UFO Or Fireball Apparently Plunges To The Ground In Lima, Peru (Video)

(Before It's News)

Through the WhatsApp of “El Comercio”, a user caught a UFO or Fireball in free fall apparently plunges to the ground near the oval monitor Av. Javier Prado in Lima, Peru but then the object disappeared.

According to El Comercio witness David Bauman could observe the strange phenomenon around 10:00 am on April 28, 2015 when he headed in a taxi at Av. Javier Prado towards the hill of La Molina.

“I saw a light fell from above a little behind and then I could record it as shown in the video. When I went up the hill tried to see if he had fallen into a nearby area or what happened, but I saw nothing,” said Bauman.

Later, another citizens contacted El Comercio to point out that also they saw a similar object falling near the Jockey Plaza Mall, in the same direction that was reported by others.

Although many people witnessed the phenomenon, no one could precisely describe the nature of the object.

Thanks http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/

01-05-2015 om 12:12 geschreven door peter  

25 Mysteries That Have Scared The Creeps Out of Everyone

(Before It's News)

There are somethings that confuse the world to such an extent that people go mad and crazy behind these mysteries. Find out how these mysteries have managed to dumbfound the world since ages and scare the hell out of those who encounter them.

1. The Taos Hum

In the small town of Taos, New Mexico, there is a certain buzz often heard on the horizon that can be compared to the sound of a distant diesel engine. It is a humming sound that is very disorienting for a person who experiences it and it seems to have an effect on people- it has been known to cause insomnia and/or sleep disturbances, nausea, headaches, dizziness and nosebleeds. Needless to say, it can be very irritating for hearers, Although it can be heard by the naked ear, various sound detection devices are not able to pick it up. This is known as the Taos Hum and up to this day, no one still knows how this sound is being created.

2. Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich manuscript was written in a language that men through the centuries have tried to decode to no avail. The only idea anyone has of its origin are the drawings found on various pages.The book has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), and may have been composed in Northern Italy during the Italian Renaissance. The manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish book dealer who purchased it in 1912. The pages of the codex are vellum. Some of the pages are missing, but about 240 remain. The text is written from left to right, and most of the pages have illustrations or diagrams. Many people have suggested different theories for deciphering the text, while some believe its just pure nonsense and might be a hoax. Whatever it may be, but to this day the manuscript remains a confusing mystery.

3. Jack The Ripper

The name Jack the Ripper has been heard in many shows and movies, pertaining to the serial killer who murdered 11 women in London’s east end in the late 1800?s but was never identified. Most of his victims were prostitutes, whose bodies were mutilated beyond recognition and their throats slashed. In the East End’s Whitechapel district, a string of prostitutes were butchered. The crime scenes were a gory tableau; the brutalized bodies were perversions of the human form.
The killer was a collector who took organs as trophies. The signature of a letter that arrived during the murders gave this monster a name: Jack the Ripper. The city was whipped into a froth of suspicion and fear. Wide dragnets snagged scores of suspects, but the police were unable to catch the killer. Vigilante committees formed, and mobs routinely chased people through the streets. And then, suddenly, the murders stopped. Despite three more years of investigation, the police never uncovered the true identity of Jack the Ripper. The unsolved case was officially closed in 1892, though interest in the killings has never dwindled.

4. Bermuda Triangle

Known as the Bermuda Triangle, this legendary expanse of ocean can be found between the points of Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Pilots often tell of their instruments going haywire and numerous ships have been lost at sea. With explanations ranging from gas bubbles to aliens, no one is sure what is behind the strange phenomena.

5. Kryptos

Just outside the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, you will behold a statue that has coded encryptions on its surface. This very captivating sculpture was created by Jim Sanborn to show that everything can be resolved and decoded with the use of patterns and clues. Of the four inscription sections that were included, only the first three have been cracked. But the fourth? Not even the brilliant minds in the CIA were able to get to the bottom of it

6. Shepherd’s Monument Inscription

In Staffordshire, England, there is a sculpture that has invited the wits and intellect of many intellectuals in an attempt to decode an inscription reading DOUOSVAVVM. Although the Shepherd’s Monument was constructed back in the 18th century, the letters found therein were never solved, even 250 years after it was completed.

7. Tamam Shud

Back in December 1948, an unidentified man was found dead in Somerton Beach, located in Adelaide, Australia. Found in one of his pockets was a piece of paper with the words “Tamam Shud” written on it. The words were translated “finished” or “ended” based on excerpts found in The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Although governments around the world have tried to identify the man his identity has remained mystery.

8. Zodiac Killer

During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a certain criminal in the San Francisco Bay area that was identified as the Zodiac killer for the mind-boggling letters he sent to the police and to the press. Although one of the four letters were cracked, which contained a very disturbing message, the other three have never been identified, even until now.

9. Georgia Guidestones

Also identified as the American version of Stonehenge, the Georgia Guidestones located in Elbert County are shrouded in mystery, although they were erected only in 1979. Written on the walls are 10 “new commandments” written in English, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, China, Russia, and Spanish although no one is sure why or for whom they were meant.

10. Rongorongo

In the mysterious Easter Islands where the moai stands, a set of glyphs have been discovered, called the Rongorongo. These glyphs have never been deciphered although they may contain clues concerning the huge heads found scattered around the island.

The Famous Easter Island Heads

11. The Loch Ness Monster

For ages, people have been hearing about the Loch Ness monster and how it baffled everyone thinking that it is a creature unlike any other. There have been many sightings over the years and photos and videos of actual footage have been checked and looked at time and time again, confirming if it could be some kind of sea serpent or a descendant of the dinosaurs. Even up today, as some are claiming, it still exists and swims under the waters.

12. Big Foot

Also known as Sasquatch, bigfoot is supposedly a creature that lives in the snowy mountainous regions of the United States and Canada. It may be identified as a gorilla at first, however, its walking posture can be compared to that of a man’s.

13. Black Dahlia Murder

22-year old Elizabeth Short was very active at promoting herself into showbiz at the time the Black Dahlia murder occurred, The Black Dahlia” was a nickname given to Elizabeth Short, an American woman who was the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. Short was found mutilated, her body sliced in half at the waist, on January 15, 1947, in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. Short’s unsolved murder has been the source of widespread speculation, leading to many suspects, along with several books and film adaptations of the story. Short’s murder is one of the oldest unsolved murder cases in Los Angeles history.however, no one knew of the killer or who actually did the murder.

14. Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is the remains of a ring of standing stones set within earthworks. Stonehenge is surely Britain’s greatest national icon, symbolizing mystery, power and endurance. Its original purpose is unclear to us, but some have speculated that it was a temple made for the worship of ancient earth deities. It has been called an astronomical observatory for marking significant events on the prehistoric calendar. Others claim that it was a sacred site for the burial of high-ranking citizens from the societies of long ago. While we can’t say with any degree of certainty what it was for, we can say that it wasn’t constructed for any casual purpose. Only something very important to the ancients would have been worth the effort and investment that it took to construct Stonehenge.

15. Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin or Turin Shroud (Italian: Sindone di Torino) is a length of linen cloth bearing the image of a man who appears to have suffered physical trauma in a manner consistent with crucifixion. There is no consensus yet on exactly how the image was created, and it is believed by some to be the burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth, despite radiocarbon dating placing its origins in the Medieval period.[1] The image is much clearer in black-and-white negative than in its natural sepia color.

The face in the shroud

The face in the shroud 

16. The Lost City of Atlantis

The City of Atlantis has been imagined as the crowning city of Neptune, where mermaids and mermen live. But based on what Plato has discussed during his time, specifically with his two dialogues Timaeus and Critias, it specifically mentioned the existence of Atlantis based on the stories being heard during the journeys, and how Atlantis was in its prime state, thus giving a clue that the place did exist as Plato was a real entity. Now that it sunk into the deep, many are still wondering if it is real, knowing that there are certain objects underwater that may be the remnants of this once beautiful city.

17. Extraterrestrials

From the mysteries found in the Eastern Islands, to the Bermuda Triangle, and even with the Roswell Incident during World War II, men have always been in question as to whether we are not alone in the universe. With some claiming to have been abducted and others calling hogwash, there is as of yet no consensus.

18. Severed Foot Beach in British Columbia

It is not uncommon for bodies to wash up on beaches but for one beach in British Columbia severed feet have consistently been floating ashore for the past several years causing numerous theories to be put forth.

19. Wow! Signal

When Jerry R. Ehman worked under the SETI Project of the Ohio Wesleyan University’s Perkins Observatory, he did not expect that he would be able to pick up a radio frequency supposedly coming from deep space. He was able to get a 72-second signal from the constellation Sagittarius and was never able to get it again. Up to this day no one is sure about the origin of the signal. It derived its name, however, from the “wow!” that Jerry wrote in the margin of the printout.

20. DB Cooper

When DB Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727 along with $200,000, he proceeded to jump out of the plane with a parachute. He was never found, however, and this remains the only unsolved case in US aviation history.

21. Lal Bahadur Shastri

He died an unexplainable death since he left the country healthy. Many have claimed that he died of heart attack, but the doctors and other specialists who have checked him out, including his wife, confirmed that he was A-okay. His wife had also made the assertion that the Tashkent Pact, upon signature, gave the chance for him to be poisoned. This was never proven since there was no post-mortem diagnosis of the body so every assumption that could be answered were already included in the grave.

22. Nazca Geoglyphs

The Nazca civilization is responsible for some of the most fascinating geoglyphs on the face of the Earth. They include everything from spiders, monkeys, sharks, orcas, and flowers, the precision of which is incredible given that the Nazca had no way of examining their work from above.

23. SS Ourang Medan

What happened to SS Ourang Medan or “Man from Medan” in Malaysia is perhaps one of the most fascinating and mind-boggling mysteries that ever existed in seafaring history. Everything began with an SOS message in 1947 that mentioned the captain, along with the rest of the crew, was dead. What’s worse, even the telegrapher died during the transmission of the message. When the Silver Star was able to receive the distress call and went to inspect the ship, they confirmed the deaths of all aboard. Speculations of ghosts, hazardous chemicals, and even aliens have been raised, but there is still no conclusion as to what actually happened.

24. Aluminum Wedge of Aiud

Back in 1974, a group of workers in Romania discovered three different objects 10 meters deep in a sand trench. Two of the items were prehistoric elephant bones that have been dated as old as 2.5 million years ago. The third object however, is an aluminum wedge that was found together with the ancient bones. This discovery dumbfounded most researchers, as aluminum was difficult to create even by 19th century standards. While some call it evidence of extraterrestrials, others are calling it a hoax. Whatever it is, we may never know.

25. The Mackenzie Poltergeist in Greyfriars

The Mackenzie Poltergeist is one of the most famous attractions when taking the City of the Dead tour within the Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh as people who join the tour experience bruises, scratches, and some even faint as they enter and see the Black Mausoleum where Sir George Mackenzie lies. Is it all for show? Maybe there’s only one way to find out…

Source: http://www.emlii.com/79f4593c/25-Mysteries-That-Have-Scared-The-Creeps-Out-of-Everyone

01-05-2015 om 12:06 geschreven door peter  

Quantum Results Show Black Holes are Portals to Other Universes

(Before It's News)

From SoulScience

According to Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, black holes are uninhabitable chasms of space-time that end in a “singularity,” or a mass of infinite density. It’s a place so bleak that even the laws of physics break down there. But what if black holes aren’t so forbidding? What if they are instead some kind of intergalactic stargate, or maybe even a passageway into a whole other universe?

It may sound like the premise for a clever science-fiction movie, but new calculations by quantum physicists now suggest that the stargate idea might actually be the better theory. According to the startling new results, black holes do not culminate in a singularity. Rather, they represent “portals to other universes,” reports New Scientist.

This new theory is based on a concept known as ‘loop quantum gravity’ (or LQG). It was first formulated as a way of merging standard quantum mechanics and standard general relativity, in order to remedy incompatibilities between the two fields. Basically, LQG proposes that spacetime is granular, or atomic, in nature; It is made up of miniscule, indivisible chunks about the same size as the Planck length — which roughly amounts to 10-35 meters in size.

Researchers Jorge Pullin from Lousiana State University, and Rodolfo Gambini from the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay, crunched the numbers to see what would happen inside a black hole under the parameters of LQG. What they found was far different from what happens according to general relativity alone: there was no singularity. Instead, just as the black hole began to squeeze tight, it suddenly loosened its grip again, as if a door was being opened.

It might help to conceptualize exactly what this means if you imagine yourself traveling into a black hole. Under general relativity, falling into a black hole is, in some ways, much like falling into a very deep pit that has a bottom, only instead of hitting the bottom, you get pressed into a single point — a singularity — of infinite density. With both the deep pit and the black hole, there is no “other side.” The bottom stops your fall through the pit, and the singularity “stops” your fall through the black hole (or at least, at the singularity it no longer makes sense to say you’re “falling”).

Your experience would be much different traveling into a black hole according to LQG, however. At first you might not notice the difference: gravity would increase rapidly. But just as you were nearing what ought to be the black hole’s core — just as you’re expecting to be squashed into the singularity — gravity would instead begin to decrease. It would be as if you were swallowed, only to be spit out on the other side.

In other words, LQG black holes are less like holes and more like tunnels, or passageways. But passageways to where? According to the researchers, they could be shortcuts to other parts of our universe. Or they could be portals to other universes entirely.

Interestingly, this same principle can be applied to the Big Bang. According to conventional theory, the Big Bang started with a singularity. But if time is rewound according to LQG instead, the universe does not begin with a singularity. Rather, it collapses into a sort of tunnel, which leads into another, older universe. This has been used as evidence for one of the Big Bang’s competing theories: the Big Bounce.

