ONLINE CONSPIRACY THEORISTS ARE MORE DIVERSE (AND ORDINARY) THAN MOST ASSUME

Conspiracy theories are known for connecting apparently unrelated events. Consider the X-Files’ Fox Mulder holed up in his office, frantically joining seemingly random dots. Or the American radio host Alex Jones connecting leaked Clinton emails and fuzzy rover pictures to conclude that NASA is running a child slave colony on Mars.

Cognitive psychologists have often claimed that conspiracy theorists possess a “monological” belief system, in which belief in one conspiracy leads to belief in others. Eventually, they explain every significant event, however unrelated, through the same conspiratorial “logic”.

On such a view, conspiracy theorists are fundamentally irrational, perhaps even pathologically so. But is this an oversimplification?

So-called “big data” approaches to psychology can give a unique perspective on these questions. By using large datasets gathered from social media websites, one can look at people interacting in everyday settings. Importantly, these approaches can capture everybody, not just the most vocal members of a community.

In a recent paper we used online comments to examine individuals who are interested in these types of ideas. We examined a complete set of comments over eight years from the conspiracy forum of reddit.com.

Our dataset included 2.2 million comments from roughly 130,000 distinct user names. Our analyses used topic modelling, a type of linguistic analysis that tries to find common themes across a large collection of documents.

We were able to identify 12 distinct subgroups of individuals who used language in different ways and who varied widely in their interests and their posting habits. What they talked about strongly suggested that they held different beliefs and attitudes about a range of conspiracies.

Eleven of these had consistent enough interests to be readily interpretable. We assigned each of them a name and created aggregate sample comments, as shown in this diagram.

We found that there were posters who fit the “monological” pattern (we dubbed them True Believers), writing at length on a wide variety of different topics. However, they were only the tip of the iceberg. Most posters had more specific interests.

Indeed, many seemed to be attracted as much to the social aspects of discussing conspiracies as the content of specific conspiracies. The group we called the Meta-redditors, for example, was most notable for their discussion of other forums on Reddit and complaints about moderation policies.

Similarly, there were subgroups (the Downtrodden) who appeared to be communicating about conspiracy theories as a way of expressing general frustration with authority.

Some were suspicious of US foreign policy (Anti-imperalists). Others may be using conspiracy topics as a way to express racist or otherwise socially unacceptable ideas (Anti-semites). There was even a distinct subgroup who appeared to be posting primarily in order to debunk conspiracy beliefs (Sceptics).

This suggests that individuals involved with conspiracy theories may have quite different motivations, beliefs and attitudes. It may not be useful to consider them as a homogeneous group.

What does all this mean for the study of conspiracy theories? It’s complicated.

On the one hand, it has long been known that online conspiracy theorising can have a variety of negative social effects, from political disengagement to actual violence. These are effects we should aim to mitigate.

On the other hand, our study also reveals something more surprising. The vast majority of posters were no more active in the conspiracy forum than they were on other reddit forums. This suggests that, for most individuals, conspiracy theories are not an all-encompassing obsession that overrides other interests, but just one interest among many. Even the most obsessed posters also spend a lot of time discussing Star Wars and trading cute cat photos on other parts of the site.

As noted, many members of online forums appear to use conspiracy theories to express legitimate doubts about structures of power, even if the details may appear striking to us. Reddit’s conspiracy forum links on its front page to a “list of confirmed conspiracies”, many of which are historically accurate. In the 1960s, for instance, the US FBI did infiltrate domestic protest groups to disrupt and discredit them. The public health service in Alabama did conduct long-term medical experiments on African American men.

Hence, we think that conspiracy theorising may be best understood as a symptom of a breakdown of trust in institutions like government and the media. Rebuilding that trust is, alas, a difficult proposal. However, our work suggests that recognising the varied and complex motivations and attitudes of conspiracy believers is an important step forward.

Source theconversation.com

{ http://alien-ufo-sightings.com/ }

16-04-2018 om 11:24 geschreven door peter  

Experts waarschuwen Europa: “Geef robots geen mensenrechten” -  HLN.be

Bron: AD

In een rapport dat begin dit jaar verscheen, schreef het parlement dat robots - gedeeltelijk of geheel - aansprakelijk moeten zijn voor hun daden. Als het wetsvoorstel wordt aangenomen, kunnen robots in rechtszaken optreden als aanklager en ondervraagde. De meer ontwikkelde robot heeft weliswaar een elektronische persoonlijkheid, maar alsnog recht op een menselijke behandeling, oordeelde het parlement. 

Maar veel deskundigen op het gebied van robotica, kunstmatige intelligentie, recht, medische wetenschappen én ethiek raden het voorstel sterk af. “Nachtmerriescenario’s worden op deze manier werkelijkheid. Allerlei fabrikanten zijn bezig met het bedenken en produceren van zelflerende mechanische poppen. De vraag is: hoe lang blijven mensen nog aan de knoppen zitten?”, staat onder meer in hun open brief van afgelopen weekend. 

Tegelijkertijd stellen robotica-experts dat de EU zich teveel laat beïnvloeden door sensationele berichtgeving over kunstmatige intelligentie. “Het wetsvoorstel is gebaseerd op een perceptie van robots vervormd door science fiction en een paar recente sensationele nieuwsberichten.”

Menselijke status

Voorstanders van de wet willen denkende machines op deze manier juist verantwoordelijk stellen voor hun acties. Omdat robots die zelf leren en beslissingen nemen veel minder voorspelbaar zijn, wordt het veel ingewikkelder om verantwoordelijkheid voor eventuele schade neer te leggen bij de producent, de eigenaar, de programmeur of degene die het apparaat de opdracht heeft gegeven waaruit de ellende is ontstaan. Door ze een menselijke status te geven, te registreren en verplicht te laten verzekeren, zou het veel makkelijker worden om schade door robots vergoed te krijgen.

Onlangs was Sophia de eerste robot die staatsburgerschap kreeg. ”Ik ben heel trots en vind het een grote eer”, sprak ze nadat ze zichzelf officieel burger van Saoedi-Arabië mocht noemen. Kort daarna riep Japan een algoritme tot inwoner uit. Nu lijkt Sophia bij lange na niet intelligent genoeg om voor een persoon door te kunnen gaan, maar dat geldt wel voor toekomstige robots.

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

16-04-2018 om 11:12 geschreven door peter  

This Is Our First Glimpse of a DARPA Gremlins Drone Being Launched or Recovered From A C-130

The short clip shows a contractor-operated Hercules reeling out a single tethered prototype drone from its cargo bay.

A brief clip of an official video from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has appeared online, showing what looks to be a C-130 Hercules-type aircraft deploying or recovering a prototype unmanned system as part of the Gremlins drone swarm program. This is the first actual footage to emerge regarding the project, which is focused on demonstrating the feasibility of having groups of low-cost, air-launched, reusable drones perform a variety of roles.

