Crop circles: man-made or otherwise?
411730
I have seen real crop circles in the grasses of pastures. It is a result of a underground fungus growth forming a large circle. It causes a little color change in the grass leaf. The structure of famous crop circles seem to be made and not grown. Is man behind it. Well it seems to be logical.
184919
The idea of a machine to cut grass was conceived in Gloucestershire, England around 1830 by freelance engineer Edwin Beard Budding, formerly a carpenter at Chalford, he was possibly inspired by a rotary cutter designed to cut the nap off wool cloth at the Brinscomb Mill. Budding's mower was designed primarily to cut the lawn on sports grounds and expansive gardens as a superior alternative to the scythe. His patent of 25 October, 1830 described "a new combination and application of machinery for the purpose of cropping or shearing the vegetable surfaces of lawns, grass-plats and pleasure grounds." The patent went on to state, "country gentlemen may find in using my machine themselves an amusing, useful and healthy excercise."\n\nIn an agreement between John Ferrebee and Budding dated May 18, 1830, Ferrebee paid the costs of development, obtained letters of patent and acquired rights to manufacture, sell and license other manufacturers in the production of lawnmowers. (The agreement is housed in the Stroud Museum).\n\nOne of the first Budding and Ferrabee machines was used in Regent's Park, Zoological Gardens England, in 1831. It took ten years and further inovations to create a machine that could be worked by donkey or horse power and sixty years before a steam powered lawnmower was built. . Manufacture of lawn mowers began in the 1850s. By 1862, Farrabee's company was making eight models in various roller sizes up to 900 mm, (36 inches). He manufactured over five thousand machines until production ceased in 1863. Thomas Green produced the first chain driven mower in 1859, named the Silens Messor. Around 1900, one of the best known English machines was the Ransomes' Automaton, available as chain or gear driven. JP Engineering of Leicester, founded after World War One, produced a range of very popular chain driven mowers. About this time, an operator was allowed to ride behind animals that pulled the large machines. These were the first riding mowers.\n\nThe rise in popularity of sports such as lawn tennis, croquet, cricket, football and rugby helped prompt the invention. Lawn mowers became a more efficient alternative to simply relying on gardeners wielding the scythe, which left unsightly circular scars, or bare spaces caused by domesticated grazing animals\n\nSteam powered lawnmowers were patented in 1893 by James Sumner of Lancashire, England. His machine burned petrol and/or parrafin oil as a fuel. After numerous advances, the machines were sold by the Stott Fertilizer and Insecticide company of Manchester and later, the Sumner's took over sales. The company they controlled was called the Leyland Steam Motor Company. Numerous manufacturers entered the field with gasoline driven mowers after the turn of the century. The roller-drive lawnmower has changed very little since around 1930. The first grass boxes were flat trays but took their present shape in the 1860s.\n\nGang mowers, those with multiple sets of blades, were built in the United States in 1919 by a Mister Worthington. his company was taken over by the Jacobsen corporation but his name is still cast on the frames of their gang units.\n\nRotary mowers were not developed until engines were small and powerful enough to run the blades at a high speed. In the 1930s, Power Specialties Ltd. introduced a gas powered rotary mower. One company that produced rotary mowers commercially was the Australian Victa company, starting in 1947.
897839
The angular change ratio from the planar field
1007862
Without agriculture, the emergence of many of the traits popularly referred to as "civilization" would not have been possible (e.g. cities, advanced technology, social hierarchies, organized warfare, etc.). \nRecently, Ian Hodder, who directed the excavations at Çatalhöyük has suggested that the earliest settled communities, and the Neolithic revolution they represent, actually preceded the development of agriculture. He has been developing the ideas first expressed by Jacques Cauvin, the excavator of the Natufian settlement at Mureybet in northern Syria. Hodder believes that the Neolithic revolution was the result of a revolutionary change in the human psychology, a "revolution of symbols" which led to new beliefs about the world and shared community rituals embodied in corpulent female figurines and the methodical assembly of aurochs horns.
64832
You need to know the distance between the centers, because the circles could have different placements\n1- one inside the other\n2- doesn't intersect\n3- partly intersect
1084188
The entire "dust bowl" story of the US is a known case of man-induced desertification. The Department of Agriculture has a program to help farmers retire land for a number of years, and rotate crops (for example, the planting of nitrogen fixing beans one year and corn the next) to lessen future impacts of desertification in agriculture. Windbreaks are also common agricultural practice to avoid desertification. So, yes, it is widely known that desertification results from human activities.
9430
There may be satellite photos available.
411944
Not his original, but the image in the middle of the first link I'm listing is pretty close to Descartes' from De Meteorologica.  The second source has several modern takes on the image as well as a nice physical explanation of what is going on.