Scientists don’t have enough evidence to decide whether this new theory is actually true, but LQG does have one thing going for it: it’s more beautiful. Or rather, it avoids certain paradoxes that conventional theories do not. For instance, it avoids the black hole information paradox. According to relativity, the singularity inside a black hole operates as a sort of firewall, which means that information that gets swallowed by the black hole gets lost forever. Information loss, however, is not possible according to quantum physics.
~ “Information doesn’t disappear, it leaks out”

Source: http://soul-sciences.com/2015/04/black-holes-are-portals-to-other-universes/

Source: https://plus.google.com/106596539748141512585/posts

01-05-2015 om 11:44 geschreven door peter  

10 Mind-Blowing Theories That Will Change Your Perception of the World

(Before It's News)

10 Mind-Blowing Theories That Will Change Your Perception of the World 

by Anna LeMind

Reality is not as obvious and simple as we like to think. Some of the things that we accept as true at face value are notoriously wrong. Scientists and philosophers have made every effort to change our common perceptions of it. The 10 examples below will show you what I mean.

1. Great glaciation.

Great glaciation is the theory of the final state that our universe is heading toward. The universe has a limited supply of energy. According to this theory, when that energy finally runs out, the universe will devolve into a frozen state. Heat energy produced by the motion of the particles, heat loss, a natural law of the universe, means that eventually this particle motion will slow down and, presumably, one day everything will stop.

2. Solipsism.

Solipsism is a philosophical theory, which asserts that nothing exists but the individual’s consciousness. At first it seems silly – and who generally got it into his head completely deny the existence of the world around us? Except when you put your mind to it, it really is impossible to verify anything but your own consciousness.

Don’t you believe me? Think a moment and think of all the possible dreams that you have experienced in your life. Is it not possible that everything around you is nothing but an incredibly intricate dream? But we have people and things around us that we cannot doubt, because we can hear, see, smell, taste and feel them, right? Yes, and no. People who take LSD, for example, say that they can touch the most convincing hallucinations, but we do not claim that their visions are “reality”. Your dreams simulate sensations as well, after all, what you perceive is what different sections of your brain tell you to.

As a result, which parts of existence can we not doubt? None. Not the chicken we ate for dinner or the keyboard beneath our fingers. Each of us can only be sure in his own thoughts.

3. Idealist Philosophy

George Berkeley, the father of Idealism, argued that everything exists as an idea in someone’s mind. Berkley discovered that some of his comrades considered his theory stupid. The story goes that one of his detractors kicked a stone with his eyes closed and said, “There I’ve disproved it!”

The idea being that if the stone really only exists in his imagination, he could not have kicked it with his eyes closed. Refutation of Berkeley is hard to understand, especially in these days. He argued that there is an omnipotent and omnipresent God, who sees all and all at once. Realistic, or not?

4. Plato and Logos.

Everybody has heard of Plato. He is the world’s most famous philosopher. Like all philosophers he had a few things to say about reality. He argued that beyond our perceived reality there lies a world of “perfect” forms. Everything that we see is just a shade, an imitation of how things truly are. He argued that by studying philosophy we have a chance of catching a glimpse of how things truly are, of discovering the perfect forms of everything we perceive.

In addition to this stunning statement, Plato, being a monist, said that everything is made of a single substance. Which means (according to him) that diamonds, gold and dog feces all consist of the same basic material, but in a different form, which, with science’s discovery of atoms and molecules, has been proven true to an extent.

5. Presentism.

Time is something that we perceive as a matter of course, if we view it at the moment, we usually divide it into past, present and future. Presentism argues that the past and the future are imagined concepts, while only the present is real.

In other words, today’s breakfast and every word of this article will cease to exist after you have read it, until you open it again. The future is just as imaginary, because time cannot exist before and after it happened, as claimed by St. Augustine.

6. Eternalism.

Enternalism is the exact opposite of presentism. This is a philosophical theory that says that time is multi-layered. It can be compared to a pound cake (however, unlike the time, a biscuit is not up for philosophical debate). All time exists simultaneously, but the measurement is determined by the observer. What he sees depends on which point he is looking at.

Thus dinosaurs, World War II and Justin Bieber all exist simultaneously but can only be observed from a specific location. If one takes this view of reality then the future is hopeless and the deterministic free will is illusory.

7. The Brain in a Jar

The “brain in a jar” thought experiment is a question discussed by thinkers and scientists, who, like most people, believe that human’s understanding of reality depends solely on his subjective feelings.

So, what is the debate? Imagine that you are just a brain in a jar that is run by aliens or mad scientists. How would you know? And can you truly deny the possibility that this is your reality?

This is a modern interpretation of the Cartesian evil demon problem. This thought experiment leads to the same conclusion: we cannot confirm the actual existence of anything except our consciousness. If this seems to sound reminiscent of the movie “The Matrix“, it is only because this idea was part of the very basis of the story. Unfortunately, in reality we have no red pills…

8. The Multiverse Theory

Anyone who has not spent the last ten years on a desert island, has at least once heard of “the multiverse”, or parallel universes. As many of us have seen, parallel words, in theory, are worlds very similar to ours, with little (or in some cases, large) changes or differences. The multiverse theory speculates that there could exist an infinite number of these alternate realities. 

What’s the point? In a parallel reality you have already killed the dinosaurs, and you are lying under the ground at a depth of eight feet (because that’s what happened there.) In the other you might be a powerful dictator. In another you might never have even been born since your parents never met. Now that’s a memorable image.

9. Fictional Realism.

This is the most fascinating branch of multiverse theory. Superman is real. Yes, some of you would probably choose a different story, for argument’s sake, Harry Potter might be real too. This branch of the theory argues that given an infinite number of universes, everything must exist somewhere. So, all of our favorite fiction and fantasy may be descriptive of an alternate universe, one where all the right pieces came in to place to make it happen.

10. Phenomenalism.

Everyone is interested in what happens to things when we aren’t looking at them. Scientists have carefully studied this problem and some of them came to a simple conclusion – they disappear. Well, not quite like this. Phenomenalist philosophers believe that objects only exist as a phenomenon of consciousness. So, your laptop is only here while you are aware of, and believe in its existence, but when you turn away from it, it ceases to exist until you or someone else interacts with it. There is no existence without perception. This is the root of phenomenalism.

Source: http://in5d.com/

01-05-2015 om 11:40 geschreven door peter  

Op drift geraakt ruimteschip 'valt terug richting aarde' - HLN.be

Bron: VK

De lancering van de Progress-module, gisteren.  © epa.

Ruimtevaart De koppeling van de stuurloos geraakte Russische ruimtecargo Progress-59 (volgens de westerse classificatie) aan het Internationaal Ruimtestation ISS is afgeblazen. Dat melden het Russische ruimtevaartbureau Roscosmos en het Amerikaanse ruimtevaartbureau NASA. De Progress had zich gisteren zes uur na lancering van op Bajkonoer moeten vastklinken aan de spacemeccano, maar raakte op drift en is nu terug op weg naar de aarde.

01-05-2015 om 11:32 geschreven door peter  

Mysterie rond bloedwaterval op Antarctica ontrafeld - HLN.be

Bron: Washington Post 

© National Science Foundation.