The clip is presently available through the public hosting service Giphy, but it is unclear how long it has been online. We first noticed it earlier in April 2018 after Twitter user @MIL_STD posted it along with a quote from Eric DeMarco, who is President and CEO of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions.

Kratos, along with Dynetics, General Atomics, and Lockheed Martin, took part in the first phase of the Gremlins program, which ended in March 2017. DARPA subsequently awarded additional contracts to Dynetics and General Atomics, but Kratos continued to be involved in the project as a subcontractor to the former firm.

“We have consistently demonstrated our success in rapidly designing and delivering low-cost, high-performance unmanned jet aircraft, and we see this as critical with respect to the Gremlins requirement,” DeMarco said in a press release in March 2017. “Our strategic focus is consistent with the Department of Defense's Third Offset Strategy, which emphasizes the need to rapidly prototype innovative technologies to counter emerging threats and provide the United States with an asymmetric advantage over our adversaries.”

Air Power@MIL_STD

"This will probably be a game-changer for our company if we're successful" E Demarco, Kratos https://gph.is/2q9pv57 

12:29 AM - Apr 6, 2018

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Gremlins, which first began in August 2015, envisions a cheap, short-life drone swarm that one or more aircraft can release in flight and another set of planes can then retrieve in mid-air after a mission. The basic concept of operations envisions a C-130-type aircraft – as seen in the video – as well as combat aircraft, such as fighter jets and bombers, releasing the swarm of Gremlins at a stand-off distance from enemy defenses.

The drones would then conduct this missions and another C-130 would retrieve them and return to base with them, where ground crews would be able to have them ready for another sortie within 24 hours. The minimum threshold requirement is for the low-cost unmanned systems to remain functional for just 20 missions.

DARPA

An artist's conception of Gremlins in heading out to a target area, while others return to a separate mothership.

DARPA says the primary tasks it envisions for Gremlins, at least at present, are intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and as a platform for other “non-kinetic” payloads, which could include electronic warfare systems. This would make sense since swarms offer significant potential as distributed sensor nodes and as a means of overwhelming enemy integrated air defenses ahead of a strike.

But this is just a small portion of the potential mission sets for swarms of small drones able to act autonomously or semi-autonomously, based on a fixed set of parameters and potentially in concert with other, larger unmanned or manned systems. As I wrote in a piece detailing Chinese swarm developments in January 2018:

Future swarms of small drones might also be able to carry electronic warfare jammers, emitters that mimic the signals of larger aircraft, equipment capable of conducting cyber attacks, or other systems to confuse or overwhelm an opponent’s defenses ahead of or during a more complex operation. A swarm of drones with small electro-optical or infrared cameras might be able to rapidly search a broad area for targets of interest discreetly and, with miniaturized data links, feed this information to other aircraft or other assets where it can be fused and exploited, giving their friendly force a more complete view of the battlefield and any potential hazards or targets of opportunity.

Even a swarm of small drones each with different modular capabilities installed could potentially conduct a broad array of tasks at once and in a resilient manner. Navigation system carrying types could help guide armed versions over long distances. Some armed variants could be capable of homing in on certain types of radiation—like radar emitters, air defense nodes, or even individual communications devices, while others can be capable of attacking prescribed targets that visually match images in their memory database. In this way, developments may be able to reduce the overall size and complexity of the basic underlying aircraft. This is an especially important consideration since the cost of launching dozens, or even hundreds of drones, could otherwise become prohibitive quite quickly, especially if the user doesn't expect some or even all of them to necessarily survive.

Systems that are ostensibly for scientific research purposes, but that have sensors designed to monitor visual or other changes across a wide area could easily have military applications, too, acting as early warning nets or helping guard borders.

Drones swarms might even be able to eventually attack targets directly with small munitions or launch suicidal strikes against ground vehicles or ground-based elements of an integrated air defense system, such as radar arrays. When it comes to Gremlins in particular, a modular strike package of some sort, with a combination of sensors and a kinetic payload, could squeeze extra capability out of the aircraft on their last operational flights.

The clip does not appear to show Kratos’ Gremlins prototype, though. A public affairs representative for DARPA confirmed that the clip was from an official video, but said that it had been released yet and declined to comment further.

We do know that it is not General Atomics’ design. The company is, so far, the only one to publicly display its offering, which it simply calls the Small Unmanned Aerial System, or SUAS.

View image on Twitter

San Diego Journal@sandiegojournal

Daily Business Report-Sept. 28, 2016: General Atomics’ SUAS Drone General Atomics’ Secret… http://m.tbnn.it/MLyMPV 

5:50 PM - Sep 28, 2016

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The unmanned system in the DARPA video has a distinctly different and more bulbous planform with four fins at the rear. General Atomics’ SUAS only has two rear fins in a completely different arrangement.

The rear fins on the vehicle in the animated picture have what appears to be of a grid or lattice design. This point towards Dynetics, which produces the GBU-69/B Small Glide Bomb, a precision-guided munition that has three fins of a similar shape. Kratos’ existing target and multi-purpose drone designs feature traditionally shaped control surfaces.

DYNETICS

The GBU-69/B Small Glide Munition.

In addition, the C-130 visible in the video appears to be one that belongs to International Air Response. This firm offers a variety of specialized air services, including making their aircraft available for flight tests, and is a member of Dynetics Gremlins team.

Of course, grid fins are a well-established technology at this point and, among other benefits, offer a relatively easy way to fold control surfaces near flush against the cylindrical body of a missile, rocket, or other types of projectiles. This can help make the weapon or air vehicle more compact for storage and carriage before launch, which would almost certainly be an important consideration for the Gremlins project.

The video itself is almost certainly from the first phase of the project, which was supposed to include tests to examine methods for both launching and recovering prototypes from the rear of a C-130-type aircraft. The clip appears to show a winch system with a physical tether to the drone, but it is not clear whether this is part of the launch or recovery process, or if that system performs both functions. Reeling the vehicle in either direction would be good test points.

But while a tether could offer a low-cost means of releasing the unmanned systems, it might present greater difficulties in attempting to recover them and do so rapidly. It is possible that there is a secondary arm or another mechanism to quickly snag a returning aircraft that is not visible in the clip. General Atomics' Gremlins’ concept art has depicted underwing pylons releasing drones via a fixed line, but with a more complex robotic arm for retrieving them afterward.

GENERAL ATOMICS

Concept art showing a full-configured C-130 mothership for the Gremlins drones.

The complicated nature of this proposition is not entirely new. During the Cold War, the U.S. Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency employed the Fulton Recovery System, also known as the Skyhook, to catch the parachutes on falling film canisters from spy satellites and early reconnaissance drones in mid-air, as well as snatch up downed aviators, special operators, and secret agents right off the ground.

This arrangement consisted of an aircraft with a large V-shaped frame at the front to snag the parachute or a line attached to a balloon. The object would then trail behind the aircraft, where personnel at the rear would use a separate line and winch to haul it aboard. The C-130 was the primary Fulton platform until the Air Force retired the system completely in 1996.

