US Air Force colonel says two airmen involved in British UFO case 'may have been abducted'

A new "secret video" obtained by the Sun reveals the airmen involved in Britain's most infamous UFO case may have been abducted by aliens.

British Staff Sergeant Jim Penniston and Airman John Burroughs went to investigate lights in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk.

When in the woods, they claimed they saw a triangular craft, which Penniston was able to get close enough to touch before it took off.

He claims the craft was "smooth to touch" and covered with strange symbols.

Now, in a "secret" video, retired US Air Force colonel, Charles Halt can be heard saying that Burroughs "may have been abducted" and that the men were "unaccounted for" for hours.

Dubbed the UK's Roswell incident, the encounter happened in December 1980, in the woods just outside the twin Nato air bases of RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters.

Two nights after Penniston and Burroghs found the UFO, it returned.

In a bid to "debunk" the claims, a team of military experts led by Halt went into the woods to investigate.

To their shock, a beam of light from the UFO hit the ground a few feet away from them.

Halt detailed the incident in an 18-minute audio recording and wrote a memo to the MOD, but defence chiefs said the it was of "no defence significance."

For years, it has been rumoured the pair, who were security policemen, may have been abducted as they were out of radio range for several hours with Central Security Control, but no one involved has ever publicly stated it.

The new footage

Former British police detective Gary Heseltine released the footage from 2010, made for a documentary, which was never published, with Halt and the forest.

During a break in filming, Heseltine's wife captured the two talking about the 1980 events.

Halt says in the video: "He [Burroughs] may have been abducted who knows ... You know there is LOST TIME, we know that? They were not on the radio ... You've got men out in the forest that you can't …. Unaccounted for hours."

Heseltine, 57, of Scholes, West Yorkshire, told Sun Online: "My wife Lynn took quite a few video clips as we walking around the forest.

"It was only recently while watching them again that I picked up on the admission by Halt that Penniston and Burroughs had been missing off air 'for several hours'.

"I did some research and realised that this admission had never been made public by Halt and so for the benefit of taking the case forward I have decided to release the clip."

Heseltine, who edits the UFO Truth website, added: "As someone who is just trying to piece together the events in Rendlesham Forest, I think it is in the public interest that they have a right to know such information and hence I have released the clip."

Former UFO investigator at the MoD Nick Pope said the revelation was "hugely significant".

"This is a bombshell statement, coming from someone who was deputy base commander of one of the most sensitive military bases in the Nato alliance, at the height of the Cold War.

"It's one thing to see a UFO, as Halt and many of the men under his command did, but it's quite another to suggest one of your men might have been abducted by aliens.

"A few weeks ago it would have sounded crazy for a senior American military officer to believe such things, but following the revelations about the Pentagon's secret UFO project, maybe it's not so strange after all.

"That said, it's not entirely clear to me whether Halt is being deadly serious, whether he's speculating, or if he's simply making a tongue-in-cheek comment."

{ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ }

16-01-2018 om 23:04 geschreven door peter  

UFO SHOCK: 'Truth' about the 'vertical alien UFO' over Mexico that took internet by storm

VIDEO footage appearing to show a humanoid-shaped UFO hovering in the skies above Mexico has taken the internet by storm.

By JON AUSTIN

16-01-2018 om 22:39 geschreven door peter  

Aliens visited earth? You may not believe what you will see in this shocking video – Watch

It is a long-debated topic, whether aliens exist. There have been many movies that are dedicated to the extra-terrestrial beings. Also, there have been instances when people from across the world have claimed to see UFO.

It is a long-debated topic, whether aliens exist.

(Screengrab).

It is a long-debated topic, whether aliens exist. There have been many movies that are dedicated to the extra-terrestrial beings. Also, there have been instances when people from across the world have claimed to see UFO. In yet another instance, a strange humanoid-shaped UFO was filmed hovering in the sky alongside a busy road in Mexico. Baffled drivers were led wondering whether they captured evidence of aliens visiting Earth. The captured video and pictures were quickly picked up by conspiracy theorists, as per the Mirror report.

