The Lost City of Z, and its Mysterious Connection to the Mighty Atlanteans

There are a number of ancient cities—considered myths by most authors—that some believe existed before written history, in different places on Earth.

The Lost City of Z, just like Atlantis is one such mysterious place.

The strange mystery of Colonel Percy Fawcett and the lost city of Z

The most famous person to ever search for this lost city was a man called Percy Harrison Fawcett a renowned explorer who tried discovering the long-lost city thought to remain hidden somewhere in the Amazon jungle.

According to myths and legends, the lost City of Z would have been erected in very ancient times by the descendants of Atlantis. It is believed that the Atlanteans who survived the destruction of their home and escaped to a number of different regions on Earth, and some of them ended up in the Amazon, where they eventually settled down.

Fawcett made eight expeditions, disappearing in the last in strange circumstances.

Did he find the lost city of Z in the Amazonian jungle? Could the Lost City of Z be connected to El Dorado and Atlantis? And what exactly happened to Fawcett in his last expedition?

No one seems to have answers for these questions.

But where to stories about massive cities made of gold, inhabited by powerful beings come from?

We can say that part of the stories come from the old continent. In other words, when the Europeans explorers began arriving at the Americas, the myths and legends of supernatural creatures and pseudo-human tribes slowly gave way to stories of massive ancient cities hidden in the heart of the jungle.

But what exactly is the reason?

Some authors would argue that thanks to the abundance of indigenous communities that the Europeans faced and their exuberant religious rites fed the European fantasies which quickly spread.

Thinking of a great civilization whose wealth one cannot imagine was quickly acknowledged as a common idea. An idea that would later—acoridng to many authors—become known as the legend of El Dorado and that, moreover, satisfied the delirious hunger for gold of the first, and several of the following, visitors to the continent.

The Strange Mystery Of Colonel Percy Fawcett And The Lost City..!!

The Lost City of Z and Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett

Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett was a British explorer who named the Lost City of Z in 1912 after finding an ancient document titled Manuscript 512, kept in the National Library of Brazil. It is believed that his conviction was fed in part due to the rediscovery of the lost city of Machu Picchu in 1911.

The docuemnt—Mansucript 512—is believed to have been authored by Portuguese Bandeirantes, João da Silva Guimarães, who allegedly discovered the ruins of a mighty ancient city, containing arches, statues, and temples covered in hieroglyphs, deep in the Amazonian Jungle in 1753. While Guimarães described the city in great detail, he failed to give off its location.

The enigmatic manuscript is completed with curious details, such as documenting the discovery of a bag of gold coins bearing the silhouette of an archer and a crown, or the reproduction of hieroglyphs copied from various corners of the city, which some say bare an uncanny similarity with Greek and Phoenician letters.

In some way, Fawcett was obsessed with lost cities.

Throughout his travels, Fawcett had heard rumors of a secret ancient underground city located ‘somewhere’ in the jungles of Chile, which, according to tales, legends, and reports, was made of streets paved with silver and roofs of gold.

The strange mystery of Colonel Percy Fawcett and the lost city of Z

Fawcett wrote about the Lost City of Z in a letter to his son in 1912:

I expect the ruins to be monolithic in character, more ancient than the oldest Egyptian discoveries. Judging by inscriptions found in many parts of Brazil, the inhabitants used an alphabetical writing allied to many ancient European and Asian scripts. There are rumors, too, of a strange source of light in the buildings, a phenomenon that filled with terror the Indians who claimed to have seen it.
The central place I call “Z” — our main objective — is in a valley surmounted by lofty mountains. The valley is about ten miles wide, and the city is on an eminence in the middle of it, approached by a barreled roadway of stone. The houses are low and windowless, and there is a pyramidal temple. The inhabitants of the place are fairly numerous, they keep domestic animals, and they have well-developed mines in the surrounding hills. Not far away is a second town, but the people living in it are of an inferior order to those of “Z.” Farther to the south is another large city, half buried and completely destroyed.

The mystery behind Fawcett’s disappearance

So what happened to one of the most famous explorers in history?

In 1921, the first expedition to find the Lost City of Z was assembled by Fawcett.  His search for Z culminated with his disappearance and the appearance of many myths and tales surrounding his faith.

His last expedition was set in March in April of 1925, this time financed by newspapers and societies such as the Royal Geographic Society and the Rockefellers. Fawcett was certain that his expedition would culminate with the discovery of the mythical city.

In May of 1925, the expeditions had reached the edge of uncharted territory, exploring an area that no foreigner had ever dared crossing.

Fawcett’s beliefs were greatly influenced on what the Indians had told him about alleged Lost Cities spread across the Amazon jungle. Even his penultimate letter – nine days before he mysteriously vanished, mentions one such tale.

Correspondence from Colonel Fawcett dated May 20th, 1925

“I saw the Indian chief Roberto and had a talk with him.
Under the expanding influence of wine he corroborated all my Cuyaba friend told me, and more. Owing to what his grandfather had told him, he always wanted to make the journey to the waterfall, but is now tot old. He is of the opinion that bad Indians are numerous there, but committed himself to the statement that his ancestors had built the old cities. This I am inclined to doubt, for he, like the Mechinaku Indians, is of the brown or Polynesian type, and it is the fair or red type I associate with the cities.”

The team traveled into territory that no one had ever seen. They faced many dangers, but they wouldn’t give up. Eventually, they reached an area called ‘Dead Horse Camp’ when Fawcett sent back dispatches for another five months, finally stopping after the fifth. In this dispatch, he would send a letter to his wife saying (dated 29th May 1925):

“My dear Nina,
The attempt to write is fraught with much difficulty, thanks to the legions of flies that pester one from dawn till dusk – and sometimes all through the night! The worst are the tiny ones that are smaller than a pinhead, almost invisible, but sting like a mosquito. Clouds of them are always present. Millions of bees add to the plague, and other bugs galore, stinging horrors that get all over ones hands. Even the head nets won’t keep them out, and as for mosquito nets, the pests fly through them! It is quite maddening.
We hope to get through this region in a few days, and are camped here for a while to arrange for the return of the peons, who are anxious to get back, having had enough of it – and I don’t blame them. We go on with eight animals – three saddle mules, four cargo mules, and a madrinha, a leading animal which keeps the others together. Jack is well and fit and getting stronger every day, even though he suffers a bit from insects.
I myself am bitten or stung by ticks, and these piums, as they call the tiny ones, all over the body. It is Raleigh I am anxious about. He still has one leg in a bandage but won’t go back. So far we have plenty of food and no need to walk, but I am not sure how long this will last. There may be little for the animals to eat as we head further in. I cannot hope to stand up on this journey better than Jack or Raleigh – my extra years tell, though I do my best to make up for it with enthusiasm – but I had to do this.