Physical hooks that allow one aircraft to retrieve another are an even older concept, dating back to the 1930s with the U.S. Navy airship USS Akron. This massive dirigible could launch and release Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk biplane fighters from a large internal hangar.

During the 1950s, the Air Force experimented with a number of air-launched and recovered aircraft schemes, both to provide fighter escort for long-range bombers and to extend the range of small reconnaissance aircraft. Modified B-29 Superfortress and B-36 Peacemaker actually flew experimentally carrying modified F-84 jet fighters and RF-84 reconnaissance aircraft, as well as the purpose-built XF-85 Goblin "parasite fighter."

In the 1970s, Boeing revived the concept, suggesting that it could convert 747 airliners into flying Airborne Aircraft Carriers (AAC). In addition to being able to launch and recover 10 "microfighters," the modified airliner would've be able to refuel them in flight, at least in theory. 

So there is definitely a significant amount of existing history out there with launching and recovering aircraft in mid-air that Dynetics and General Atomics could tap into as they proceed with the Gremlins project. It will be fascinating to see what concepts they ultimately propose as the program moves forward.

BOEING VIA BOEING-747.COM

Boeing's 747 AAC concept.

DARPA’s first phase also included studies to examine ways to keep the individual drones cheap and easy to modify in order to accept new systems as necessary. There was also work on developing digital flight control systems to enable the aircraft to work together as a swarm.

The second phase, which began in 2017, is working toward maturing the experimental components into more functional prototypes for full-scale tests of a complete system. DARPA hopes that demonstration, phase three of the Gremlins program, will begin in 2019.

And though the agency said it couldn’t tell us anything more about the video, they did say there’s a new announcement about Gremlins coming soon. So it might not be long before we get more details about the project’s actual progress.

• Contact the author: jtrevithickpr@gmail.com

{ http://www.thedrive.com/ }

16-04-2018 om 00:56 geschreven door peter  

{  https://futurism.com/ }

16-04-2018 om 00:30 geschreven door peter  

Psychologists explained the impossibility of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations

Psychologists at the University of Cadiz in Spain have come to the conclusion that mankind can not recognize signals from alien civilizations, since the latter can use communication on unknown physical principles. Scientists also criticize researchers involved in the SETI project, because they are focused only on the search for radio signals. The article of scientists is published in the Acta Astronautica journal.

Experts believe that mankind can not detect extraterrestrial intelligence because of the analogue of the blindness of inattention. This psychological phenomenon is the inability to discern an object that has fallen into the field of view, because of the presence of other objects on which human attention is concentrated. In the opinion of the authors of the article, instead of looking for other possible communication channels, the scientists involved in the SETI project are concentrating on the registration of extraterrestrial radio signals.

In support of their point of view, psychologists conducted a cognitive test involving 137 volunteers, which consisted of several parts. The first was a test for cognitive reflection, which consists in assessing a person's ability to correctly solve a problem, a quick intuitive response to which is incorrect. After that, participants were given aerial photographs of artificial and natural objects. In one of the pictures was inserted a small image of a man in a gorilla costume (a hint of a famous experiment with an invisible gorilla).

It turned out that those who are inclined to impulsive behavior and were in a hurry to give the wrong answer, were more likely to notice the gorilla in the pictures. At the same time, people with an analytical mindset are more prone to a "blindness of inattention". Such results, according to psychologists, suggest that scientists may not notice other evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations.

In addition, psychologists criticized the Kardashev scale, used to assess the technological development of a hypothetical civilization based on the amount of energy consumed by it. Thus, the civilizations of the first type use all available resources on their native planet, the second type - the energy of the star, and the third type - of the entire galaxy. Scientists offer an alternative scale based on the ability to change environmental conditions.

In their opinion, humanity is in a transition stage from the first to the second type. It remains dependent on the Earth's natural conditions, vulnerable to global catastrophes and is influenced by biological evolution. At the same time, people are relatively close to becoming cosmic colonists and enjoying the achievements of genetic engineering and nuclear physics, while the third type of civilization is super-developed and capable of manipulating space-time, dark matter and dark energy. Thus, the search for radio signals makes it possible to find only the first type of civilization.

{ https://theeverydaynews.com/ }

16-04-2018 om 00:21 geschreven door peter  

Breakthrough Discuss turns spotlight on search for life elsewhere in solar system

BY ALAN BOYLE

{ https://www.geekwire.com/ }

15-04-2018 om 23:46 geschreven door peter  

Weird Suffolk: Hollesley - the UFO hotspot

Stacia Briggs and Siofra Connor

But there are claims that Hollesley had extra-terrestrial visitors of its own – three years after Rendlesham and, in a further incident, again in 2017.

The autumn of 1983 was colder than usual and by the time Halloween was on the horizon at the end of October, there had been several sharp frosts and even some wintry showers – but the weather didn’t deter some very unusual day-trippers who paid an unexpected visit to Hollesley at the tail-end of the month.

Late one evening, in a clear dark sky, villagers reported seeing a large, dark-coloured, silent, triangular-shaped aircraft hovering above Hollesley for around 15 minutes: they were astonished to see that three lights on the base of the craft which lit up the ground spectacularly.

Ron Macro told the press: “We froze. The lights were in a triangle and remained perfectly still. Whatever was in the sky flew over us. The lights beamed down and we heard a high-pitched whine.”

Debbie Foreman and Pauline Osborne were driving in Hollesley when the UFO appeared: as they drew close to it, the engine of Debbie’s car began to splutter, the headlights faltered and then the engine cut out completely: “Until then the car had behaved quite normally,” said Debbie, “but everything seemed to go wrong.”

Many attributed the craft to nearby RAF Woodbridge – one resident, John Button, said: “If they are experimenting then we ought to be told. And if there’s something flying around here which comes from outer space, we ought to be told about that, too.” The answer from Woodbridge was concise: “Nothing was seen on radar. I cannot say more than that.”

Fast forward almost 35 years and there was a repeat visit from an unidentified flying object.

In a submission to BEAMS, the British Earth and Aerial Mysteries Society, a witness offered an account of a strange occurrence which happened as they was driving in the Hollesley area which, they said, included an inexplicable time slip. The sighting happened on August 31 2017 between 11pm and 12.30am.

“I was picking my daughter up from work and when driving past Sutton Heath with Rock Barracks on the left, I saw a flash line of bright white light above the trees ahead and to the right: I asked what that was and my daughter thought maybe streak lightning. I was doubtful as it didn’t look like that to me,” said the witness.

The lights appeared every few minutes. The pair drove towards Hollesley Bay Prison and saw a ball of stationary white light above a building which then suddenly disappeared before another light sphere appeared to the left, then darted into a garden above a low bush before vanishing again.

Perplexed, the pair drove towards Bawdsey but, interest piqued, headed back to where they had seen the lights, driving on a single track tree-lined road where they saw another ball of light which disappeared in a flash. They immediately found themselves outside Hollesley’s village shop.