A UFO expert Pedro Ramirez said that a tubular UFO can be seen flying vertically over the city and described it as the first sighting of 2018. The sighting had taken place in the city of Mexicali in the state of Baja California, Mexico.

Meanwhile, there have been sightings in India too. Earlier, in 2015, a schoolboy claimed to have captured photographs of a UFO from his house rooftop in Shyam Nagar, a suburb of Kanpur, on 25 June. However, some people claimed that the photos were most likely created with a photo editing smartphone application.

WATCH

{ http://www.financialexpress.com/ }

16-01-2018 om 22:16 geschreven door peter  

12 years of UFO sightings in south London, north Kent and north Surrey

A picture apparently showing a UFO sighting (PA)

For years, the Ministry of Defence recorded UFO sightings reported by members of the public.

We took a look across the areas all the areas covered by our titles in south London, north Kent and north Surrey and put together a list.

Some of them have more detail than others, but there are some brilliantly vague entries.

For example, "something interesting" was seen in Cobham on June 28, 2008. And on January 15, 2001, somebody in Southfields reported seeing a "very large white light, which turned the sky blue". Presumably they had seen the sunrise.

It is perhaps no surprise that the MoD closed its UFO desk in 2009, claiming there was "no defence benefit" in running the service.

An internal memo read: "The level of resources diverted to this task is increasing in response to a recent upsurge in reported sightings, diverting staff from more valuable defence-related activities."

The upsurge is evident in the list below, with a much larger number of recordings in the latest year.

Here they are, from 1997 to 2009.

2009

• Jan 26 at 18:15 - Bromley: Three orange lights in horizontal line above the opposite side of the hill. Stopped car but saw only four lights, two separate at the top & two close together at the bottom. Top two rose and disappeared. Second two moved higher then also vanished.
• Feb 8 at 21:00 - Sutton: Five UFOs. Bright round orange lights. Made no noise. Disappeared in direction on London.
• Feb 22 - south east London: An object with a white and alternating red lights at an angle. Came from south east London towards Canary Wharf. It stopped in mid-air and an alternating sequence of red lights flashed at 180 degrees. Lights switched side instantly.
• Feb 23 at 22:52 - south east London: It was the flashing of a huge object with one normal and two green lights. It was flying low. Only saw it for four seconds than it vanished from sight.
• Mar 17 - Croydon: A bright orange light, the size of a helicopter. It looked like a flame or a flare but made no sound. It was moving very slowly.
• Apr 25 at 10:15 - Croydon: A bright red light over the house.
• Apr 30 at 20:30 - Sutton: A bright green light that whizzed about the sky for an hour. It was very fast and a few planes got in its way.
• Jul 28 at 09:30 - Bromley: Saw an orange, yellow object in the sky, with the shape similar to a hot air balloon.
• Aug 1 at 10:00 - Croydon: 60-70 lights, suddenly disappearing
• Aug 5 - Mitcham: Saw four strange orange lights in the sky following each other. Lights then just disappeared. Lights then seen again moving across the night sky. Went inside and saw the same lights in a three prong triangle.
• Aug 31 at 21:45 - Twickenham: Ball of fire in the sky.
• Sep 9 at 20:30 - Epsom: Thirty orange globes, in four waves, travelling at a constant speed. May have been lanterns of some kind but they would have been 1-2 Metres in diameter.
• Sep 9 at 21:20 - Tooting: Black sphere. Bobbing about half a mile away . Covered with a phosphorus chemical cloud. It goes light grey. Flash of lightening then re-appears. Some of the clouds light up. Various sightings 20:30 and 12:15.
• Sep 19 at 19:40 - Bromley: A bright orange light moving across the sky no noise
• Oct 17 at 22:45 - Orpington: Twenty-five lights red and orange with vapour trail, disappearing into blue green colours, spinning.
• Oct 28 at 21:18 - Hampton Court: Bright orange glow arched over him appeared for 15 seconds then went upwards.
• Nov 1 at 17:44 - Beckenham: Three orange objects, then four more joined them.