I calculate that I shall contact the Indians in about a week, perhaps ten days, when we should be able to reach the much talked-about waterfall.

Here we are at Dead Horse Camp, Lat. 110 43’ S and 540 35’ W, the spot where my horse died in 1920. Only his white bones remain. We can bathe ourselves here, but the insects make it a matter of great haste. Nevertheless, the season is good. It is very cold at night and fresh in the morning, but the insects and heat are out in full force come mid-day, and from then until evening it is sheer misery in camp.

You need have no fear of any failure ….”

Those were the final words of Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett.

Two years passed and nothing was heard from Fawcett nor his team.

This resulted in many expeditions being launched in order to find them.

Mysteriously, each expedition suffered the same fate as Fawcett’s.

Fawcett’s disappearance resulted in a total of 13 expeditions being mounted in which more than a hundred people lost their lives, attempting to find not only Fawcett but the Legendary Lost City of Z as well.

No one knows what exactly happened to Fawcett, his expedition and to more than one hundred people that set out to search for him.

Numerous theories were proposed eventually.

Some say Fawcett and his team were killed by an Amazonian tribe, while otters suggest they may have starved, drowned, or suffered a disease. There are some who also say that they may have been robbed and killed by bandits in the region.

Featured Image Credit: Leon Tukker. Posted with permission.

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

12-07-2018 om 15:21 geschreven door peter  

Ancient Golden Inca Star Map Remains A Mystery

The map was found in Qorikancha, near Cusco, within a temple which had once been covered in gold (Qorikancha means Golden Temple). Other artifacts that were on display there include a large golden sun disc which is believed to have been stolen or hidden at some point in history before the Spanish Invasion.

The temple itself was a site of worship to the God Inti, also known as the Sun God. The temple has been mostly stripped now, but records from the Spanish occupancy note the volume of riches it once held, including a large amount of Gold and Jewels.

The star map has been examined by historians for many decades with limited success. An Inca elder believes the map to show the origin of their great deity, Viracocha, the father of Inti, who is believed to have come from somewhere amongst the stars.

The golden pictures on the map show a variety of cosmological events as well as more down to earth images- a depiction of the Milky Way galaxy itself is represented, as well as the Southern Cross, people, stars, comets and possibly even a rudimentary drawing of South America- the home continent of the Inca.

Others believe some of the drawings such as the people and the land mass are actually just other star constellations, Gemini and Cancer. Another interpretation suggests the two people are water and earth goddesses Mamacocha and Pachamama.

A wilder notion determines that the map is actually a clue to where the missing sun disc is located.

More theories suggest the Planet Nibiru or a comet could be heading in Earth’s direction. Regardless, scholars have reportedly agreed to the idea that the story of Viracocha coming from the stars is one they have encountered before, reports ThinkBig-DiscloseTV.

Ancient Golden Inca Star Map Remains A Mystery

The map was found in Qorikancha, near Cusco, within a temple which had once been covered in gold (Qorikancha means Golden Temple). Other artifacts that were on display there include a large golden sun disc which is believed to have been stolen or hidden at some point in history before the Spanish Invasion.

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

12-07-2018 om 14:47 geschreven door peter  

UFO over Lunar Module of Apollo Mission, from NASA archives, slow motion, discovered Feb 6, 2012, but reposted, UFO Sighting News.

This alien probe moves lighting fast, very hard to catch but in slow motion, it's easy.

Date of sighting: 1968-1970
Location of sighting: Orbiting Earth's Moon

Updated July 2018: This post was deleted by the US Gov and I am reposting it again today. Lucky I have a back up made. 

I was messing around last night and found this old NASA footage. In it were a few anomalies that did not look like the old film errors. I paused it several times till I could see the object and to my surprise it looked like a three dimensional alien probe. I put the screenshots and video into slow motion and also put the original footage in it. I know this is old stuff but this UFO has never been reported before now and it was recorded between 1968-1970 but its unclear. This is the first time that humans crossed onto the dark side of the moon. I noticed the metallic-like surface of it and it's odd crystal-like shape makes me believe it was made from biomechanics, or a machine that was grown. SCW

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

12-07-2018 om 14:34 geschreven door peter  

12-07-2018 om 14:29 geschreven door peter  

Final Three UFO Files Released By UK Government Reveal A Very British Conspiracy

By Katie Spalding

In the latest in a series of revelations bound to excite any conspiracy theorists out there, the UK government has finally released the last of its newly-declassified UFO files.

In America, conspiracy theories have proliferated ever since a hot air balloon crashed near Roswell in 1947

JOSHUA ROBERTS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Those following the saga will remember that the UK’s Ministry of Defence supposedly released all its UFO-related intelligence back in 2013 – before admitting that 18 documents had been held back as they contained potentially sensitive information. Then, last year, 15 of those documents were released without fanfare, finally revealing to ufologists the disappointing news that “no UFO sighting … has ever revealed anything to suggest an extra-terrestrial presence.”

Now, finally, the last three are cleared and ready to go to the National Archives. And, while you won’t find stories of little green men or narrowly-avoided alien invasions, they do show the UK took the threat of UFOs – or, to use their own incredibly British terminology, “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” (UAP) – more seriously than they have been willing to admit.

The first revelation contained in the new files shows that the MoD ran two desks dealing with UFO sightings between 1947 and 1997. Although one of these desks was known to the public, taking calls from citizens reporting possible UFO sightings, the second was classified and staffed by intelligence experts working to investigate possible extra-terrestrial threats.

One apparently serious concern revealed by the dossier was that a hostile government – China or the then-USSR – had captured their own UFO and might use alien technology to attack the UK. And obviously, Britain was on the lookout for their own interplanetary leg-up: the reports show that officials expressed a major interest in the UK finding their own little ET to help them fight the communists.

"Monitor all reports in case in the future the hitherto unknown/not understood underlying phenomena is being exploited by another nation," a senior Air Force Commander is revealed to have written. "An actual – or potential enemy – could develop a flying device with the characteristics that these phenomena seem to have …high velocities, sharp manoeuvre, stationary flight and few radar returns.” The RAF was to be informed of “…novel technologies which might be useful to their programmes ...Propulsion, stealth and any novel electromagnetic technologies are of particular interest.”

The MoD’s UFO unit was closed in 2000 after an investigation, also declassified this year, concluded that UAP reports "do not demonstrably provide information useful for Defence Intelligence.” But is that just another layer of the conspiracy? Perhaps the truth is still out there ... but, sadly, the chances are it's probably not.

[H/T: The Times]

{ http://www.iflscience.com/ }

12-07-2018 om 01:35 geschreven door peter  

Derbyshire’s most mysterious UFO sightings

Derbyshire has had its fair share of UFO sightings

SARA KOPECSNI

Today is World UFO Day, the day when people gather together to gaze at the sky for unidentified flying objects.

