best Visual Effects. Sony VAIO VPCF127HGBI Battery

Aliensreceived seven nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver, and won for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects. Alien 3 was nominated for Best Visual Effects. Alien was also inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for historical preservation as a film which is Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI Battery

"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".The American Film Institute ranked Alien as the sixth most thrilling American movieand seventh-best film in the science fiction genre, and in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains list, Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/B Battery

Ripley was ranked eighth among the heroes, and the Alien was fourteenth among the villains.

There have been dozens of stand-alone releases of the individual films on various formats, including Beta, VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD, Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/D Battery

though so far the Blu-rayformat has only seen a boxed set of the complete series which houses all the various versions of each film (a total of eight, see Alien Anthology below). The multiple single releases on VHS were generally the original theatrical cuts of each film, though at the very end of the format there was a sole release of theAliens: Special Edition (see below). Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/G Battery

Laserdisc saw single releases of all of the films in theatrical versions, as well as two so-called "box sets" which only contained one film (there were two single releases, one each for Alien and Aliens) but had multiple discs and a large amount of supplemental material with a high retail price tag (around $100USD). Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/P Battery

The Aliens set included a new "Special Edition" cut of the film completed by James Cameron just for this release, which was a significantly extended version of the film.

On DVD initially the films were only available as a boxed set (see Alien Legacy below) Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/W Battery

but were then released separately (and it should be noted that Aliens was only available in its "Special Edition" cut, not its original theatrical cut which did not make it to DVD until the next boxed set). The same pattern was followed when the two-disc special editions of the films came out after the Alien Quadrilogy set (see below), Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/B Battery

as each film got individual two-disc releases which contained the content of each film from that set. Since then, there have been multiple issues and reissues of the films, in both their theatrical or extended version, though some single releases include both. Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/D Battery

In addition to the single releases, there have been seven complete box sets of the series at various points in its history. With the exception of the DVD version of the Aliens Triple Pack, each release contained all of the films that had come out at the time the sets were released. Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/G Battery

The seven box sets each had unique characteristics and features which were then sometimes reused in later sets or single releases in one form or another, most notably the Blu-ray set which includes a detailed archive of many previous releases, including the rare Laserdisc box sets. Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/P Battery

Alien Triple Pack (VHS version), released on VHS in 1992 containing the first two films in the series and a third cassette with a 23-minute preview of the then upcoming theatrical release of Alien 3.^[40] (Not to be confused with the 2008 DVD set of the same name, see below.) Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/W Battery

• Alien Trilogy, released on VHS in 1993, a three-cassette packaging of the original theatrical cuts of Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3.^[41]

Alien Saga, a Japan-exclusive Laserdisc pack containing the first three films was released in 1999^[42] Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/B Battery

• (a planned U.S. version was canceled as DVDs were quickly taking over the much smaller domestic Laserdisc market in that country).^[43]

Alien Legacy, a four-volume set released on both DVD and VHS in 1999, containing the 1991 Laserdisc "Special Edition" cut of Aliens Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/B Battery

•  (for the first time on another format), the theatrical versions of the other three films, and on DVD had various supplemental materials that were either re-used from Laseridsc or newly created.^[44]

Alien Quadrilogy, released only on DVD in 2003, Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/D Battery

considered one of the most exhaustive box sets of the DVD era in terms of content and special features, is spread over nine discs : four discs (one disc each) for the theatrical and extended cuts of each film (new "2003" cuts of Alien, Alien 3, and Alien: Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/D Battery

• Resurrection and the previously released 1991 "Special Edition" cut of Aliens), four discs containing special features specific to each film, along with an extra disc of documentaries and other supplemental content.^[45][46]

The films were later re-released as 2-disc individual titles as part of 20th Century Fox's Collector's Series. Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/G Battery

Alien Triple Pack (DVD version), released on DVD in 2008 is a 3-disc package including the theatrical cuts of Alien and Alien 3, as well as the "Special Edition" of Aliens, reusing the name of the 1992 VHS set (this was an unusual release in that Alien: Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/G Battery

• Resurrection was not included, making this the first franchise box set it had not appeared in since its release).^[47]

Alien Anthology, a 2010 Blu-ray Disc exclusive six-disc release, which features two versions of each film (theatrical, and the same new cuts used in the 2003Alien Quadrilogy DVD set -Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/P Battery

with the exception of additional work done on the 2003 Alien 3 "Workprint" version which included having some of the original voice actors come back to re-record poorly captured dialogue in newly inserted extended scenes)^[48] Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/P Battery

and virtually all of the special features and supplements from the previous releases (including an archive of the special edition Laserdisc box sets with all their image galleries and other unique content). As with the Quadrilogy DVD, the two versions of each film are housed on a single disc each, Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/W Battery

while the storage capacity of Blu-ray means the previous five discs of special features are included on the remaining two discs in the set, which hold approximately 60 hours of bonus video content and over 12,000 still images.^[49] Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/W Battery

Alien Anthology, a 2012 Blu-ray Disc discount four-disc release, still with two versions of each film, but without the two additional discs of bonus features.

Alien/Aliens Dual Pack, released on DVD. This set includes the theatrical cuts of both Alien and Aliens. Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/B Battery,Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/D Battery,Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/G Battery