In de McMurdo Dry Valleys op Antarctica is een bloederige stroom te zien die wetenschappers tot voor kort voor een raadsel stelde. Lang werd gedacht dat algen de lugubere waterval kleurden, maar niets is minder waar.

Rachel FeltmanGeverifieerd account ‏@RachelFeltman                                28 apr.           

Scientists find the origin of Antarctica's creepy "Blood Falls" http://washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/04/28/the-dry-valleys-of-antarctica-may-actually-have-subsurface-water-full-of-life/ … pic.twitter.com/m05oaUcJhD

    

01-05-2015 om 11:26 geschreven door peter  

VIDEO: Mysterieus object gespot bij internationaal ruimtestation ISS

Er zijn beelden opgedoken van een UFO bij het internationale ruimtestation ISS. Het ongeïdentificeerde object kwam voorbij op live beelden die vanaf het ISS werden gestreamd.

Het beeldmateriaal is op YouTube geplaatst en toont een kleine witte schijf in de buurt van het ruimtestation. Het is niet de eerste keer dat de camera’s van het ISS raadselachtige objecten hebben vastgelegd. Verschillende UFO-spotters hebben beweerd dat buitenaardse schepen zijn vastgelegd op video.

Sceptici beweren dat de UFO-waarnemingen kunnen worden verklaard door de slechte kwaliteit van de camera en dat het object in het filmpje in feite de maan is.

Zelfbenoemd UFO-expert Scott C. Waring zei: “Streetcap1 keek naar live beelden van het ruimtestation van NASA toen hij in de verte een glimp opving van een kleine metaalkleurige schijf. Op het eerste gezicht lijkt het alsof de schijf beweegt, maar ik denk dat het object zich even snel voortbeweegt als het ruimtestation.”

De website Snopes.com is minder overtuigd en schreef: “NASA heeft toegegeven dat de camera’s verre van perfect werken. Het HDEV-experiment is gedaan in een poging betere camera-apparatuur te ontwikkelen voor toekomstige missies.”

[Express, Daily Star]

© Copyright (c) NineForNews.nl

01-05-2015 om 11:18 geschreven door peter  

Stunning Diamond-shaped UFO over Mexico

On 2nd November 2013, Anton Martell and his son saw a strange object over Tulyehualco in Xochimilco, Mexico. And this was not the first time an object like this was seen over Mexico.
Find out more in the video below!

{ http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

01-05-2015 om 11:15 geschreven door peter  

New amazing UFO sighting footage above Coronado, California on 29th April 2015

New amazing video footage of a UFO sighting recorded above Coronado, California on 29th April 2015.

01-05-2015 om 11:12 geschreven door peter  

UFO sighting near ISS on 30th April 2015

New interesting video footage of a bright UFO sighting recorded on live cam near the ISS on 30th April 2015.

01-05-2015 om 11:10 geschreven door peter  

Daily 2 Cents: Odd Find in Tampa Attic -- Would Animals Swim Differently on an Alien Planet? -- Tracking UFO on Radar

Box found in Tampa attic has coins, a map, a hand and a mystery

Mike Lopez's sister was recently cleaning out their grandparents attic in Tampa, Florida, when she came across a box with strange contents. Neatly organized with copper wire, the box contains coins, a map, a photograph and a hand. The hand is secured to the box with copper wire and has a ring on one finger. Lopez says he believes the photo is of his great grandparents Eve and Ernesto Lopez.

"It seems as though this belonged to my great grand parents because there is a picture of them in there," said Lopez. He also believes the box may have something to do with the mythical pirate Jose Gaspar. Lopez isn't sure when the photo or the box were made. The map has some clues. It's a map of downtown Tampa and shows the Hillsborough River and two bridges.

Rodney Kite-Powell, curator of the Tampa Bay History Center, was interested to examine the box and its contents. Kite-Powell noticed the photo is from the studio of the Burgert Brothers. He believes it is of the couple on their wedding day. The coins however, do not appear to be authentic spanish treasure.

"They're a little thin to be Spanish Coins or old coins in general. Generally older coins were thicker," said Kite-Powell. After a close examination of the map, Kite-Powell believes it's likely from the 1920's or 1930's. "It's fascinating, but I just don't know what to make of it aside from the fact that it's probably not Jose Gaspar's hand, these probably aren't Spanish coins," said Kite-Powell. Mike Lopez still believes the hand in the box is real. - WFLA

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Would animals swim differently on an alien planet?

If finned swimming animals evolved in an ocean on an alien world, what would they look like? Quite possibly a lot like the ones on Earth, a team of researchers says.

A new study that examined certain swimming species’ motion in the ocean found a surprising and elegant ratio embedded in the way they move. This ratio, described in the journal PLOS Biology, reveals a surprising case of convergent evolution over a diverse array of unrelated animals – and could help engineers build better swimming robots.

Previous work has found that there are striking similarities in the way that animals move through fluids (whether water or air). It’s part of a trend toward understanding the detailed physics of how animals move – perhaps with the intent to use these rules of movement to design more agile robots, said John Costello, a marine biologist at Providence College in Rhode Island who was not involved in the paper.

“I do think it’s part of a growing wave of understanding biological motion. … For many years people have been satisfied with generalities about thrust production,” said Costello, who has researched shared patterns of movement across swimming and flying species.

A team of researchers at Northwestern University first began to wonder about common rules of movement after studying the black ghost knifefish. The black ghost knifefish lives in freshwater streams in South America, and it moves around primarily using an undulating fin attached to its underside. This is unlike more well-known fish like trout or salmon, which sweep a tail (and the rear portion of their bodies) back and forth. Instead, the knifefish causes a wave to undulate down its thin fin, which runs most of the length of its body.

During their previous work on the ghost black knifefish, the scientists noticed that the fish’s maximum speed occurred when a total of two waves of motion could fit across the length of its fin, and they wondered whether there might be a common rule across different species.

The scientists studied 22 very different species of finned swimmers, using video recordings, lab studies and computer modeling to determine what pattern, if any, might exist. They even trimmed the fin on a fin-swimming robot – which looks something like a torpedo with a ribbon strung underneath – to see whether that made any difference.

They found that there was indeed a pattern in their motion – though it wasn’t quite what they expected. As it moved, each animal seemed to follow a specific pattern: the ratio between the length of each undulating wavelength and the amplitude (or height) of each wavelength was about 20 to 1. That is, every full back-and-forth wiggle of the fish’s fin was 20 times as long as the wiggle was wide. For each species they studied, including skates, rays, the black ghost knifefish, the cuttlefish and the Persian carpet flatworm -- that ratio remained 20 to 1.

“We found in every animal for which data are available, our prediction was correct,” said Neelesh Patankar, a mechanical engineer at Northwestern and one of the lead authors on the work.

“Physics puts constraints on the kinds of solutions nature can have and survive,” Patankar said.

And if complex alien life were ever to be found on another planet using a fin to swim, this same ratio would probably emerge, said Patankar’s co-lead author, Malcolm MacIver, a bioengineer at Northwestern.