Derbyshire has a long history of mysterious sightings, with UFOs spotted in places like the village of Bonsall and Ladybower Dam in the Peak District.

A government file, released by the National Archives in 2014, revealed details of a 1994 sighting.

A member of the public reported a large orange light close to the Ladybower Dam.

Derbyshire Police Control’s record reads: “Incident occurred near the A47, Snake Road, north of Lady Bower Damm (sic). NAME BLANKED reported seeing a large orange light moving horizontally and dropping slowly until it went below a line of hills.

“A cloud of smoke was seen to billow out from the light and it then disappeared behind Kinder Scout. The light did not reappear.”

The police contacted Manchester Airport but they could not confirm any aircraft operating in the area - and the sighting remained unexplained.

The 1994 case is not an isolated incident, the Peak District has been described as a hotspot for UFO sightings for many years.

There have been reports of numerous sightings in the old village of Bonsall.

The most famous encounter occurred in October 2000 when Sharon Rowlands filmed a large mysterious flying object above her house.

She said she heard a strange noise from outside of her house one evening, and used a camcorder to film the huge circular object.

“It resembled a giant disc with a bite taken out of the bottom,” she told reporters.

“As it hovered over the woods, it seemed to expand and then get smaller again.

“We could see it pulsing as if it started up and then it just went it came really close at one stage and I thought it was going to land in the field.
“You can hear me on the video say “Wow!”

The Derbyshire housewife reportedly sold the footage to a Hollywood producer for £20,000. Some UFO experts described the video as ‘one of the most important pieces of footage ever taken’ and the captured image was just one of the many sightings in the area.

Since 2000 there were 19 alleged UFOs spotted near Bonsall. A dog walker reported a ‘pink glow, vertically shaped like a shoe box’ and a woman witnessed a ‘ball of fire’ and ‘two big, bright lights’ on the sky.

On the night of 28 September, 2016, a number of people witnessed two flashing white lights in the Derbyshire sky. Fiona Jordan, of Houfton Road, Bolsover, said: “They were like little cloudy lights in the sky. They were dancing about.

“I had just let my dogs out before I went to bed. There was about four in total. There was one above my neighbour’s house and two or three over another neighbour’s house.
“We stood outside for about 20 minutes watching them. It was about 10pm.

“My son who lives in Carr Vale also saw them about two or three nights ago.”

Similar lights were reported above Manchester, Liverpool and other parts of the UK.

With a clear and dry night ahead, today’s World UFO Day could give a good opportunity for stargazers to observe the Derbyshire sky and its many mysteries.

If you see anything unusual, let us know! To email us, click HERE 

{ https://www.matlockmercury.co.uk/news }

12-07-2018 om 01:27 geschreven door peter  

Declassified Files Reveal UK Feared Soviets, Chinese Would Acquire UFO Tech

According to the cache of documents recently obtained by investigative researcher David Clarke, British intelligence services had two UFO desks between 1947 and 1997. One of the desks allowed people to phone in UFO sightings, while the other involved spies investigating UFO reports. 

CC0 / PIXABAY

Spanish Astrophysicist Invents New Method to Find Alien Life in Space

Earlier this month, Clarke, a research fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, obtained copies of the Ministry of Defense's Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) from the ministry following a freedom of information request.

According to the UAP report, which will be released to the public after being declassified, the Royal Air Force was "particularly interested in any novel technology… propulsion, stealth and any novel electromagnetic technologies," news.com.au reported July 2. The documents also reveal that the British government was interested in finding UFOs to use against their enemies during the Cold War, which took place between 1945 and 1990 between socialist countries allied to the Soviet Union and US-led Western powers.

"Even though they have been partly censored, they can't conceal the fact the UK military were interested in capturing UFO technology — or what they coyly refer to as ‘novel weapon technology,'" Clark recently told the Sun.

"And the files reveal they were desperate to capture this technology — wherever it came from — before the Russians or the Chinese got hold of it first," he added.

In an email to Sputnik on July 2, Nick Pope, a former civil servant who worked for the UK Ministry of Defense from 1985 to 2006, said that he has been working with his former employers to ensure that files from the British government's UFO project would be revealed to the public.

"I ran the British government's UFO project and I'm pleased that a number of 'UFOlogists' have acquired documents about my old job, using the UK's Freedom of Information Act. Actually, this is part of what's been a wider 10-year program to declassify and release these files, and I've been working with my former employers to try to ensure that the final files are made available to the public as soon as possible, as part of our wider commitment to open government and freedom of information," Pope told Sputnik Monday. 

© PHOTO : ESA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Mysterious Clouds: Venus' Sky Could Harbor Alien Life – Study

Pope also confirmed that the British government was aware of Russian and Chinese research into UFOs and was attempting to develop its own alien military technologies.

"I can confirm that we were aware of Russian and Chinese research into UFOs and into parapsychology more generally. We didn't take a definitive view on the true nature of the UFO phenomenon (we remained open-minded but noncommittal about the possibility of extraterrestrial visitation) and so we looked at the issue in terms of threats and opportunities. Even if UFOs were just exotic atmospheric plasma phenomena — as one of my colleagues in intelligence believed — we thought we might be able to derive some ‘novel military technologies' from this, and weaponization formed part of our speculation, particularly the idea of some sort of directed-energy weapon," Pope added.

"If such a thing was possible, self-evidently we didn't want the Russians or the Chinese getting there first. While I don't characterize any of this as being a race to acquire 'alien weapons', what we did was probably as strange as anything you can see in an episode of The X-Files," he noted.

According to UFO investigator John Tenney, national director of Mufon, the mutual UFO network, "one aspect, to which very little discussion has been made, with the UK's Ministry of Defence's the newly released documents concerning 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena' (UAP) exposes that while the major governments of the world, even to this day, continue to tell the general population that there is no reason to be affected by the UFO phenomena the governments themselves are indeed interested and actively engaged in a continuing process of research and discovery."

"For decades governments, officials and the media have tended to portray those interested in UFO phenomena as irrational, delusional and/or paranoid while at the same time spending millions of taxpayer dollars investigating the same phenomena and the implications which those phenomena may contain," Tenney told Sputnik via email Monday.

{ https://sputniknews.com/ }

12-07-2018 om 01:10 geschreven door peter  

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Published:July 10, 2018

Updated:July 10, 2018 1:28 PM PDT

{ https://theprovince.com/ }

12-07-2018 om 00:59 geschreven door peter  

‘Closest ever to actual UFO’ Glowing orb races across sky in BIZARRE clip

ASTONISHING footage of a glowing orb shooting across the sky in Bolivia has sent conspiracy theorists into meltdown, claiming it is the closest thing they’ve seen to an actual UFO.