2008

• Jun 7 at 23:00 - Croydon: A strange object was seen in the sky. It was around for several minutes, and then flew off.
• Jun 28 Cobham: Something interesting.
• Jul 29 at midnight - South Croydon: A UFO.
• No Firm Date (message taken on June 30) - New Malden: A UFO, stationary up in the sky for the last few days.
• No Firm Date (message taken on October 10) New Malden: Two strange objects in the sky. They were together and then they followed each other.
• No Firm Date (message taken on December 15 at 21:00) Coulsdon: Two very strong, clear white lights.
• 2007
• Apr 20 at21:30 - Bexley: There were over fifty lights floating in the sky. They were red/orange in colour
• No Firm Date (message taken on May 30 at 22:43) - Clapham: A UFO was travelling from Clapham to Heathrow.
• No Firm Date (message taken on September 10 at 20:00) - Epsom: There were about 25 large, extremely bright orange lights in the sky, with one bigger light behind the rest.

2006

• Feb 15 at 20:40 - Mitcham: Two bright lights, which were then joined by a third bright light, which then flew alongside them.
• Mar 3 - Streatham: Two objects were seen in the sky.
• Dec 17 at 18:45 - Cobham: White object moving from North to South. Looked like the object was burning up. Trail behind it that lasted a few seconds.

2005

• Feb 21 at 10:00 - Teddington: Something was seen in the sky.
• 2003
• Feb 25 at 23:00 - Southfields: Object, not a plane, not on flight path and not a star.
• Jun 21 at 16:43 - Richmond: A doughnut shaped object was spotted moving from left to right, side to side. One side was shiny and reflective, and the other black.
• Jun 21 at 12:32 - Wimbledon: Just said something was seen for three seconds. (Didn't specify).
• Nov 17 at 02:25 - Bromley: police officers/Police helicopter crew reported there were 20-30 red flashing lights in the sky accompanied by a whirring noise.

2002

• Feb 16 at 22:50 - Walton-on-Thames: One oval disc seen, with green and red flashing lights.
• Apr 7 at 21:30 - Walton-on-Thames: One round object with red and green flashing lights. Bobbing from side to side.
• Apr 8 at 22:00 - Walton-on-Thames: One small disc shaped object with red and green flashing lights.

2001

• Jan 15 at 18:00 - Southfields: Very large white light, which turned the sky blue.
• Nov 5 at 18:30 - South Croydon: Three to four objects that were smaller than a large aircraft. Were triangular in shape, white and very bright.

2000

• May 28 01:30 - Dartford: Six to seven, round, but flat objects. White and fairly bright - clearly visible. They made rapid, random movements.
• Sep 24 00:02 - Twickenham: One, possibly two golden lights. Moving incredibly fast, then disappeared.
• Oct 30 at 09:00 - Plumstead: Object - size of a small pea at arm’s length, round, illuminated from within, (a sort of glowing white). Looked three dimensionally solid.
• Nov 1 at 09:31 - Dartford: One pinpoint of light, quite bright. Erratic movements, from side to side.

1999

• Feb 9 at 20:06 - Wandsworth: One object that was hovering.
• Apr 15 at 02:19 - Tooting: One circular object. White and bright
• Oct 24 at 19:40 - Kingston: Green light was seen projecting from the cloud, followed by a pulsed wave of green light. Very bright. In a Southerly direction.
• Nov 29 23:34 - Dartford: Small light, too far away to ascertain shape. Glittering red, green and white. Did not move.

1998

• Mar 10 at 20:55 - Cheam: Very bright, pink light. Shot off at high speed.
• Apr 28 23:40 - Twickenham: Single white light. It had a faint light behind it. It was moving slowly.
• Jul 27 23:20 - Twickenham: One large, circular object, that had blue lights that were spinning.
• Sep 5 at 16:30 - Esher: Several pairs of small, elliptical, silver objects descending from the sky.
• Nov 4 at 04:00 - Morden: A ball of changing colour, with lots of different coloured lights around it. Made helicopter sounds. It stayed in place for about two hours.