“There’s only a certain number of ways in which animals can move effectively,” MacIver pointed out. If those alien animals were moving through liquid water on another planet, then the same fluid constraints apply. “Water’s water,” he said.

The findings could help scientists learn how to better build underwater robots that swim quickly and efficiently, the researchers added. Such skills are critical, for example, when sending underwater vehicles to deal with oil spills – and they can’t yet swim with the level of precision that these animals can.

“There’s a real need for underwater robots that can move with more agility,” MacIver said. - Would animals swim differently on an alien planet?

*********************************************************************

Tracking UFO on Radar

USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN-71) - 10/20/2014:

-We were off the coast of the eastern seaboard, not 100% sure but I think we were off the Carolina's. The boat was doing work ups getting ready for deployment, we had a full deployment crew.

-Me and a couple of other ET's heard some of the watch standers on the island talking about seeing something crazy, they said something about trying lock on to it with the Nato Sea Sparrow Director's onto the object. Me and a handful of guys on the night shift ran up to the O-10 where the watch standers were watching it. They had the mounted Binoculars trained on the object. I thought they were mistaking two stars one of which looked like a pulsar (due to my pretty extensive knowledge of astronomy). The object then appeared between the two stars again, the other guys saw the object as well. We all thought we might be imagining it, asked each other a couple of times if they saw it too. We all agreed that it was there.

-When I first noticed it, i thought I was imagining it. How could a star disappear then reappear right in front of me? I watched it through the mounted binoculars changing colors between blue, white, purple, and pink at high speed, it kept pulsing.

-It seemed to stay motionless, the problem was that the altitude was just high for any of us to make out exactly what it looked like, from our vantage point we could see that it may have been hovering and possibly moving but just can't say for sure. After about 5 minutes of viewing the object as we were all trying to get a look at it, a bright flash filled the sky in the location of the object, it looked like it shot with an incredible speed and was gone. We were traveling North, the object was northeast of our Northerly heading. Our speed was approximately 15 to 20 knots.

-The three watch standers at there post reported that two similar objects had come out of the main relatively stationary object and then rejoined the main object.

-During my time watching the object CIC (Combat Information Center) was trying to get a radar lock on the object with the Nato Sea Sparrow Missile Directors. The directors (which are radar directors, fire control radar) kept trying to lock onto the object then it would drop back down to the horizon, the OS's (Operation Specialists) trying to drive the director back there again. Every time they would drive to get a lock the lock would fail and the director would be driven back down again. It seemed to me that the object was overriding the directors drive control or that the radar receiver was being over powered and being forced by internal programming to protect its receiver, (to get away from the source of the electromagnetic radiation) it could have been over-driven by the object being to close but more than likely the object was jamming the radar. I can't say weather it was jamming the object passively or actively, just that the radar was being jammed.

-After the sighting I checked the SPN-43 and SPS-49 radar in CATCC neither of them had a radar return, although at that altitude the chances of a radar return are very slim.

-I tried to report it to my chain of command, they laughed at me and said that we didn't see anything. We probably just excited, I didn't expect that reaction especially when CIC reacted the way they did. - MUFON CMS

*******************************************************************

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{ http://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/ }

01-05-2015 om 11:05 geschreven door peter  

How to Make the Quantum Jump

(Before It's News)

From SoulScience Awakening You

The popular expression “quantum jump” is usually meant to describe a leap that is big – but to scientists, quantum jumps are tiny, discrete (indivisible), and abrupt. The idea of quantum particles is that they can exist in material form at one energy level or another, but not in between. When quantum particles have been observed to make a quantum jump from one state to another, scientists have watched them appear to blink on and off.

Quantum jumping is the process by which a person can envision some desired result or state of being that is clearly very different from the existing situation … and by clearly observing that possibility and supplying enough energy, make a leap into that alternate reality. The idea behind quantum jumping is that while we seldom consciously realize it, we are living in a multiverse of parallel universes. Usually, these alternate realities have no connection to one another. A quantum jump can be made through a kind of handshake through time and space. this connection forms a bridge that allows someone experiencing a quantum jump to literally end up in another reality. The connection is so total that a person can literally walk into another place and time. While to the universe, both of “you” still exists, usually your awareness of who you are will coalesce on one reality, leaving the other forgotten and left behind.

People more often experience walking into parallel worlds that are nearly – but not quite entirely – identical to the one they came from. In such cases, you may find something has seemingly shifted in some startling way. A door or building may appear where one had never been before, or you might notice something as simple as your keys not being where you know you put them … and then find them in a very odd place with no apparent explanation.

How is Quantum Jumping Possible?

Consider the idea that many times – possibly even every time–you make a decision or choice, you are actually moving between alternate realities–between parallel worlds. In those alternate realities there are so many other possible “yous” which you can connect with so strongly that the conscious awareness and energy that is you literally moves into that other reality. When feeling so strongly connected to another self in a different reality, it is possible to gain direct access to the knowledge available only in that time and space, and to experience an entirely different self.

What makes quantum jumping possible is that, like a quantum particle, a person has the ability to exhibit quantum behavior. While it is extremely improbable that you will often be able to do some of the things quantum particles do – such as tunnel through solid barriers, or make quantum jumps to other alternate times and places – our current understanding of physics suggests such things are within the realm of possibility, and can be expected to occur.

Experimental observations at the quantum level change our assumptions about reality as we see that quantum particles are not always particles and sometimes exist as pure energy, that some kind of invisible connection exists between entangled quantum particles so they move together simultaneously with non-local spooky action at a distance, that simply by observing an experiment we are affecting it, and that unlike classical physics, quantum behavior can only ever be predicted by probabilities.

In order to explain some of this truly strange quantum behavior, Niels Bohr theorized that quantum particles exist as waves that might be anywhere until the wave function is collapsed. Hugh Everett III theorized that we exist in an multiverse consisting of many worlds of parallel realities. Physicist John Cramer theorizes it is possible for information to be exchanged between past and future through a kind of handshake between two points in spacetime. Scientists David Bohm and Karl Pribram proposed the universe is a giant hologram, containing matter and consciousness in a single field.

What all this means to someone experiencing a quantum jump is that they can enter another parallel reality by relaxing and imagining they are accessing some kind of bridge, window, or doorway to another world with another self who has another set of characteristics, qualities, or skills. With quantum jumping, one makes the leap from simply imagining oneself in an alternate reality to actually being that other self.

Examples of Quantum Jumping

The success of most all visualization methods and affirmations can be attributed to quantum jumping.

Some of the most effective weight loss programs work by helping people lose weight by imagining they now live in an alternate reality in which they are already thin.

Many top athletes use visualization of perfect performance together with envisioning they can become that top athlete to improve their athletic results in real life.

When someone says I’m faking it ‘til I make it, they might well be envisioning themselves as being an entirely transformed person. A person who wants a promotion can thus emulate the dress, speech, behavior, self assurance and posture of someone at the next level up, to be considered deserving of a promotion.