515839
not a single person contributed\nin 14th century AD Sheffield, England the modern shape was developed.\ncheers
282280
Tuff call..it seems there are many...some are very obvious hoaxes while others are not..there was a filming of a crop circle by a tv crew in England from years ago..at that time they wittnessed and and captured on vid/film a small object zipping through the field then through the air..where the circle was in the field..it was interesting and it may be the source of the crop circles. Another film had 2 of the same types of objects in it ..taken by a crop circle..that link is below..you be the judge.
1126158
There are almost 25,000 man-made objects: 8681 currently in orbit, and over 16,000 objects in a state of decay. Not every single satellite is included, since some are too small or too far away from home to be detected.
515505
crop circles are made by farmers for fun! they stomp the corn or whatever down in a calculated pattern. i saw it in the discovery channel.
345281
None, at least no natural ones.  There may be artificial satellites sent there though.
821179
It depends on the geometric shape of the land.
679921
I'm too lazy to explain\ncheck out this website\nhttp://www.mreclipse.com/Special/SEprimer.html
769905
click here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-shaped_valley
1061910
THIS IS ALL I FOUND\n\n\nCrop Circle Mysteries  \n\n \n\nCrop Circles and Earth Energies\n\n\nCrop circles are unexplained patterns that are found in fields, over tree-tops, and in ice and snow. They are mostly often found in wheat or corn fields, but have also been found in oat, rape (canola), and barley. \n\nThey are a world wide phenomena, highlighted in England, the Netherlands, the United States, and Australia. Crop circles have not as yet been reported in China and South Africa. \n\nTheir sudden appearance may go unreported unless spotted by an airplane flying overhead or someone familiar with the concept of the formations. I am quite sure that crop formations are as old as the planet itself. \n\n\nThe earliest known formation was in 1647 in England, from which a carving of the current day theory on how it was created can be seen. \n\n \n\nThe crop circle phenomenon was first reported during modern times in 1972 when two witnesses, Arthur Shuttlewood and Bryce Bond, sat on the slope of Star Hill near Warminster, England, hoping to catch a glimpse of the strange unidentifyed flying craft that had made this part of England a UFO Mecca for almost a decade. But what they witnessed on that moonlit night was something more extraordinary--a hundred feet away they saw an imprint take shape, a large circular area of plants that collapsed within twenty seconds. \n\nCrop formations are often accompanied by sightings of unusual lights and structured craft beaming shafts of light onto the field the night before. Most crop formations are created at night between the hours of 11 PM - 4 AM. There have been daylight formations also. \n\n\n\nVery often crop formations appear where powerful ley lines intersect-- or the Earth's magnetic energy lines. This is often at the same place where megalithic sites such as Stonehenge are found. Dowsing can be done within the formations after the crop has been plowed when there are no longer traces of physical evidence. \n\nThe patterns often can be equated to Creation, Celestial Bodies, the Chakras, or Sacred Geometry. \n\n\n\nTo date, thousands of crop formations have been reported and investigated worldwide. In areas where the significance of the patterns is not known thousands of others have not been recorded but have been created. \n\n\n\n\nTheories about the Creation of the Formations\nHarmonics resonance of the planetary grids - collective unconscious \nPlasma Beings / Crafts\nExtraterrestrials\nEarth Energies - Gaia theories based on the Ley Lines of the Earth\nNature Spirits\nWhirlwind or Friction Generated Plasma Vortexes\nHoaxed by humans \nCreated by a satellite apparatus just above the earth. \n \n\nFrom Ian Christopher Email of the Mariposa-Pacific \nResearch Institute on the hidden meaning behind the Crop Circles.\n"Based on all available data, including field research, scientific\nanalysis and confidential high level, inside sources, and many witness experiences in the field, we are lead to conclude the following regarding the hidden meaning behind the crop circle phenomenon:\n\n"There is no single message to look for or decipher.  \nThe symbols are holograms not unlike the Egyptian Hieroglyphs.  They are what you might refer to as the language of the Soul.  They seem to operate directly on the consciousness of the observer.  \n\nTheir energy is understood on a level far higher than one's mind or personality.  In this way, the human intellect cannot contaminate their real meaning or purpose."\n \n\n \n\n\n\nCCCRN NEWS - March 10, 2002 \n\nThe E-News Service of the \nCanadian Crop Circle Research Network\n\n\nFORMATION REPORT 1965, REPORT ARCHIVES UPDATED \n\n \n\nAn interesting formation report from 1965 was received this week, consisting of clusters of circles seen near Pincher Creek, Alberta (near Fort Macleod) in wheat and wild grass in August / September from about 1965 to 1968. \n\nReported by a former radar operator, who said they ranged from about 60 feet t