By Anders Anglesey 

“Probably the closest thing I’ve ever seen on the actual net to an actual UFO ever”

Commenter

The extraordinary video starts off with a cameraman filming a small ball above the clouds as it appears to move away from the Earth.

One Disclose.TV user said: “Very strange this one. It has the look of some sort of rocket, but also does not. 

“I would think it would have to be though, unless the aliens use field which require an exhaust.” 

Another added: “Now that was a good clip. Probably the closest thing I’ve ever seen on the actual net to an actual UFO ever.” 

The clip comes as conspiracy theorists continue to upload strange images and photos, which allegedly support their beliefs in extraterrestrial beings. 

{ https://www.dailystar.co.uk/ }

12-07-2018 om 00:48 geschreven door peter  

Israeli unmanned spacecraft to land on Moon in 2019

An Israeli non-profit organisation has announced plans to send the first privately-funded unmanned spacecraft to the Moon.

SpaceIL said the probe would be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in December on a Falcon 9 rocket built by Elon Musk's SpaceX company.

It is expected to land on the Moon in February 2019.

The spacecraft will plant an Israeli flag on the Moon's surface and carry out research into its magnetic field.

SpaceIL's project began as part of the Google Lunar XPrize, which offered $30m (£23m) in prizes to inspire people to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration. However, the competition expired this March, with the $20m grand prize for landing on the Moon unclaimed.

Despite the setback, SpaceIL continued developing its spacecraft, which is being built in co-operation with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a state-owned firm.

So far it has spent about $88.5m, much of which it has received from the South African-born Israeli billionaire businessmen Morris Kahn.

Image copyrightSPACEI

Image captionThe probe will plant an Israeli flag, and then conduct research into the Moon's magnetic field

Ido Anteby, CEO of SpaceIL, told a news conference in the Israeli town of Yehud on Tuesday that its probe would be the smallest yet to land on the Moon.

It is about 2m (6.6ft) in diameter and 1.5m high, and will weigh only 585kg (1,300lb) at launch. More than 400kg of that weight is fuel that will be burnt off by the time it lands on the Moon.

The spacecraft is a "hopper", which will land and then take off again with the fuel left in its propulsion system, and then perform another landing 500m away, which was a condition of the XPrize.

If successful, SpaceIL's mission will make Israel the fourth country in the world to "soft land" a probe on the surface of the Moon - after the former Soviet Union, the United States and China.

Mr Kahn said he hoped the mission would create an "Apollo effect" for the next generation in Israel - a reference to the enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and maths triggered by Neil Armstrong's Moon walk in 1969.

"This is a tremendous project," he added. "When the rocket is launched into space, we will all remember where we were when Israel landed on the Moon."

Ofer Doron, head of IAI's space division, said Israel was "going to show the way for the rest of the world" to send a spacecraft to the Moon at a reasonable cost.

Breaking News - Israeli spacecraft to land on Moon in 2019

Israel SpaceIL plans to land on moon

{ https://www.bbc.com/news }

12-07-2018 om 00:18 geschreven door peter  

Meteor Suddenly Changing Direction Filmed Over Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

{ https://www.disclose.tv/ }

11-07-2018 om 23:50 geschreven door peter  

China Reaches The Moon Releasing Never-Before-Seen HD Photographs

These HD images of the Moon's surface captured by China are incredible.

China has captured images of the Moon in HD that have never before been seen thanks to the Chang`e 3 lander.

China Has One of the Most Advanced Lunar Landers

The Chinese lander captured thousands of HD resolution images after finding a moon rock that has not been seen before. China developed one of the most advanced lunar landers to ever land on the surface of the Moon, giving Earth a look at the surface as never before.

In 2013, the Lunar Mission landed on a region of the Moon known as Mare Imbrium. This was a part of the Moon in which it was thought water might have existed. While this is a feat for China, they come in third in regards to making a soft landing on the Moon’s surface, with the United States and the Soviet Union being ahead.

The images had been captured during 2013 but were not released by the National SpaceAdministration in China until 2015. Western media did not get them, as China does not release them until around 18 months later.

Photos among 45 Gigabyte of Data

Emily Lakdawalla from the Planetary Society took many weeks looking through the 45 gigabytes of data, then going ahead and putting it all into a package that could easily be downloaded to ensure that everyone interested could see them. Lakdawalla said, “When it comes to data sharing from China, the situation is pretty good, ” says Lakdawalla, who notes that the images’ formats mirror those used by NASA and the European Space Agency. “It would probably be much easier if I could read the language.”

There is no doubt the images have stunned everyone. Meanwhile, scientists have used them to gain a better understanding of the geology of the Moon’s surface. China even revealed they discovered a moon rock that surprisingly neither the United States nor Soviet Union found during their previous missions to the Moon.

China Is a Major Player in Space Power Revealed Analyst

A Defense Group Inc. analyst from the University of California San Diego, Kevin Pollpeter, said, “China is trying to reach the top tier and show that they’re a major space power.” He went on to say, “They’re also contributing real knowledge about the moon that we haven’t been able to get before.”

China is forging ahead with space exploration; they have revealed they are planning manned missions to the Moon at some point in the future. If so, they would expand lunar exploration like never before. The US Planetary Society reposted images due to the fact the CNSA website is very difficult to navigate around along with it being in Chinese. Posting the photos ensures people from around the world are able to access them and view them.

{ https://www.disclose.tv/ }

11-07-2018 om 23:35 geschreven door peter  

By: Nidhi Goyal 

Image by iLand on Youtube

This Bacteria Could Help Humans Breathe on Mars

Cyanobacteria may just be humanity's key to breathing on Mars in the future. The bacteria can produce oxygen, but more importantly it can survive in extreme environments.

Bacteria that can grow in space could help humans breathe on Mars

{ http://www.industrytap.com/ }

11-07-2018 om 23:22 geschreven door peter  

By: Nidhi Goyal

Non-Lethal Use

The UN Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons, signs by over 100 nations, prohibits the use of weapons that can cause permanent blindness. Because of this, the ZKZM-500 is a “non-lethal” weapon. The laser can’t kill a person with a single shot, but if he or she is hit with it enough times, it would start to burn a hole in their body.

“The weapon is designed to do things such as setting fire to illegal banners at a protest or setting fire to the hair or clothing of a protester,” said the general manager of ZKZM Laser, the tech company that built the prototype. “It is not designed explicitly for killing like a gun that uses bullets and cannot cause the ‘instant carbonisation’ of human skin and tissues.”

Another researcher said the weapon would “burn through clothes in a split second … If the fabric is flammable, the whole person will be set on fire.”

A Chinese government document cited by the Post says protest leaders would lose “the rhythms of their speech and powers of persuasion” as a result of getting hit with the ZKZM-500.

In addition to non-lethal protest applications, the ZKZM-500 is also suited for covert military operations and hostage situations, the Post claims.