1997

• Feb 13 at 17:30 - Croydon: Two objects that had one blue and one orange light. They were very bright. They were stationary and then there was erratic movement.
• Feb 14 at 07:45 - Streatham: One airship shaped object. It was black. It was drifting smoothly.
• May 19 at 23:17 - Bromley: One round shaped object, double the size of a star. White (pale), but very bright. It was stationary for a while and then travelled straight and level.
• May 31 - Wandsworth: One large, star like object. White in colour. Was moving slow from North to South.
• Jul 26 at 01:00 - Croydon: One blue, white and grey object. Was a big swirl like a dust storm, then a circle within a circle, like a gas ring. The centre was transparent then changed into a straight line
• Aug 2 at 22:18 - Twickenham: Two UFOs. Both were white and were very dim. They were moving West, and making erratic movements.
• Aug 2 at midnight - Balham: A football shaped object. It had a very bright light. Left a trail behind it, as it skimmed across the sky. It then disappeared.
• Aug 8 at 23:30 - Kingston: Two objects, both the size of a saloon car. Both were very bright. They were bouncing about all over the sky.
• Aug 9 at 18:00 - Molesey: One object. Was angular. It was moving Eastwards and was rising in the sky.
• Oct 13 at 18:50 - Walton-on-Thames: One star shaped object. White in colour. It moved from South West to North East.
• Nov 22 at 05:00 - Beckenham: One, round shaped object. Had red, green and blue colours and was very bright. Was moving East.

{http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/ }

16-01-2018 om 21:53 geschreven door peter  

Conspiracy theorists warn people after seeing vertical UFO lingering around Mexico (Video+)

Rumors of UFO sighting have been highly prevalent since ages with no solid proof of the presence of intelligent life visiting the perimeter of earthly realms. This is the very first video of UFO sighting after the arrival of this New Year.

By

 Science Examiner Desk

The word “Alien” has been ever present in the human society for something that is beyond our understanding. Recently, this topic of extraterrestrial life sparked the interest of common man with the strange object that was spotted in the skies of Baja state located in Mexico. This mysterious object was captured via a cell phone that shows a vertical aligned UFO flying over a city located in this state.

The object in the video isn’t clear enough to prove the presence of an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO). However, one can derive from the video that there is a certain cylindrical object hovering over the city which is aligned in a vertical manner.

Rumors of UFO sighting have been highly prevalent since ages with no solid proof of the presence of intelligent life visiting the perimeter of earthly realms. This is the very first video of UFO sighting after the arrival of this New Year. The clip, shot in the Baja state of Mexico has already started trending on numerous social media platform with conspiracy theorists stating that aliens might be keeping an eye on our activities.

According to a conspiracy theorist, Pedro Ramirez, UFO sightings have increased in number in the recent months due to the fact that space agencies such as SpaceX and NASA have been busy launching space missions on a continuous basis. This continuous space exploration might have attracted the attention of intelligent life beyond our blue planet. You can easily see this tubular shaped UFO flying in a vertical manner over the city. If claims are to be believed, UFO sightings and other alien activities have increased over a few months and especially during the year 2017’s final two months.

Ramirez further added that aliens knew that we have been launching a number of space missions which might be perceived as “War Material” being sent up in the sky. The extraterrestrial beings might be concerned with our increased activities, thereby monitoring the planet to confirm the cause.

The video of this particular UFO sighting was captured by a woman who can be easily heard in the video exclaiming “What is this?” while she continued shooting the object with her phone’s camera. The video garnered around 50,000 shares by netizens all over the web which was a result of concern or indifference in observation.

When you explore the definition of a spaceship or UFO, this latest sighting has all the signs of an extra-terrestrial machine but defied the perception of our knowledge about UFOs. Normally we believe that UFOs are circular discs or saucer-like objects. This is the very first time a vertical one has been seen hovering in the sky.

NASA has always been keen on trying to explore the possibilities of alien life visiting Earth but when it comes to UFO sightings, the organization doesn’t seem as much interested. As per NASA astronomers, most of these sightings don’t even come under the explanation of UFO. For instance, in the year 1972 during the Apollo 16, three astronauts captured an object with a dome on top. Charles Duke, Thomas Mattingly, and John Young speculated this object to be a UFO. However, it turned out to be a spacewalk floodlight which is why most of the UFO sighting does not attract interest from NASA scientists.