“It takes at least 10 minutes to get to Hollesley shop from the road leading to Bawdsey where we turned in the road - if we were driving fast, but we were crawling - and we would have had to turn left at the crossroads and drive through Alderton... but we never reached the crossroads, didn’t drive through Alderton or take any turnings…it was as though we’d just been teleported from one place to another!

“The light was like a vibrating wave in the air…(we) saw it twice more, this time above sea to the left where no planes or boats were.”

Keep watching the skies.

• For more information on BEAMS click here.
• For more Weird Suffolk click here.
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15-04-2018 om 23:34 geschreven door peter  

13 of Ireland's most notorious UFO hotspots

{ https://www.irishpost.com/ }

15-04-2018 om 22:56 geschreven door peter  

VIDÉO: UN OVNI A ÉTÉ FILMÉ LORS DE LA MISSION STS-77 DE LA NASA

PAR VINCENT DEROY

Sur des images rendues publiques par la NASA, des ufologues pensent avoir découvert une preuve qu’une civilisation extraterrestre nous surveille depuis l’espace.

Récemment, il a été révélé que Buzz Aldrin et trois autres astronautes de renom avaient passé des tests au détecteur de mensonges. Au cours de cette expérience, ils avaient été interrogés sur leurs rencontres avec de prétendus extraterrestres.

Aldrin, Al Worden, Edgar Mitchell et Gordon Cooper avaient tous pris part à cette étude. Des experts sont dorénavant « complètement convaincus » que des signes de vie extraterrestre ont bien été observés à bord de la mission Apollo 11 en 1969 sur la Lune.

Des images nouvellement diffusées pourraient prouver les affirmations de ces célèbres et respectés astronautes.

La vidéo en question nous montre une rencontre avec un OVNI, faite par des astronautes installés à bord d’une navette spatiale au cours d’une mission en 1996.

Dans ces images, on peut entendre un astronaute communiquer par radio avec le centre de contrôle de la mission de la NASA pour signaler l’observation.

Mario Runco Jr, l’homme qui a filmé le phénomène – raconte à ses collègues sur Terre qu’ils observent cet objet volant non identifié depuis un certain temps.

Il signale ensuite qu’il peut voir une autre lumière passer dessus, admettant que cela pourrait être une étoile.

Toutefois, alors que l’astronaute décrit l’incroyable OVNI qu’il est en train de regarder, le centre de contrôle ne semble pas s’enthousiasmer et paraît vouloir changer rapidement de sujet.

Ces images ont été capturées lors de la 77ème mission de la NASA baptisée STS-77.

Elle a été lancé en 1996 à partir de la rampe de lancement 39B du Kennedy Space Center en Floride. Elle a duré 10 jours.

La vidéo a été plus tard diffusée par la chaîne YouTube UFO Today. Ce dernier croit désormais que la NASA essaie de nous cacher quelque chose.

Sources: Le nouvel ordre mondial, Daily Star, le 9 avril 2018

{http://paranormalqc.com/ }

15-04-2018 om 22:40 geschreven door peter  

October 27, 1954–The Day A UFO Stopped a Football Game

As fascinating as it may sound, it’s true.

The ‘event’ happened in Florence, Italy, on October 27, 1954.

In October of 1954, a match involving the Italian team Fiorentina was interrupted by mysterious visitors hovering above the stadium. The Fiorentina UFOs were part of a wave of mass-sightings across Europe – and it remains a mystery to this day.

On that occasion one of the most massive UFO sightings in history took place: around 10 thousand people who were in theArtemio Franchi stadium watching the encounter between Fiorentina and Pistoiese witnessed the appearance of unidentified flying objects in the skies above the stadium.

Image Credit: Giornale Del Mattino

Eventually, the match had to be suspended “because the spectators saw something in the sky” according to the official report of the match referee.

According to the testimony of one of the players present in that match, defender Ardico Magnini, who was something of a legend at the club and had played for Italy at the 1954 World Cup.

“I remember everything from A to Z,” he says. “It was something that looked like an egg that was moving slowly, slowly, slowly. Everyone was looking up and also there was some glitter coming down from the sky, silver glitter.

“We were astonished we had never seen anything like it before. We were absolutely shocked.”

He also remembered that a strange sticky and shiny material fell on the ground.

Other testimonies relate the presence not of one but of several strange objects in the sky.

La Nazione’s headline reads: Glass fibers fall on Tuscan cities after globes and flying saucers pass by. Lower headline: The sighting over Florence (with a photograph, now lost, of the UFO).

In the following days, numerous other UFO sightings were recorded in the towns near the stadium.

That unknown substance did not only fall on the court, but it covered a good part of Florence before evaporating.

Those who came into contact with this material describe it as similar to cotton but ungraspable as it disintegrated on contact.

An explanation, rare but scientific, of this phenomenon, arrived many years later: it could have been large networks of connected webs, which appeared in the sky as globes, shining by the reflection of the Sun since that is how spiders migrate.

Curiously, October coincides with the time of migration of the northern hemisphere spiders.

However, the material found simultaneously with the appearance of UFOs was analyzed in the laboratory and the elements found do not coincide with those that are part of spider webs.

Therefore, until this day, whatever the spectators and players saw floating above the Artemio Franchi stadium remains a profound mystery, and one of the best documented UFO cases in history.

Source: The day UFOs stopped play

{https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

15-04-2018 om 22:30 geschreven door peter  

Why UFO / Extraterrestrial Disclosure Will Never Happen

There is no topic more controversial, misunderstood, and distorted in UFOlogy than that of governmental UFO Disclosure. Millions of people worldwide wait with baited breath.

It is the strongly held belief that many UFO true believers have that the U.S. Government knows more about aliens on Earth than they have officially admitted. A highly coordinated and sophisticated conspiracy of silence and plausible deniability that has been leaking through the veiled shadows of half-truths and deception for almost 80 years. Essentially a highly coordinated screw you to the citizens of this pale blue dot. The knowing suppression of the information that we are not alone in the Universe. Acknowledgement that the spark of life happened somewhere else besides here. Arguably this would be the greatest discovery of all time. A great many foundation stones would be changed at light speed in our collective accepted reality.

At least that is what is commonly believed…

YOU must use that four pound mass of grey matter in your skull. YOU must think about this. The true reality of the situation is not going to come to you from the myriad sources of uneducated adulterated fraudsters that claim to have all the answers to the UFO enigma. Social Media and TV personalities are not motivated by the quest for truth but are motivated by money and attention. On Facebook, for example, 98% of all UFO information posted is insane in the extreme. These absolutely pathetic click-baiters are absolute intellectual bottom feeders (you know who you are).

In a way, I am grateful to these intellectual Luddites. Without all the bat-shit crazy UFO information being spewed to the digital winds, I would never have created “The Angry UFOlogist”. I get so pissed off at what passes for UFO news these days.