The ZKZM-500 is allegedly ready to be mass produced. The first unit to receive them will be anti-terror squads in the People’s Armed Police in China.

Skepticism

While this all sounds intriguing, some are skeptical of the story.

“There’s just no way that a laser powered by a lithium-ion battery that a person could carry would be capable of producing the kind of heat described at point blank range, let alone at 800 meters,” TechCrunch‘s Devin Coldewey said. “That’s because of attenuation. Lasers, unlike bullets, scatter as they progress, making them weaker and weaker. Attenuation is non-trivial at anything beyond, say, a few dozen meters. By the time you get out to 800, the air and water the beam has traveled through enough to reduce it a fraction of its original power.”

“I’m not saying there will never be laser weapons. But I do feel confident in saying that this prototype, ostensibly ready for mass production and deployment among China’s anti-terrorist forces, is bunk,” Coldewey added. “As much as I enjoy the idea of laser rifles, the idea of one that weighs a handful of pounds and fires hundreds of instantly skin-searing shots is just plain infeasible today.”

In response to the skepticism, the South China Morning Post put up a video from ZKZM Laser allegedly showing the ZKZM-500 hitting targets on a rooftop. Check it out above.

SOURCES:

• http://www.industrytap.com/
• https://www.tactical-life.com/

11-07-2018 om 23:14 geschreven door peter  

Crop Circle de Martinsell Hill du 7 juillet 2018

Martinsell Hill, Nr Wooton Rivers, Wiltshire, Angleterre

Le pentagramme fractal récursif, accompagné d'un "champ infini d'étoiles" (Voir interprétations et Vidéo après).

Deux photos de culture récentes de Hackpen Hill le 23 juin 2018 ou de Martinsell Hill le 7 juillet 2018, s'emboîtent comme deux pièces d'un même "puzzle". 
Le 23 juin, à Hackpen Hill, nous avons pu voir une "étoile simple" tout en regardant à travers un "vortex spatio-temporel".  
Peut-être que cette nouvelle photo de culture à Martinsell Hill le 8 juillet décrit ce que c'est que de voyager à travers un vortex spatio-temporel, et ainsi voir une " infinité fractale d'étoiles " ? 

 Vidéo du Crop Circle de Martinsell Hill du 7 juillet 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq7MPNX6PYM 

La Porte des Étoiles du Pentagramme Fractal-Dimensionnel!

Une géométrie pentagonale complexe apparaît dans cet agroglyphe annoncé le 7 juillet, l'alignement Soleil-Sirius, et l'imagerie aérienne autour confirme les anciennes symbologies des Dogons pour cette étoile, ainsi que le symbole du pentagramme dans l'Égypte Ancienne. Le fond clair du cercle peut être considéré comme le Soleil, et ce pentagramme fractal, Sirius, est aligné avec le Soleil.
C'est une géométrie fractale, et fractale signifie Dimensions, c'est-à-dire que chaque niveau fractal de la géométrie 5 est un niveau dimensionnel, c'est-à-dire une Porte des Étoiles, ou un voyage entre 2 Étoiles ou Systèmes à travers des niveaux ou des plans dimensionnels superposés représentés par la géométrie fractale. Si je ne me trompe pas dans les comptes, j'ai remarqué quatre tailles de pentagrammes : la Matrice (niveau le plus élevé) 1, le deuxième pentagramme (clair au centre) niveau 2, et 10 pentagrammes (5 + 5) niveau 3, et 16 pentagrammes (5 + 11) niveau 4 en taille.

En lisant le niveau 3 (5 + 5), je me souviens que d'autres agroglyphes représentaient deux pentagrammes opposés et unis, comme la formation d'un vortex Portail des Étoile pour d'autres dimensions (comme le Crop Circle à Jubilee Plantation, en 2011), représentant l'union dans l'espace-temps de deux étoiles lointaines. La somme de 5 + 11 = 16, des plus petits pentagrammes, niveau 4, nous mènent à l'Arcane 16, qui s'appelle la Maison de Dieu, et c'est la Tour, la Montagne, la Pyramide et l'Escalier d'accès au ciel. Une autre direction pour la Porte des Étoiles.
Non seulement la géométrie, mais le message des nombres est également important dans cet agroglyphe. Et il illustre un voyage à l'intérieur d'un vortex, avec la fuite des étoiles dans le mouvement de l'hyperespace représenté par tous ces pentagrammes.
Mais intégré dans le tissu de l'Espace-Temps qui semble se briser devant cette singularité. En cette saison 2018 nous avons eu d'autres modèles avec des douelles et des trous de ver indiqués. Ce serait un autre modèle, en utilisant l'analogie avec l'alignement Soleil-Sirius d'aujourd'hui, le 7 juillet 2018, comme annoncé précédemment !

Martinsell Hill CROP CIRCLE 7.7.2018 4k60p

Martinsell Hill CROP CIRCLE 7.7.2018 4k60p SUPERLONG EDIT

Autres interprétations sur :

• http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2018/martinsell/comments.html 

Sources : 

• http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2018/martinsell/articles.html
• http://lemysterefurtif.unblog.fr/2018/07/09/crop-circle-juillet/

{ https://changera.blogspot.com/ }

11-07-2018 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

Skylab: First U.S. Space Station

11-07-2018 om 22:28 geschreven door peter  

Scientists to attempt to make matter out of pure light

• Theory of turning light into matter first thought of in 1934 by two physicist
• Researchers at Imperial College London now believe they can do it
• Process would involve using newly available high-powered lasers
• Matter created would be subatomic particles not visible to naked eye 
  

By JULIAN ROBINSON

Scientists To Attempt To Make Matter Out Of Pure Light

Scientists have found out how to turn pure light into matter for the very first time – after 80 years of trying.

The idea was first dreamt up in 1934 by two physicists, but they never expected anybody to be able to physically demonstrate their prediction.

But researchers at Imperial College London say they have found a way to convert light into matter by using new equipment in the form of an extremely powerful high-intensity laser, capable of speeding up electrons to just below the speed of light.

Researchers say they have found a way to convert light into matter by using new equipment in the form of an extremely powerful laser capable of speeding up electrons to just below the speed of light

The 80-year-old theory involved smashing together two particles of light, or photons, to create an electron and a positron - subatomic particles found in all materials.

Although scientists at the university believe they can create matter, at this stage the end result would not be visible to the naked eye.

Professor Steve Rose, from imperial College, said: 'What was so surprising to us was the discovery of how we can create matter directly from light using the technology that we have today in the UK. 

‘As we are theorists we are now talking to others who can use our ideas to undertake this landmark experiment.'

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The experiment would involve blasting electrons, sped up by lasers to just below the speed of light, into a slab of gold to create a beam of photons a billion times more energetic than visible light.

The next stage would need a tiny gold can called a hohlraum, German for 'empty room'. 