How Does Quantum Jumping Work?

You’ve probably heard of self-fulfilling prophecies, and how athletes practice visualization of perfect performance in order to get the best results. Everything is made up of quantum material at its very core, and the idea behind quantum jumping is that it’s possible to jump to an alternate reality in much the same way that an electron dematerializes at one orbital level and reappears at another. The basic principle behind quantum jumping is based on combining some ideas about behavior of the very smallest quantum particles from physics. Quantum jumping can be envisioned as occurring in a multiverse of many alternate realities, in which each one of these realities exists another possible ‘you’ that you are connected to. Just as electrons can make energetic leaps from one energetic level to another, people can quantum jump through alternate realities to experience dramatic shifts in physical reality.

Anyone who can relax, clear their mind, and envision being different in some way – such as more successful, funny, healthy, wealthy, or wise – can quantum jump. When making these kinds of quantum jumps, one can feel immediate benefits from such positive thinking.

To initiate a quantum jump, keep an open mind that you can experience another reality. Sincerely desire and feel a connection to another reality, envisioning some way of making a connection with it through a bridge, a door, a window or a handshake. Your ability to form a strong intention, to concentrate, and to get and stay focused while being simultaneously relaxed and open-minded are essential.

01-05-2015 om 01:19 geschreven door peter  

Russian Cosmonaut Encounters Alien Craft In Orbit

(Before It's News)

RUSSIAN COSMONAUT ENCOUNTERS ALIEN CRAFT IN ORBIT
Major General Vladimir Kovalyonok, Russian Cosmonaut

01-05-2015 om 01:16 geschreven door peter  

Robotically discovering Earth's nearest neighbors: 54 light-years away

Date: April 28, 2015

Source: University of Hawaii at Manoa

Summary:Astronomers discovered a planetary system orbiting a nearby star that is only 54 light-years away. All three planets orbit their star at a distance closer than Mercury orbits the sun, completing their orbits in just five, 15, and 24 days.

This is an artist's impression of a view from the HD 7924 planetary system looking back toward our sun, which would be easily visible to the naked eye. Since HD 7924 is in our northern sky, an observer looking back at the sun would see objects like the Southern Cross and the Magellanic Clouds close to our sun in their sky.

Credit: Karen Teramura & BJ Fulton, University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy

01-05-2015 om 01:12 geschreven door peter  

International Space Station Commander Opens Up About His UFO Sighting In Space

Leroy Chiao, commander of the International Space Station in 2005 recently opened up about his UFO sighting from space. They were 230 miles above the Earth, and traveling at a speed of 17,000 miles per hour when Chiao spotted a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object). Chiao told the Huffington post:

“I saw some lights that seemed to be in a line and it was almost like an upside-down check mark, and I saw them fly by and thought it was awfully strange. It wasn’t just one, but a line of them strung out along the South American coast” (1)

“I’m skeptical of claims that we’ve been visited by aliens from another planet or other dimensions, but I don’t rule it out 100 percent. I have an open mind and I do believe there’s other life in the universe.” (1)

A growing amount of evidence has emerged, especially within the past few years that has more people asking questions. For example, dozens of governments around the world have recently released previously classified UFO documents. Documents detail how governments have special departments to monitor the UFO phenomenon and obtain information. One example are the UFO files released by the United Kingdom in June 2013, you can view those here.

Documents also reveal that UFOs are constantly tracked on ground radar, air radar, accompanied by visual conformation by military pilots who are scrambled to take a closer look.

Agencies like the NSA have done the same, you can view examples here , here and here. It’s safe to assume that more sensitive documents remain classified, especially with the recent disclosure of the black budget and special access programs by Edward Snowden. You can read more about that here.

Apart from official documentation proving the reality of UFOs (performing maneuvers that defy our known laws of physics like starting and stopping on a dime), we’ve had incredible statements made by hundreds of very high ranking political and military personnel. Paul Heyller, Canada’s former Minister of National Defence recently said that there are “at least four known alien species that have been visiting Earth for thousands of years.” You can read more about that, and watch him make that statement here.

This is a very minuscule amount of evidence that I’ve presented regarding the UFO issue. The UFO phenomenon cannot really be denied anymore, for anybody who has looked into this subject,the evidence can be quite overwhelming. Coupled with this evidence are the experiences people have all over the world involving UFOs, as well as purported extraterrestrial beings. It’s definitely an interesting subject and one that is gaining some well deserved attention as we move through 2014 and beyond. This is thanks to the efforts of researchers, whistle-blowers and more.

Chiao joins a long list of astronauts that have openly spoken out about UFOs and their own individual experiences with them. Other astronauts of the past have made remarkable claims and comments about UFO’s and intelligent extraterrestrial life. Below are a few of many examples. To view some of the best, officially documented UFO footage from the NASA STS-48 Discovery Space Shuttle, click here.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/02/nasa-unexplained-files-are-we-alone-science-channel_n_4880334.html

{ http://www.collective-evolution.com/ }

01-05-2015 om 00:54 geschreven door peter  

01-05-2015 om 00:34 geschreven door peter  

Per ongeluk een warpveld gecreëerd?

30-04-2015 om 23:58 geschreven door peter  

Le cargo spatial russe de l'ISS abattu par un OVNI ?

Le cargo ravitailleur avait été embarquée à bord d'une fusée Soyouz tirée mardi. Image d'illustration.[JODY AMIET / AFP]

Tandis que le cargo spatial russe M-27 M poursuivait mercredi sa chute vers la Terre, les raisons de cette perte de contrôle demeure mystérieuses. Les ufologues ne manqueront sans doute pas de souligner une étrange coïncidence.

Quelle est la raison qui a conduit à la perte de contrôle du cargo M-27 M - lancé mardi avec une fusée Soyouz - qui devait ravitailler la Station Spatiale Internationale ? 

Si les sources officielles n'ont pas encore avancé d'explications plausibles, les passionnés d'ufologie - qui ne dédaignent pas parfois les théories conspirationnistes - ne manqueront pas d'avancer que des activités inhabituelles avaient été récemment "observées" autour de l'ISS.

Coïncidences ?

En effet, plusieurs vidéos ont récemment été diffusées sur les réseaux sociaux, faisant état d'étranges apparitions. Le 24 avril, une séquence, sur laquelle on peut observer une mystérieuse lumière bleutée, a ainsi été mise en ligne.

Le 22 avril, un autre phénomène aurait été observé sur le flux live de la NASA : pour l'auteur de la "découverte", il pourrait s'agir d'un OVNI en orbite autour de l'ISS.

Il n'en fallait pas moins pour qu'une correspondance soit établie entre ces deux prétendus OVNI et la chute avérée du cargo ravitailleur russe, comme sur l'un des sites référents en la matière. Il demeure cependant fort peu probable que cette hypothèse ne soit retenue par les autorités spatiales internationales dont on attend les interprétations.

