Crop formations

Dear readers

Adelaide's Spring weather pattern is traditionally a mix of warm days (we had a maximum of 28 degrees Celsius the other day) and cold, wet days (today's forecast maximum is just 15 degrees Celsius.)

So, I am spending one of my non-working days down at my local library. First stop was the latest issue of the English magazine, "Fortean Times"(FT.) Click here to go to the FT website.)

Of interest in this monthly issue, FT265, dated September 2010, is a piece on the 2010 "Crop circle" season in England. Whether you associate crop formations with the UFO phenomenon, or think they are all human-made works of art, they have been appearing now since the 1980's.

The article, illustrated with six photographs of formations, describes some of this "season's" complex glyph (as some call the formations) offerings.

Originally the UK's crop phenomenon started off as simple, singular or multiple plain circles. It then chronologically transformed into more and more complex formations, some of very large size.

The 2010 season featured circles within circles; a circle divided into 12 segments; and a large "keyhole" looking formation. The crops involved included oilseed rape and broad beans.

The interpretations of the meanings/causes of these complex formations are many. In the FT piece, Lucy Pringle, a founder of the Centre for Crop Circles said (of the 12 segmented circle) "...within each segment there are eight partly concentric rings. Each of these segments indicates a binary code based on 0 and 1. If you use an ASC11 table...the pattern transposes itself into a tantilising approximation of Euler's equation." (page 6.)

Comment

I must find out a bit more about the crop circle scene here in Australia; if there is/has been one. This country is one of the world's leading exporters of wheat, so if the crop formation phenomenon is indeed global, then we should have our fair share of formations here.