Scientists would fire a high-energy laser at the inner surface of this to create a thermal radiation field, generating light similar to that emitted by stars.

Although scientists at Imperial College London, pictured, believe they can create matter, it would only be in the form of tiny subatomic particles, not visible to the naked eye

They would then direct the photon beam from the first stage of the experiment through the centre of the can, causing the photons from the two sources to collide and form electrons and positrons. 

It would then be possible to detect the formation of the electrons and positrons when they exited the can – in their microscopic state.

Oliver Pike, who is currently completing his PhD in plasma physics at Imperial College London, said: 'Although the theory is conceptually simple, it has been very difficult to verify experimentally. The experimental design we propose can be carried out with relative ease and with existing technology.

'Within a few hours of looking for applications of hohlraums outside their traditional role in fusion energy research, we were astonished to find they provided the perfect conditions for creating a photon collider. 

'The race to carry out and complete the experiment is on.'

The research published in Nature Photonics shows how the original theory, put forward by US physicists, Gregory Breit and John Wheeler in the 1930s, could be proven in practice. 

This 'photon-photon collider', which would convert light directly into matter using technology that is already available, would be a new type of high-energy physics experiment.

The experiment would recreate a process that was important in the first 100 seconds of the universe and that is also seen in gamma ray bursts, which are the biggest explosions in the universe and one of physics' greatest unsolved mysteries.

Scientists Discover a Way to Turn Light Into Matter

{ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

11-07-2018 om 21:56 geschreven door peter  

La scène se passe le 25 mars 1948, au Nouveau-Mexique, non loin de la zone des Four Corners (quatre coins), qui sépare quatre États du Sud-Ouest américain : Nouveau-Mexique, Arizona, Utah, Colorado. Un peu plus à l’est se trouve la ville d’Aztec ; la région est assez désertique et le décor se compose des fameuses mesas, le nom espagnol qui désigne les plateaux rocheux d’altitude où quelques arbres ont réussi à s’enraciner au fil du temps. 
Peu avant l’aube, le policier Manuel Sandoval roule sur l’autoroute après sa nuit de service passée à surveiller le pipeline de la Southern Union Gas. Soudain, il voit passer au-dessus de lui un objet en forme de disque, de grande taille, qui semble en difficulté et louvoie vers le nord-ouest, en direction d’Aztec et de la zone des Four Corners. Juste après, l’éleveur de chèvres Valentin Archuleta, qui s’affaire à ses tâches matinales, entend un grand bruit et lève la tête pour voir vraisemblablement le même objet, très bas, apparemment hors de contrôle, qui se dirige vers une mesa de l’autre côté de la route. L’objet érafle le bord de la mesa en provoquant une gerbe d’étincelles et poursuit sa route vers le nord. Ancien militaire, Archuleta n’hésite pas une seconde : il se rend à la supérette proche de son ranch, où se trouve un téléphone et finit par joindre la base aérienne de Kirtland à Albuquerque. Son interlocuteur montre un grand intérêt et demande où se dirigeait l’engin : « Vers Hart Canyon », répond le fermier. 

Un disque de trente mètres de diamètre

Un troisième témoin direct est Doug Noland, un ouvrier de 19 ans qui travaille pour une compagnie pétrolière. La région compte, en effet, plusieurs zones d’exploitation. Alors qu’il passe prendre son collègue Bill Ferguson, celui-ci lui dit qu’un feu a été annoncé près d’une zone de réservoirs de pétrole et qu’ils doivent s’y rendre immédiatement. En arrivant, d’autres ouvriers se trouvent déjà sur place. Ils leur expliquent que le feu de broussailles semble confiné au sommet de la mesas et que quelque chose s’est passé là-haut. Les deux comparses montent la colline et tombent sur le vaisseau, un disque d’une trentaine de mètres de diamètre ! Il est légèrement couché sur le côté, en raison d’une protubérance sur la partie inférieure, et doté d’une espèce de capsule à son sommet. 
« Le vaisseau était lisse, sans joints, rivets, boulons ni marques de soudure, explique Doug Noland. Il était comme en aluminium brossé, semblait très lisse, mais ce n’était pas de l’aluminium hautement poli comme un avion. »
En s’approchant, les ouvriers découvrent que cette surface brillante est transparente quand on regarde de très près, comme les lunettes qui deviendront populaires quelques années plus tard. Alors que le soleil se lève à peine, les témoins distinguent deux petits corps inanimés à l’intérieur de l’habitacle, « penchés au-dessus d’une espèce de tableau de bord ». Alors qu’un autre couple de ranchers arrive sur place, les personnes présentes entendent un hélicoptère qui survole la zone. Le policier Manuel Sandoval arrive au même moment. Quand Doug l’interroge sur l’attitude à tenir, Sandoval lui dit des choses très significatives. Il explique qu’il a suivi la route de l’objet après l’avoir vu passer au-dessus de lui, et que des résidents de la ville de Cuba ont signalé plusieurs observations d’ovnis dans les semaines précédentes. Lui-même et l’un de ses collègues, Andy Andrews, ont été témoins de plusieurs observations. 

Les "leçons" de Roswell

Il faut préciser que tout ceci se passe huit mois après le crash supposé d’un autre objet à Roswell, à quelques centaines de kilomètres au sud-est, le 7 juillet 1947. L’affaire a fait grand bruit, puisque la presse avait parlé d’un crash d’ovni, avant que l’Air Force ne se rattrape aux branches en affirmant qu’il s’agissait finalement d’un ballon météo. Ainsi, avant de juger ridicule le fait qu’un second objet ait pu s’abîmer si peu de temps après le cas de Roswell, il faut envisager le contexte d’une région à l’époque surveillée de près par d’éventuels visiteurs. 

Les témoins présents vont être débriefés et soumis à un serment du secret.

Cela expliquerait les nombreuses observations réalisées durant cette période, d’autant plus que ce secteur abritait la zone d’essais des nouveaux appareils et équipements de l’Air Force. Pour le physicien nucléaire Stanton Friedman, connu pour avoir remis en lumière le dossier Roswell dans les années 1980, « il est incontestable qu’un engin extra-terrestre fut récupéré par des agents du gouvernement à proximité d’Aztec, en mars 1948, et qu’il fut transporté en vue d’un examen classifié. » 

En effet, à partir du moment où l’hélicoptère a été vu sur site, tout va aller très vite, comme si les militaires avaient justement tiré les leçons de « l’incident » Roswell et, cette fois, mis en œuvre une procédure extrêmement rigoureuse. Une fois sur place, ils vont trouver le moyen d’ouvrir l’habitacle en actionnant une commande à l’aide d’une perche introduite par un hublot brisé. Ils en extraient seize corps qui semblent brûlés, dont la plupart se trouvent sur un pont inférieur du vaisseau. Les témoins présents vont être débriefés et soumis à un serment du secret. L’objet, qui est très léger, va ensuite être démantelé et transporté en plusieurs pièces vraisemblablement jusqu’à la base de Los Alamos, située à 250 kilomètres. 