I am a firm believer in other life in the Universe. My family and I had a daylight up close UFO sighting in the fall of 2012. All three of us witnessed a large black triangle UFO at no more than 50 meters away. Up to that moment, I was solely a sceptic of ufos. My eyes were gleefully opened to this extended reality. I and my family saw it with our own eyes. I have burned excessive clock cycles analyzing what I witnessed. I have no answer to what it was other than an unidentified flying object. My instinct and education in the sciences know that humans do not have that kind of technology. This thing was the size of small one-story house. It was moving slowly, maybe 5-10 kilometres/hr. It floated by. I say floated because that is what it did. We saw it up close for two maybe two and a half minutes. What was very obvious was that whatever it was it had Mass cancelling technology. Whoever or whatever made this was a master of the gravitational force. When it floated by its movement had slight perturbations caused by the wind on the highway where this occurred. There was a slight bouncy horizontal movement like a balloon would have if it was travelling horizontally. This slight wind had enough force to cause this bumpiness in its movement. It corresponded to the timing of the gusts of winds that happened. There is only one phenomenon that I know of that could cause this…it had a very low mass.

The LHC is the absolute pinnacle of particle physics research on the planet. Us primitive humans are by no stretch of imagination masters of gravity and its constituent components. I can say that with a high level of confidence. The absolutely brilliant men and women of CERN and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have just recently found through billions of dollars investment the elusive Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson and its corresponding field is the conveyor of what creates mass in the Universe. Without the Higgs, all that would be is just exotic forms of energy. No matter at all. We are only able to glimpse the Higgs incidentally in nanosecond slices of time. We are just observers of the Higgs, We are not hands on at all. There is no governmental black project (that is so popular with the true believer crowd) that is more advanced than the LHC. No evidence exists anywhere that would support an advance particle understanding from some dark super high power top secret particle accelerator that was around 60 years ago, which is approximately the length of time some people believe that we have had this technology. True mastery of gravity is NOWHERE near us in the future. The jump from burning highly purified fossil fuels to controlling the fundamental forces of the Universe is more immense than most may realize. It would not surprise me if it takes us 1000 years of continual scientific advancement to get there… if ever. Oceans of theoretical and practical sciences must be crossed and mastered to create anything like what we witnessed that amazing afternoon. Many, many, credible witnesses have reported craft with similar flight characteristics.

The whole disclosure subject is assuredly more bizarre and infinitely stranger than what is popularly envisioned. To have the perspective to understand this there are a few important concepts to explore before we can have an accurate big picture view.

We have to contemplate the nature of a life form that has evolved on a completely separate planet. Even that statement is intellectually limiting. Life may be able to evolve on moons, nebula, or planets that are totally different in characteristics than our own pale blue dot. They may exist and function on different time scales then us based on the gravity that they evolved in. Special relativity makes for very strange bedfellows. It is possible that they could be here already just beyond our perceptual ability. There truly are more things in heaven and earth than is dreamed in our collective philosophy.

It is intellectual ignorance to think the genetic nucleotides A.G.C.T. are the only alphabet letters of life. Assuredly the letters, language, and syntax of life will be unknown to us. Truly alien. That is what would be expected by a creature that has a total independent evolution than our own. They are NOT going to be mutated form us, they are going to be wondrous and terrifying in their difference.

But that is not what we are seeing in UFOlogy. The overwhelming consensus of alien reports in the media and in first-hand accounts predominantly highlight humanoid type aliens. Aliens that are structurally similar to our construction is what is usually reported. They may be grey, blue, green, scaled, tall or short, but a humanoid nonetheless. If that is a reflection of reality it has serious terrifying overtones for all of us.

Consider that on our planet our human physical form is the same one that we share with the great apes. Humans and the other great apes only account for less than a dozen different types of species. We share the humanoid form with our closest primate brothers but that is essentially it. Interestingly Mother Earth has an estimated 8.7 million species with still up to 80% still to be found according to Nature magazine. So the percentage of life forms on Earth that are humanoid in form only accounts for 0.0000003793% of all known life. By any measure and consideration that is an impossibly small number. So the conclusion to draw here is that the humanoid form is exceedingly rare even on Earth. Logical conclusion.

So what really is the odds that an alien race would evolve on a different planet than us, find us in the vastness of space, in this sliver of time, and look anything like us? It would be a probability that so infinitesimally small that it would be in the ballpark of a googolplex raised to the power of a googolplex to one. That is a number a thousand orders of magnitude larger than the total amount of elementary particles (2.5 x 10^89) in the entire Universe. Just think about that for a moment.

At this point, we have to make an assumption. An assumption we are going to assume throughout this article. The assumption is that the humanoid reflection of alien reality visiting earth is the correct one.

Since parallel evolution is so unlikely to occur we have to then attempt to find the common thread that connects through oceans of improbability. There has to be a connection of some kind that connects us and them. One good hypothesis is that of Panspermia. The seeds of life arrived on the cosmic winds. Asteroids or comets seed the environment they pass. If we and aliens were seeded in this manner, and we have base genetic codes in common does not really guarantee any particular result. It took us from the earliest tide pools to what you see in the mirror in the morning approximately 4 billion years.

That general time frame would be required for the aliens as well if they are like us. That is an immense time for the divergence and specialization of life. There is no guarantee that even if the initial seed was the same that after 4 billion or so years of separate evolution a greatly different creature might evolve. This theory only holds for life in our galaxy anyway. There is no way asteroid or comets can span the intergalactic distances that would be required for cross galaxy seeding.

So the Panspermia theory is not likely to be the correct one if we and aliens look alike. If the cause of our similarity is not a passive one such as seeding we are forced to consider the only other possibility which is an active cause. This active cause may be the true heart of the reason for 80 years of silence. Something either made us or modified us.

We are the ultimate GMO. If this is true our human saga is not going to end well for us.

Everything we thought we were is a lie. Our life is not our own. Either by barnyard or laboratory intentions we are a product, not people. If this line of deduction is correct (I hope it is not) it fits a significant part of UFOlogy canon.

The well-documented phenomena of alien abductions fit in perfectly with the perspective of dealing with a product. The fact that they have not announced their intentions and have conducted their horrors in the shadows screams either hostility or indifference. Both will look the same to us. The only way that this would be beneficial for us is if they respected us as living beings. Very unlikely they would do that.  When was the last time you respected the inalienable rights of an insect? The stealthy nature of these silent thieves precludes the hope that these are the “Love and Light” kind of aliens popular in UFOlogy. Thieves work under the cover of darkness. Mutual dealing thrives in the honesty of the light of day.

It seems like they do not want to contaminate what we are doing down here, at least directly. Whatever we are or are doing as a culture is of interest to them. The hard fact is that they designed it be so. What is the purpose of the human commodity? Have unfortunate victims of alien abductions found out first hand? When considering the phenomena in an entirety there is NO end result that empowers us.