{  http://www.directmatin.fr/ }

30-04-2015 om 23:51 geschreven door peter  

Ancient Aliens In India? - Secret Underground City of Ellora Caves

From: Phenomenal Travel Videos

"We are at Ellora caves in India, and I am going to show you some solid evidence about a secret underground area that is hidden under these caves. As you can see, there is a rectangular tunnel about 1 foot wide that is vertically going down, and is not open for public access. I asked the security guards if I could take a closer look and they told me that visitors are not allowed but they also told me that, this tunnel is over 40 feet deep and then it takes a right angle turn to proceed underground. Nobody knows what's inside after that because the tunnel becomes too narrow for human beings to get through it. 

Here is another one that is hiding in plain sight. You can see a channel on the ground and there is a small rectangular opening at the end of this passage that would drain the water to the other side of the temple. But, I went to the other side of this rock but guess what? It is a solid stone!! So, there is no other way, except that this rectangular opening leads to the underground. Notice that the rectangular opening is only large enough for a 10 year old to go in? Since adult human beings can't access it, was it designed for human beings at all? 

This is another hidden passage in Ellora caves that I tried to get through, but after 10 feet, it becomes so narrow that I can't go any further. Where do these mysterious tunnels lead? Who could have used such narrow passages? The other important question is: how can you carve such narrow passages if human beings cannot even get through them? Was it carved by humans at all? Were these carved for extraterrestrials that are smaller than human beings?

Notice how this entrance is clearly going underground, in this cave temple. These are underground areas hiding in plain sight. The security guards told me that there are several underground tunnels in Ellora caves which gradually become too narrow for human beings to access them, and all of them are locked. From these old doors, we can assume that these tunnels have been closed from public access at least 30 to 40 years ago. 

These underground tunnels are not found in the same area, but are scattered over many different caves in Ellora, which stretches across a few miles. Is it possible that there could be a vast underground city like Derinkuyu in Turkey? Derinkuyu is an enormous underground city with advanced technical features that could accommodate more than 20,000 people, which was hidden for centuries only to be discovered in 1965. 

If it is true that there is a vast underground city in Ellora, shouldn't there be ventilation shafts that would allow air from the ground to reach below. In Derinkuyu, there are thousands of holes drilled from the ground that act as ventilation shafts to the underground city. Look at this long ventilation shaft in Ellora caves that is drilled secretly in a dark chamber. It is about 4 inches wide, but it is so deep that we can't even see the other end. Could this be a ventilation shaft that reaches the underground city?

How about this ventilation shaft, which is also going underground? You can also see hundreds of holes like this drilled on the rock floor. Some of them are unfinished, and only few inches deep, but notice how the other holes have been closed with concrete recently. I asked why some of these holes have been closed and my tour guide told me that someone dropped their car keys into one of them, but these holes are so deep that they couldn't retrieve it. So, they just covered these holes by putting concrete over them.

What else could be the purpose of these deep holes on the floor, if they are not ventilation shafts? Why would hundreds of holes be drilled on these rock floors with painstaking efforts without any reason? Now, this is one of the abandoned, bat infested places and let's take a look at what's inside. This seems like a very old sanctum holding a lingam, which is a Hindu god. Centuries ago, plenty of water would be poured on this lingam everyday as part of religious worship, and it would drain through this channel. Notice that this water drain has been closed recently with some rocks. Where would the water go? Let's see...It would go vertically down through this tunnel. 

Unless there is an area underground, this would be pointless because the water would just overflow all over the place! All over Ellora caves, there are hundreds of idols which would require thousands of gallons of water poured on them every day. Was this a technique to get clean water underground that could be used for different purposes?"

30-04-2015 om 23:43 geschreven door peter  

The Very Serious Business of Figuring Out How Earth Will Handle First Contact with Aliens

A scene from 'The Visit.'

If aliens landed in Central Park tomorrow, how would humankind respond? Would we point every tank and gun squarely on the spacecraft? Or would we offer a more neighborly greeting? What questions would we ask these extraterrestrials? And what would we tell them about us?

The Visit, a documentary by Danish director Michael Madsen, presents a hypothetical scenario: Aliens have arrived on earth and we know nothing of their intentions, only that they are here. Madsen asks experts from the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (this is a real office that exists at the UN), and other scientists, ethicists, government officials, and public relations personnel to explain how they would respond to this event. The result is a step-by-step guide for dealing with humanity's first-ever encounter with intelligent life from space.

I recently spoke with Madsen about getting scientists to agree to play pretend, what discovering intelligent life would really mean for humankind, and about choosing the ideal spokesperson for humanity.

VICE: I guess the first thing to ask is why? Why did you want to make a movie about how humankind would respond to an alien invasion?
Michael Madsen: I think that the greatest event for mankind to ever experience would be extraterrestrial life—to meet life from elsewhere. I think that would question everything that we hold to be true about ourselves and our particular place in the universe. In that respect, I think this is a unique scenario by which to explore something about human understanding and human self-perception and also, of course, ideally create a kind of a mirror. That's what I've been trying to do with The Visit.

So what sorts of questions did you want the audience to ask themselves while watching this? What were you hoping to achieve with the film?
I'm interested in having the audience be the main character in the film in a way. By that I mean that I'm interested in putting the audience in the shoes of an alien—if they are wearing shoes, that is.

I'm interested in using this outside perspective of a creature coming from elsewhere, outside of human understanding, outside of human self-evidence about everything in this world that we inhabit. I assume that a kind of a task force would be formed in such an event—what sort of things would they be asking about? What would they be explaining about human beings? What's important to understand about human beings? These are the things that I'm interested in. You can also say that I'm trying to create a kind of philosophical launch within the audience, in terms of these questions.

http://www.vice.com/video/valley-of-the-ufos

Let's talk a little about the scenario itself. The UN doesn't actually have a plan, but the film features various experts who give their opinions on how they'd respond to an invasion. Can you explain how the scenario in The Visit was formulated? How did you choose which experts to speak to and also which steps to include in this scenario?
I think that the scenario in The Visit can only be understood as an ideal scenario. By that I mean things would not unfold as depicted in The Visit—although I think that the military aspects, or the concerns, and the perhaps calls for action, I think they are very close to what would most likely happen. And, of course, the film is made without a script, because I wanted all the individual experts to just respond as they would actually do if they were in this situation.

I didn't want to create a scenario that they would have to adhere to—it's all based on how they have chosen to react. But it's an ideal scenario in the sense that these are experts—as far as you can be an expert in this field. And some of them have also been thinking a lot about such an eventuality. But who knows if somebody comes, and they land in a field and address the cows in the field, not the farmer.

Let's say the first contact is performed with children, for example. It might be better, I don't know, but it would be a completely different scenario in terms of the mechanisms in it. But I do believe that the question about what's a human being, I think that question would come into play in any encounter you can envision. Because we would come into play ourselves.

But it's an ideal scenario. This was the only way I could think of in which I, to some extent, could bring some kind of authenticity into this speculation. By means of using people in real decision-making positions and also, for example, positions within a government—in this case the UK government—people who had knowledge of a kind that would have to be used, for example, in terms of how to address the public and so on.