L'enquête ultra-fouillée des Ramsey

Franck Scully, auteur de Behind the Flying Saucers.

©Atlantes Editions

L’affaire va cependant rapidement fuiter, par l’intermédiaire d’un des scientifiques impliqués dans le travail d’étude de l’objet, en vue d’en comprendre la technologie, un processus appelé rétro-ingénierie. Ce scientifique approche en 1949 un journaliste et auteur respecté d’Hollywood, Frank Scully (dont le nom a inspiré à Chris Carter le personnage féminin de la série The X-Files). Il faut ici donner la parole à l’un de ceux par qui l’histoire refait aujourd’hui surface. En effet, après avoir repris l’enquête menée à l’époque par Frank Scully, les ufologues Scott Ramsey et son épouse Suzanne ont publié récemment un ouvrage de synthèse sur l’affaire (voir encadré). Scott Ramsey explique que ce scientifique « voulait que Scully révèle l’histoire et lui a fait croire que le gouvernement allait le faire officiellement, ce qui était bien sûr faux. Je pense que les scientifiques impliqués voulaient s’assurer, au sortir de la guerre, que la technologie récupérée ne puisse servir qu’à des fins pacifiques. Le livre de Scully est sorti en septembre 1950 et a immédiatement été un succès de librairie ; il a vendu plus de 64000 exemplaires en plusieurs langues. Ce que nous avons fait, c’est reprendre la recherche de Scully en la joignant à la nôtre et en l’épluchant comme un oignon. Scully a notamment révélé des aspects du Manhattan Project développé par l’OSRD et qui étaient top secret à l’époque. Il parle d’un groupe de huit ou neuf scientifiques désignés sous la seule appellation de "Dr Gee", qui avaient travaillé au sein de l’OSRD sur le projet Manhattan. Nous avons pu avoir accès à certains documents déclassifiés qui confirment ce qui figure dans le livre de Scully. Il était impossible que Scully ait eu accès à ces documents à l’époque, même s’il était connu. » 

Le pasteur fond en larmes

La suite de l’affaire consiste en une entreprise de décrédibilisation du travail de Scully par les autorités, en s’appuyant sur un autre journaliste, J.P. Cahn, qui s’est estimé spolié parce qu’il voulait acheter l’histoire pour son journal, le San Francisco Chronicle. Ainsi, tout va être fait pour que l’ensemble du dossier passe pour un canular. 

Dernière photo connue de J.P. Cahn peu de temps avant sa mort.

©Atlantes Editions

Cependant, les Ramsey ont retrouvé plusieurs témoins directs et indirects qui lui donnent une véritable consistance, même si, compte tenu du caractère extraordinaire de l’enquête, le doute ne pourra être entièrement levé. Parmi les témoins, outre ceux déjà évoqués, on peut citer le cas du pasteur Solon Brown, qui s’est rendu sur le site du crash/atterrissage parce qu’il a remarqué l’agitation inhabituelle ce matin-là, alors qu’il rentrait à sa paroisse principale dans le Colorado, après une nuit passée à Aztec. Il a proposé son aide et un policier lui a confirmé que « des prières » ne seraient pas inutiles, car il y avait des corps... Après avoir fait son office, il était tellement choqué qu’il n’a pu s’empêcher de contacter un proche, diacre de sa paroisse, et lui a raconté ce qu’il avait vu en dépit de son serment du secret. Le fils du pasteur et celui du diacre, qui étaient présents, ont été retrouvés par les époux Ramsey et ont confirmé le récit du pasteur. Celui-ci avait notamment éclaté en sanglots et confié au diacre : « J’essaie de relever cette paroisse. Pourquoi inventerais-je une telle histoire ? Je vous jure que je dis la vérité.»

Les autres témoignages complètent le scénario possible de l’événement et évoquent les modalités de transport de l’objet démantelé, le « nettoyage » du site, ou encore la constitution de « fiches » de désinformation pour tous les témoins directs (c’est-à-dire la création d’un agenda alternatif prouvant qu’ils n’étaient pas là). Même si les faits relatés dans l’enquête des époux Ramsey, aidés par Frank Thayer, sont extraordinaires et semblent, à ce titre, incroyables, le caractère extrêmement minutieux de leur travail ne laisse pas d’interroger. D’ailleurs, ils ne prétendent pas avoir épuisé le dossier et affirment que leur recherche se poursuit. Toutefois, conclut Scott Ramsey : « J’espère que le lecteur comprend que les auteurs savent avec certitude que l’incident d’Aztec est un événement réel, et que la récupération qui a eu lieu à Hart Canyon aurait dû, depuis longtemps, être portée à la connaissance du public américain». Et pas seulement lui, bien sûr. 

Une enquête fouillée, implacable

Pourquoi l’affaire Aztec refait-elle surface aujourd’hui ? Parce que deux enquêteurs tenaces, le couple Scott et Suzanne Ramsey, ont consacré plus de deux décennies à rassembler les pièces du puzzle et ont récemment publié un livre, aidés de Frank Thayer, ancien professeur d’université. Traduit en français à l’excellente initiative des éditions Atlantes, Aztec 1948 : un crash d’ovni au Nouveau-Mexique est le fruit de cette enquête minutieuse, qui fait dire à de bons connaisseurs de l’ufologie comme Thibaut Canuti que « Scott et Suzanne Ramsey sont des ufologues comme il ne s'en fait plus guère et qui ont finalement tout de parfaits enquêteurs criminels ». Et de saluer « un travail fouillé, implacable et pour le moins troublant des époux Ramsey.»

Le crash d'Aztec partie 1 avec Scott Ramsey, Suzanne Ramsey et Franck Thayer PhD

Le crash d'Aztec partie 2 avec Scott Ramsey, Suzanne Ramsey et Franck Thayer PhD

Le crash d'Aztec partie 3 avec Scott Ramsey, Suzanne Ramsey et Franck Thayer PhD

{ https://www.inrees.com/ }

11-07-2018 om 21:39 geschreven door peter  

The constellation Vela explodes with color (and new suns) in ESO-captured snaps

BY ALEXANDRU MICU

The European Southern Observatory just published a breathtaking image of a nearby star nursery.

Star cluster RCW 38.
Image credits ESO / K. Muzic.

Earlier today, we’ve talked about the first colors complex-ish life created — it was a story of algae, fossils, and pink. Moving on from this daring display by early life, however, I thought we’d seize the occasion to look at what colors accompany birth in the other direction — up in space.