If the ET’s have communicated with the world governments and brought them up to speed on the situation we are in. Knowing that we are a product and not free people, can you blame them for the suppression. How can such hope robbing and mind-shattering bad news help people? It wouldn’t. It would be like dropping a neutron bomb on the planet. Just ponder the impact of such a revelation in the world, especially knowing we can’t-do anything about it at all. We are helpless. Helpless by design. It would destroy us. It would rob the hope from the scientific and the religious alike. A very large portion of our society believes in some form of God. Billions of people worldwide are of faith. A faith that exalts them with promises of nirvana and infinity. To fall from such a heralded height to the reality of being product would not be just damaging but devastating. When hope is lost all is lost… Billions would be gravely affected.

What this line of reasoning does not support are the UFO crash phenomena. Why would they just leave their crashed vessels or whatever they are? It is not logically consistent that they would leave the hardware. Why would they when they are so careful to conceal themselves all this time and live in the shadows. If you dropped your iPhone in an anthill would you not pick it up? Even if it had a cracked screen?

Remember that this grim prediction only comes to fruition if they are like us in form and function. It is this writers opinion that real alien life will conform to the more likely “Unknown and Unexpected” type. A life form we have not dreamed of.

I hope it looks like a nightmare with 7 legs, 100 eyes, and nothing in common with us.

If we look at the possibility that totally unexpected life forms have been visiting earth there may be nothing to disclose about it. The chance that any meaningful communication has ever occurred is infinitesimal, to say the least.  The government may have a recovered craft but the odds say that they have little chance of ever understanding it anytime soon. It would be like dropping a quantum computer into the bronze ages and having the expectation to make more of them.

The government does not have any special ET whisperer abilities. They would be deaf and dumb just like the rest of us when faced with true aliens trying to communicate. Governments have released UFO files all over the world. But still, no real information on who they are and why they are here is being released. That is because they don’t know. No one really knows. Credible and reliable support for the unknown alien type being the culprits. Which is good news for us?

I do not think by logical deduction that meaningful disclosure will never occur because either they don’t know or the truth is too horrific and harmful to our populace to ever see the light of day. Either way, true disclosure that is wanted by so many in UFOlogy most likely NEVER happen.

Why do the masses look towards the government for truth in anything? All of them are professional liars and will say whatever serves their best interest. It is the height of hubris to look to professional liars for the truth. Nobody believes anything they say now. Why would it be any different in this case? The turds in suits that we elect have nothing intelligent to say about the true nature of the visitors.

Disclosure has been imminent for over 60 years. No reason to think it will happen within the next thousand.

The real truth of the Universal pantheon of intelligences is not going to come from someone in a business suit… they will be wearing a white lab coat.

{ http://www.theangryufologist.us/ }

15-04-2018 om 22:15 geschreven door peter  

MASS SIGHTING – BIZARRE, SWIRLING LIGHTS OVER ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA AND MEXICO

Also published on Medium.

{ http://alien-ufo-sightings.com/ }

15-04-2018 om 22:04 geschreven door peter  

WERE US ASTRONAUTS ORDERED NOT TO REPORT UFOS & ALIENS?

“At no time, when the astronauts were in space were they alone: there was a constant surveillance by UFOs.” – Scott Carpenter

15-04-2018 om 21:37 geschreven door peter  

This Week's Top Space Stories

Photo Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt

Photo Credit: H. Avenhaus et al./ESO/DARTT-S collaboratio

Photo Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi

Photo Credit: MODIS/NASA

Photo Credit: Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE and HMI science teams

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Photo Credit: U.S. Air Force

Credit: NASA

Photo Credit: Drugs and the 2017 eclipse

Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Photo Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt

15-04-2018 om 21:21 geschreven door peter  

Two old black and white original photographs that came from an old hermit show very detailed flying saucers in the sky over Starks, Maine.

Since the images have been taken in the 1950s, it is always the question whether these flying saucers are real alien craft or man-made UFOs fabricated based on the knowledge obtained from former German scientists who have worked on the Nazi UFOs, like the Haunebu type. Mufon case 91403.

Image of three flying Saucers enlarged.

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.be/ }

15-04-2018 om 18:48 geschreven door peter  

Triangle UFO Seen Following Space Station In Earths Orbit On Live Cam, April 14, 2018, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting:April 14, 2018
Location of sighting: International Space Station (ISS)

This UFO is going to blow your mind! I mean it just shows up as a single glowing orb. Then it divides into about 4-6 flashing orbs! During this time the UFO is revealed partially, meaning its not 6 UFOs, but one large UFO of about 300 meters diameter. As you can see in the above photo, the UFO has a more TR3B shape....meaning its a triangle! To see the triangle UFO, pause the video at 1:12 to see it. 

The TR3B UFO is known as an alien craft that the USAF has modified to be flown by humans. This appears to be one of those top secret government ships. Such a craft has the capability to fly from Earth to the moon in under a minute. Its not light speed, but its fast. 
Scott C. Waring

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

15-04-2018 om 18:38 geschreven door peter  

Subglacial Lakes Could Offer Extraterrestrial Life Preview

By Nathaniel Scharping 

These days it’s hard to find a place on Earth where humans haven’t interfered in some way. Venture to the most remote jungle or the depths of the Mariana Trench and you’ve likely been preceded by some emissary of humanity, whether that’s chemicals carried on the wind or something more tangible.

But there are places where our long shadow has never reached, where the events of the past 100,000 years might as well have never happened. Locked deep below gargantuan sheets of ice thousands of feet thick in Canada, researchers have discovered what they believe to be two lakes, saturated with salt and closed off from rest of the world for millennia.

A Different World

Subglacial lakes aren’t anything new — hundreds lie beneath Antarctica, and one, Lake Vostok is estimated to be the sixth-largest in the world by volume. For many, their contents have remained pristine by virtue of isolation. Scientists often see them as time capsules, snapshots of global conditions at the time they were closed off.

But some function almost as alternate realities. Samples from some of these lakes, such as Vostok, indicate that microbial communities are alive and well under the ice, even without sunlight. These organisms exist, and have existed, entirely separate from the flora and fauna that teem across the Earth — they might as well live on another planet.

And that’s why these environments, particularly those recently discovered in Canada, are so interesting to researchers. As we think about where in our solar system (and beyond) life might exist, researchers are looking to Earthly environments for inspiration. Chile’s Atacama desert, for example, might resemble Mars; hydrothermal vents under the sea might have close analogues elsewhere in the solar system.

At the moment, Jupiter’s moon Europa looks to be a solid candidate for finding extraterrestrial life. The moon likely has a large, salty ocean beneath an icy crust, which satisfies one of the most basic requirements for life. The water probably interacts with the bedrock, which would allow for crucial chemical reactions to take place. Sadly, sending a mission to Europa, especially one that would actually bore into the ice, would be fairly difficult and isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.