Was it difficult getting experts to agree to the film? I'd imagine that some might be worried about how this might be perceived.
I think this was a concern from all of the experts. I really understand it very well because they are, of course, putting their professional reputation on the line. There is no empirical evidence, so you are taking a risk as a scientist. But this is also why I first approached the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs to accept to be in the film. After they agreed to this—and that took about a year with different meetings—after this, I could tell this to the other experts that I approached. Plus, I said that I would hope you would find the time to look at my previous film, Into Eternity, and you will see how I work and that will address some of your concerns. This is not a UFO film, it's not a sensation film or a conspiracy or anything like that. I'm genuinely interested in some of these philosophical and existential questions that such an encounter would [bring forth] and also, as I said earlier, this is a mirror. It's not a film about aliens. It is ultimately a film about ourselves. And this is what [the experts] understood.

But it was also, I think, for some of these persons—I mean, some of them told me, "This is the best interview I've ever given," and I think it's because they were, by this conceptual device of talking to the camera as if it was a visitor from elsewhere, somehow freed.

They got to indulge their imaginations.
Yes. They really dived into it.

How much of this scenario, or how we mentally prepare for this kind of event, do you think is informed by popular culture?
I think it's soaked in popular culture and popular imagination. And I think that is potentially disastrous. This is my opinion, although I share it, but it's another anthropologist who's been suggesting that because films, literature, and so on [have been] dealing with invasions and hostile invasions [for the past 100 years]—beginning with, of course, War of the Worlds—that would inadvertently mean that we would respond ourselves in a defensive, therefore also a hostile, way. That we would most likely not be able to perceive even a friendly gesture.

And the question is—this is something that I was very interested in exploring with the experts—to which extent are we able to perceive something that is not like ourselves? How can we see something that is fundamentally different? And this is also of course what is being discussed in terms of lifeforms and so on. But how do we actually detect life that's not like life on earth? With it comes other minds, other feelings, other emotions, other types of memory, other perceptual faculties, it's just exponentially more difficult. But, of course, there is also something infinitely wondrous about this. What if somebody comes here and has a completely different experience of reality and we could learn something from that and could of course expand our own world?

Then we aren't talking about fearful scenarios and so on anymore. But as we know from earth, people who think differently to oneself, can sometimes be very difficult to understand or just embrace.

It was interesting because you have some experts who are saying we might not even be able to detect that alien life is among us, and then you have others who make the very human assumption that, as humans, the most intelligent life form on our planet, we will be able to experience this event or to connect with these other beings.
This, of course, is something that's very contested philosophically, but it's a part of modern human self-understanding to have this idea that ultimately we can gain access to everything. I would say that this can also leave humans very lonely in a very, in my mind, cold place where everything is understood—where no mystery is left. This fear that is also in the film, this loss of control that I think would be a result of such an encounter. I think it's very interesting, because we understand ourselves not only in the center of the universe, but also in the center of control. We think we understand and master reality, and I think that just the presence of something else would tell us that we don't do that. For a modern human being, for a time that hails individualism and all those things, that would be very, very frightening.

If there's one thing the film can say definitively it's that we don't really have a clue what we'd be facing in the event of an alien invasion. So what is the point of a plan even? Would it just be a way for us to feel in control?
Yes, it's true that the military and the press begin to talk about this being interpreted as an invasion, but it's never clear in the film, it's just something turns up. But I think that the most difficult thing to prepare for is, of course, the event where you don't know exactly what it is, but where you sort of say, "Open your mind to what can this be for me."

I think what drives humans into space, and has already—we have skimmed the surface in a way. We have gone short distances in reality—but what drives us out there and what drove us across oceans and so on is curiosity. This might also help us in such an encounter. I think we should perhaps think about [the possibility] that other intelligent life might also be curious. They might also just cross space to see if there is life. They may also be scared shitless if they come here and meet us.

But hopefully there will be fascination, too. Perhaps that can be the common ground. I don't know, but that could be a hope.

The line that really stuck out for me was when one of the experts says that mankind would be plunged into despair if aliens do show up and then they leave.
I think this is connected to something deeply human and perhaps the whole thing why we do look to the stars and ponder if there is life out there. Because there is a very interesting longing toward space and what's out there. I think it has to do with this hope or idea or longing towards being seen by something other. By being seen, also by something superior, you actually gain existence, because you're recognized as something.

I think if somebody came here and left again without a word, more or less, without any [idea of] why they [came] and so on, I think, yes, that would plunge us into a collective depression, because we would get the idea that we were nothing. We weren't worth wasting more time on. It was just like they just stopped by on the road and there was nothing to see and then they just drove on in a way. That would give us a kind of inferiority complex, which we might already have.

At a recent panel discussion, a chief scientist at NASA said that we'll have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years. But she emphasized that this evidence wouldn't be "little green men," but rather microbes. That would be a huge step toward finding life as we know it, but still, I feel that if that's all we found, it would really disappoint a lot of people.
In my mind, its a strange statement to make, because why talk about it not being "little green men"? Yes, yes, yes, I agree. You might find fossilized bacteria and so on or similar things on Mars and so on. But I think the reason why the talk is only about bacteria is also very much more difficult to understand and to decide what to do if higher lifeforms were encountered. Not to mention, of course, lifeforms with life like us, because then it's a whole different ethical and moral question.

Can we land on this planet? Let's say we could do that. Can we interfere, can we contaminate, potentially, this world? So, it's much, much more difficult moral and ethical questions. Questions that have nothing to do with science alone, meaning that NASA perhaps cannot decide for themselves how to cut the cake, or whatever you say in English. So, much more difficult questions will come into play.

The film covers everything from how to best issue a statement to the public to if we should reveal humanity's worst traits to aliens. The question that caught me most off guard though was "Who should be humanity's spokesperson?" It's funny because movies have taught me that it's always the US president who handles space relations. But when Sir David Attenborough was suggested I just thought, Oh yes, of course. There are other possibilities! So lastly, who do you think would make a good spokesperson for humanity?
I think that in the present day world the only super-national entity is, of course, the United Nations. There is, of course,  the opinion that the UN is bogged down in bureaucracy, but it's the only thing we have. It's also, of course, very possible that if this were to happen, if these entities think like we do, then they will approach the strongest power on earth, which would currently be the US because they would think that they're the best ones to negotiate with. Because if we can agree with them then everyone else will also most likely agree. But, if they address the cows, of course, it's a different scenario. Perhaps if somebody comes it will be so value-changing that humans start to think in a different way. I don't know. If we know that astronauts who have been in space and have seen the Earth, they seem to have some shifts in their perception of values and so on.

But of course, most of these sci-fi scenarios are coming from Hollywood, and American self-understanding is to be superior, at least after the Second World War. But if you see Japanese films then perhaps its the Japanese military who takes care of things. So its also about perspectives.

The Visit plays at Hot Docs documentary film festival on April 29 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Follow Regan Reid on Twitter.

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30-04-2015 om 23:12 geschreven door peter