Our eyes can’t peer that far out, but, luckily for us, the European Southern Observatory(ESO) can. Using the HWAK-I (High Acuity Wide field K-band Imager) infrared imager mounted on the Very Large Telescope (VTL) in Chile, the ESO captured some spectacular shots of stars being born in the Vela constellation.

Ashes to ashes, dust to stars

RCW 38 in the constellation of Vela (The Sails). The map shows most of the stars visible to the unaided eye under good conditions.
Image credits ESO / IAU / Sky & Telescope.

The image depicts the star cluster RCW 38 as seen in infrared. ESO chose this bit of the electromagnetic spectrum for their observations since infrared can see ‘through’ the clouds shrowding star nurseries such as RCW 38. The cluster itself contains hundreds of young, brightly hot, and quite massive stars. Even at the relatively short distance of 5500 light-years away, however, their (visible) light can’t peer through the vast bodies of dust surrounding the cluster.

The central area, seen as a bright blue region, houses numerous very young stars as well as a few protostars — ‘stars’ that are still forming. Observations by the Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed the presence of over 800 X-ray emitting young stellar objects in the cluster. You won’t be surprised to hear, then, that the area is drenched in radiation, making local gas clouds glow vividly. Cooler bodies of dust languishing in front of the cluster carry more subdued, darker hues of red and orange. The end result, a ‘colorful celestial landscape’ as ESO puts it, is quite the striking interplay of color and light.

This image was captured as part of a series of tests — a process known as science verification — for HAWK-I and GRAAL (the ground layer adaptive optics module of the VLT). These tests are performed to ensure newly-commisioned instruments work as intended and include a set of test observations that verify and demonstrate the capabilities of the new instrument.

Star cluster RCW 38 in the visible spectrum.
Image credits ESO – Digitized Sky Survey 2 / Davide De Martin.

Previous images of this region — snapped in the visible spectrum — show a very different sight. Optical images appear almost devoid of stars in comparison with those taken in the infrared spectrum due to dust obscuring the view.

Peering through dense bodies such as dust clouds or nebulae is actually one of the HWAK-I’s main roles. The device also projects four laser beams out into the night sky to use as artificial reference stars — used to correct for any atmospheric turbulence, which can bend incoming light — to increase the quality of the final image.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

11-07-2018 om 21:23 geschreven door peter  

The science of superstition – and why people believe in the unbelievable

The number 13, black cats, breaking mirrors, or walking under ladders, may all be things you actively avoid – if you’re anything like the 25% of people in the US who consider themselves superstitious.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a particularly superstitious person, you probably say “bless you” when someone sneezes, just in case the devil should decide to steal their soul – as our ancestors thought possible during a sneeze.

The science of superstition and why people believe in the unbelievable - fox news

Superstition also explains why many buildings do not have a 13th floor – preferring to label it 14, 14A 12B or M (the 13th letter of the alphabet) on elevator button panels because of concerns about superstitious tenants. Indeed, 13% of people in one survey indicated that staying on the 13th floor of a hotel would bother them – and 9% said they would ask for a different room.

On top of this, some airlines such as Air France and Lufthansa, do not have a 13th row. Lufthansa also has no 17th row – because in some countries – such as Italy and Brazil – the typical unlucky number is 17 and not 13.

1. What is superstition?

Although there is no single definition of superstition, it generally means a belief in supernatural forces – such as fate – the desire to influence unpredictable factors and a need to resolve uncertainty. In this way then, individual beliefs and experiences drive superstitions, which explains why they are generally irrational and often defy current scientific wisdom.

Psychologists who have investigated what role superstitions play, have found that they derive from the assumption that a connection exists between co-occurring, non-related events. For instance, the notion that charms promote good luck, or protect you from bad luck.

For many people, engaging with superstitious behaviours provides a sense of control and reduces anxiety – which is why levels of superstition increase at times of stress and angst. This is particularly the case during times of economic crisis and social uncertainty – notably wars and conflicts. Indeed, Researchers have observed how in Germany between 1918 and 1940 measures of economic threat correlated directly with measures of superstition.

2. Touch wood

Superstitious beliefs have been shown to help promote a positive mental attitude. Although they can lead to irrational decisions, such as trusting in the merits of good luck and destiny rather than sound decision making.

Carrying charms, wearing certain clothes, visiting places associated with good fortune, preferring specific colours and using particular numbers are all elements of superstition. And although these behaviours and actions can appear trivial, for some people, they can often affect choices made in the real world.

Superstitions can also give rise to the notion that objects and places are cursed. Such as the Annabelle the Doll – who featured in The Conjuring and two other movies – and is said to be inhabited by the spirit of a dead girl. A more traditional illustration is the Curse of the Pharaohs, which is said to be cast upon any person who disturbs the mummy of an Ancient Egyptian person – especially a pharaoh.

Numbers themselves can also often be associated with curses. For example, the figure 666 in a licence plate is often featured in stories of misfortune. The most famous case was the numberplate “ARK 666Y”, which is believed to have caused mysterious vehicle fires and “bad vibes” for passengers.

3. Sporting superstitions

Superstition is also highly prevalent within sport – especially in highly competitive situations. Four out of five professional athletes report engaging with at least one superstitious behaviour prior to performance. Within sport, superstitions have been shown to reduce tension and provide a sense of control over unpredictable, chance factors.

Superstitions practices tend to vary across sports, but there are similarities. Within football, gymnastics and athletics, for example, competitors reported praying for success, checking appearance in mirror and dressing well to feel better prepared. Players and athletes also engage with personalised actions and behaviours – such as wearing lucky clothes, kit and charms.

Famous sportspeople often display superstitious behaviours. Notably, basketball legend Michael Jordan concealed his lucky North Carolina shorts under his Chicago Bulls team kit. Similarly, the tennis legend Björn Bork, reportedly wore the same brand of shirt when preparing for Wimbledon.

Rafael Nadal has an array of rituals that he performs each time he plays. These include the manner in which he places his water bottles and taking freezing cold showers. Nadal believes these rituals help him to find focus, flow and perform well.

4. Walking under ladders

What all this shows is that superstitions can provide reassurance and can help to reduce anxiety in some people. But while this may well be true, research has shown that actions associated with superstitions can also become self-reinforcing – in that the behaviour develops into a habit and failure to perform the ritual can actually result in anxiety.

This is even though the actual outcome of an event or situation is still dependent on known factors – rather than unknown supernatural forces. A notion consistent with the often quoted maxim, “the harder you work (practice) the luckier you get”.

So the next time you break a mirror, see a black cat or encounter the number 13 – don’t worry too much about “bad luck”, as it’s most likely just a trick of the mind.

Neil Dagnall, Reader in Applied Cognitive Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan Universityand Ken Drinkwater, Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Cognitive and Parapsychology, Manchester Metropolitan University

• This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

11-07-2018 om 21:15 geschreven door peter