Water Under Ice

And that’s where these subglacial lakes come in. Researchers from the University of Alberta and the University of Texas at Austin were conducting radar scans of the terrain underlying Canada’s Devon Ice Cap, which lies north of the Arctic Circle near Greenland, when they noticed some unusual signatures. Bedrock normally scatters the signals, but they saw two areas where the signal was reflected with an odd amount of precision. The only explanation that made sense was that two bodies of water, roughly two and three square miles in area respectively, lay deep below, the researchers say.

Given the water lies under enormous pressure, with an average temperature well below freezing, the researchers say that it must be highly saline to remain in a liquid state. Based on models of the glacier at that depth, salt levels must be around four or five times that of the oceans, according to the researchers. They published their research Wednesday in Science Advances.

The salt probably comes from the bedrock the lakes are in contact with, they say, making them an outlier even among subglacial lakes. Just one other hypersaline lake, under Taylor glacier in Antarctica, is known to exist, and these newly discovered lakes may be even saltier.

While the researchers have no set plans at the moment to sample water from the lakes for microbes, the environment makes it an ideal model for other salty oceans in the solar system. If life exists in such environments here on Earth, it’s an indication that it could do so elsewhere as well.

{ http://discovermagazine.com/ }

15-04-2018 om 01:16 geschreven door peter  

Subglacial Lakes Could Offer Extraterrestrial Life Preview

By Nathaniel Scharping 

These days it’s hard to find a place on Earth where humans haven’t interfered in some way. Venture to the most remote jungle or the depths of the Mariana Trench and you’ve likely been preceded by some emissary of humanity, whether that’s chemicals carried on the wind or something more tangible.

But there are places where our long shadow has never reached, where the events of the past 100,000 years might as well have never happened. Locked deep below gargantuan sheets of ice thousands of feet thick in Canada, researchers have discovered what they believe to be two lakes, saturated with salt and closed off from rest of the world for millennia.

A Different World

Subglacial lakes aren’t anything new — hundreds lie beneath Antarctica, and one, Lake Vostok is estimated to be the sixth-largest in the world by volume. For many, their contents have remained pristine by virtue of isolation. Scientists often see them as time capsules, snapshots of global conditions at the time they were closed off.

But some function almost as alternate realities. Samples from some of these lakes, such as Vostok, indicate that microbial communities are alive and well under the ice, even without sunlight. These organisms exist, and have existed, entirely separate from the flora and fauna that teem across the Earth — they might as well live on another planet.

And that’s why these environments, particularly those recently discovered in Canada, are so interesting to researchers. As we think about where in our solar system (and beyond) life might exist, researchers are looking to Earthly environments for inspiration. Chile’s Atacama desert, for example, might resemble Mars; hydrothermal vents under the sea might have close analogues elsewhere in the solar system.

At the moment, Jupiter’s moon Europa looks to be a solid candidate for finding extraterrestrial life. The moon likely has a large, salty ocean beneath an icy crust, which satisfies one of the most basic requirements for life. The water probably interacts with the bedrock, which would allow for crucial chemical reactions to take place. Sadly, sending a mission to Europa, especially one that would actually bore into the ice, would be fairly difficult and isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.

Water Under Ice

And that’s where these subglacial lakes come in. Researchers from the University of Alberta and the University of Texas at Austin were conducting radar scans of the terrain underlying Canada’s Devon Ice Cap, which lies north of the Arctic Circle near Greenland, when they noticed some unusual signatures. Bedrock normally scatters the signals, but they saw two areas where the signal was reflected with an odd amount of precision. The only explanation that made sense was that two bodies of water, roughly two and three square miles in area respectively, lay deep below, the researchers say.

Given the water lies under enormous pressure, with an average temperature well below freezing, the researchers say that it must be highly saline to remain in a liquid state. Based on models of the glacier at that depth, salt levels must be around four or five times that of the oceans, according to the researchers. They published their research Wednesday in Science Advances.

The salt probably comes from the bedrock the lakes are in contact with, they say, making them an outlier even among subglacial lakes. Just one other hypersaline lake, under Taylor glacier in Antarctica, is known to exist, and these newly discovered lakes may be even saltier.

While the researchers have no set plans at the moment to sample water from the lakes for microbes, the environment makes it an ideal model for other salty oceans in the solar system. If life exists in such environments here on Earth, it’s an indication that it could do so elsewhere as well.

{ http://discovermagazine.com/ }

15-04-2018 om 01:16 geschreven door peter  

ET Won't Phone Home: Psychologists Say SETI Has Faulty Alien Contact Methods

by Staff Writers
Moscow (Sputnik) 

ET is calling the wrong number.

15-04-2018 om 01:10 geschreven door peter  

FAA releases audio and radar data of UFO encounter with multiple pilots over California and Oregon, jets were scrambled

Posted by: Alejandro Rojas 

A few weeks ago a story about a UFO encounter by pilots over Arizona and New Mexico made headlines. While this encounter was impressive, the journalist who broke that story has a much more exciting case involving many more pilot witnesses and the scrambling of jets. He also was able to obtain multiple audio files, radar data and other information from the FAA regarding this unusual incident.

Tyler Rogoway (Credit: The Drive/The War Zone)

Tyler Rogoway is a defense writer for the website The Drive. He writes for a section called The War Zone. Rogoway often writes about advanced aircraft developed by militaries all over the world. However, in an interview on Open Minds UFO Radio, he shared that he also has an interest in the rare occasions in which a high-performance aerial vehicle cannot be identified. In other words, UFO cases.

“I’ll tell you, anyone that is in the aerospace world and journalism and tell you that they have no interest in the legacy of UFOs and the whole history that goes along with it is lying to you,” Rogoway recently told Open Minds UFO Radio. “It is an interesting thing, even for the sake of lore and intrigue. So I have followed it very closely.”

Rogoway explained that when people see things in the sky, they cannot identify, it might not be a craft from outer-space, it may be something the government is working on they are keeping secret. This makes it essential for him to keep an eye on the UFO phenomenon. He says he has never seen anything he could not explain himself. He has also been to many of the bases that are alleged to have alien bodies or crashed alien spacecraft, and he has never seen anything out of place.

However, because of the recent revelations that the Department of Defense (DoD) has had a project that takes UFOs seriously, he has felt more emboldened to write about unusual cases he has come across. It should be noted; however, his first story on the Oregon incident was posted on November 15, 2017, a month before the shocking DoD revelations.

Portland International Airport from Rocky Butte.

(Image Credit: Wikimedia/© Steven Pavlov / http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Senapa / CC BY-SA 4.0)

The sighting over California and Oregon took place on October 25, 2017. According to his first article on the incident, Rogoway first found out about the sighting from “friends in the aviation world.”

He says at first he felt it was most likely a case of a misidentification, which he says happens every day. Then he found an interesting post on Reddit that seemed to be referring to the sighting.

Reddit user Duprass wrote: ”Just landed in Seattle coming from the bay area. Beginning over Southern Oregon we kept overhearing Seattle Center attempting to track an airplane with no transponder who wasn’t talking. A handful of crews were able to track it visually…”

Duprass also mentioned that he heard Seattle Center, an FAA air traffic control center, was having trouble tracking the object on radar. This was when they asked pilots to see if they could get a visual sighting of the object. Among other details, Duprass also said he heard jets were scrambled.

Rogoway then found audio files at LiveATC.com that seemed to be related to the incident. Although Rogoway provides links to the audio in his story, the links no longer work. He says air traffic control and the pilots discussed the object for about half an hour.

Rogoway quickly sent a request for information to “the 142nd Fighter Wing based at Portland International Airport, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and the FAA.”

He writes:

NORAD’s reply was quick and clear. An incident involving multiple airline crews, air traffic control, and F-15Cs from the 142nd Fighter Wing based out of Portland did occur. According to the limited information NORAD supplied, airliner pilots were asked by FAA air traffic controllers to help track and possibly identify a “white aircraft” traveling in the flightlevels nearby—roughly between 35,000 and 40,000 feet based on the radio recordings. NORAD also said that the incident did result in F-15s from Portland being scrambled to investigate, but by the time they got up and ‘looked around’ the mystery aircraft couldn’t be found.

This answer intrigued Rogoway even more. He says the 142nd Fighter Wing’s F-15Cs are upgraded with some of the best radar and long-range targeting systems in the world. He writes, “The fact that they ‘didn’t find anything’ is surprising to say the least.”

An F-15 Eagle from the 142nd Fighter Wing takes off from Portland Air National Guard Base in Oregon during an operational readiness inspection on Wednesday, June 14.

(Image credit: U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman John Hughel)

Rogoway says the FAA confirmed the event occurred, but said they had nothing further to add to what he already knew. The 142nd Fighter Wing did not respond at all.

Rogoway found another Reddit post from someone who claimed to be an air traffic controller. Reddit user The Flying Beard claimed that the situation was being investigated. The Flying Beard wrote: “I think the FAA is pursuing this at higher levels. From a safety standpoint, if the military is running super secret test stuff in the NAS [National Airspace], that’s bad. If I were one of the pilots that had a sighting, I’d definitely be filing a NASA form and any other official reports that you can…”

Rogoway’s initial article on this story added a lot more detail and some intelligent analysis. He also said he submitted a Freedom of Information Request (FOIA) to the FAA for more information.

On February 15, 2017, Rogoway posted a follow-up story regarding his investigation of this incident. He writes, “Now, through the Freedom of Information Act, we present what could be one of the most insightful instances of official documentation surrounding such an encounter that had already been confirmed to have occurred by both the FAA and the USAF. These materials include fascinating audio recordings of radio transmissions and phone calls made as the incident was unfolding, as well as pilot interviews, and conversations between FAA officials made in the aftermath of the highly peculiar incident.”

Rogoway and The War Zone put together videos with the audio synced with the radar information they received. The first video covers the initial spotting of the object. It was first seen over Northern California traveling “very fast at 37,000” feet at about 4:30 pm PST. The object then took a turn to the north where it came into the vicinity of nearby air traffic. The craft had no transponder, never communicated with air traffic control, and somehow could disappear from radar.

Soon after being first caught on radar, it dropped off of the radar. That is when nearby aircraft were asked to get a visual. Over the next half hour, and hundreds of miles, several airline crews, shared their visual sightings.

Rogoway writes, “The exchanges between nearby pilots and air traffic control regarding the unidentified aircraft were constant in the audio, with the same description coming back time and again—that of a white aircraft cruising at around 37,000 feet that is too far away to tell the type or if it has markings of any kind on it.”

Jets were scrambled about 30 minutes into the incident. However, Rogoway notes that the jets headed south from the last known location of the unidentified craft. According to the pilot reports, the object headed north.

Besides air traffic control audio, Rogoway was also able to obtain phone calls made by the FAA regarding the incident. Names are bleeped out for privacy, and Rogoway notes that there is no way to know if any of the audio has been redacted.

Rogoway also explains some of the terms heard in the audio. “DEN” is an acronym for the Domestic Events Network, which he explains is a hotline for the FAA to reach federal authorities. The term “WADS” and “Bigfoot” are also used. WADS is an acronym for Western Air Defense, which is a part of NORAD that monitors airspace over a large part of the U.S and Canada. Bigfoot is their nickname.

In the phone calls, FAA managers can be heard discussing how to handle the situation. They contemplate having civilian aircraft scheduled to land in Portland stay airborne so they can keep an eye on the unidentified aircraft. They decide against this because they say they are not sure “if [the unidentified object] are equipped with anything.” Presumably meaning they are not sure if they would be putting the civilian craft in danger. They conclude there is something out there and that military involvement was the best idea. There is also some debate over procedure as to who should have contacted the military and requested the scrambling of the jets.

The calls also include deliberation over how to report the incident. One controller says, “I have a feeling someone is going to go through this with a fine-tooth comb.”

The audio files also included interviews with pilots. The most interesting, Rogoway writes, is an account from a Southwest pilot.

He writes:

The call with the pilot of Southwest 4712 was by far the most interesting. He immediately notes how strange the encounter was and how he has never seen an incident like it in nearly 30 years of flying jets. The pilot noted, “if it was like a Lear (private jet) type airframe I probably would not have seen it this clear. This was a white airplane, and it was big. And it was moving at a clip too because we were keeping pace with it, it was probably moving faster than we were… It was a larger aircraft yeah.” He also said they watched the object from Northern California all the way to their descent into Portland.

The final FAA calls confirmed the incident occurred, and just how “weird” the event was. Rogoway points out that the conversations demonstrate just how rare these sorts of events are. One FAA official says the event was “a weird enough thing that there is not a set procedure… It’s not often we hear about an unknown guy up at that altitude.”

The entire incident is fascinating, and the amount of material Rogoway obtained is incredible. Rogoway says he was also surprised how much information he received. In his Open Minds UFO Radio interview, Rogoway says it has crossed his mind that the FAA was more forthcoming after the news of the DoD UFO program. He certainly felt they seemed more willing to share recently than they were in November when he first broke the story. However, he does not know for sure if the DoD news has anything to do with it.

In the end, the FAA never found out what the unidentified aircraft was. They concluded it was large and fast. They state that it seemed to be flying faster than a nearby 737. 737s have a cruising speed of just over 500 mph. It had no transponder and somehow seemed to be able to evade radar. Although it dropped off the radar, it could still be seen visually. Another important mystery is why the F-15s could not find the aircraft after the commercial airlines visually tracking the object landed in Portland. Rogoway says he believes the high-tech equipment on those F-15s should have been able to find it.

• Read more about the entire investigation on The Drive’s The War Zone here.
• Header image credit: Maintainers from the 142nd Maintenance Group,  {the F-15 Eagle for a training mission from the Air Dominance Center, Savannah Ga., Jan. 28, 2017. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Shelly Davison, 142nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs) 

{ http://www.openminds.tv/ }

15-04-2018 om 01:05 geschreven door peter