As per the judgment over the Mexico sightings is concerned, it is still under consideration. The conspiracy theory behind such sightings might be true for some instances as space missions in the recent months have increased significantly which might be a red flag for the intelligent life living far away from us.

Tags: 

• Baja Mexico, 
• Vertical UFO

{ https://sciexaminer.com/ }

16-01-2018 om 21:31 geschreven door peter  

{ https://geneticliteracyproject.org/ }

16-01-2018 om 21:21 geschreven door peter  

Extraterrestrial life difficult to study with existing knowledge: NASA scientists

By ​Rahul K R

{ http://www.ibtimes.sg/ }

16-01-2018 om 21:08 geschreven door peter  

Alien abduction or KGB? The baffling case of the miner whose body was found on a pile of coal

'Ziggy' Adamski disappeared from his home and his body was found 20 miles away on a coal pile

ByAndrew Robinson

The disappearance of a Yorkshire miner in 1980 left police baffled and prompted ‘alien abduction’ conspiracy theories.

Zigmund Adamski went missing in mysterious circumstances from his home in Thornfield Crescent at Tingley, near Wakefield, in June 1980

The 56-year-old miner at Lofthouse Colliery – who was known to many as ‘Ziggy’ – had set off on June 6 on a walk to the local shops to buy groceries.

It was the last time that Polish-born Mr Adamski was seen alive. His wife Lottie’s initial suspicion was that he had been kidnapped.

Five days after he disappeared, coal yard worker Trevor Parker found his body on top of a 10ft high pile of coal at his father’s coal yard in Todmorden, around 20 miles from Tingley.

He was wearing a suit but his shirt was missing, as were his watch and wallet. His clothes were said to be ‘improperly’ fastened and he had only one day of beard growth.

Mr Adamski’s hair had also been cropped short in a ‘roughly cut’ manner.

His body was also covered in burn marks, on his head, neck and shoulders. His face, it was reported, showed ‘absolute terror’ but there were no injuries to explain the cause of death.

The burns were said to be covered in a strange ointment which could not be identified by scientists.

What had happened to him and how did he end up in Todmorden?

Those questions haven’t been answered but this hasn’t stopped speculation and the development of some quite outlandish theories.

At the time, a famous UFO expert, a Polish-American citizen also called Adamski (George) offered up his own theory on what happened to his namesake.

George Adamski, who had previously claimed to have met with friendly aliens, said he believed that Zigmund had been abducted by aliens by mistake.

One tabloid newspaper suggested that Zigmund had been abducted and killed by aliens and his body dumped on top of the coal pile.

Others put forward theories that he had been killed by KGB forces or had been left dazed and confused after being struck by ‘ball lightning’ or some other unidentified phenomenon.

The ‘alien abduction’ theories were given a further boost by Alan Godfrey, the policeman who had been called to the Todmorden coal yard when Mr Adamski’s body had been found.

In November 1980, five months after Mr Adamski’s body was found, Constable Godfrey had his own encounter with a UFO less than a mile away from the coal yard.

The respected policeman made a sketch of the UFO and later, under hypnosis, told a story about being taken aboard the UFO and given a physical examination by two non-human entities. The policeman’s UFO story made headlines around the world.

Mr Godfrey, now 70, told the Examiner that the story he told under hypnosis was probably merely a dream, adding: “I never said I was abducted by aliens.”

However, he believes it’s possible that Adamski WAS taken by aliens.

“I am open minded. I can’t rule it out.”

Mr Godfrey doesn’t believe Mr Adamski was murdered, although he said a more senior police colleague in 1980 believed he had been killed.

He thinks that Mr Adamski didn’t die where he was found but had been placed there “by someone or something.”

He added: “He was on top of the coal pile on his back with not a bit of coal on him. His eyes were wide open and he had burn marks. Why would he climb up a stack of coal?”

Although the coroner recorded an open verdict, ruling that Mr Adamski had died of a heart attack, Mr Godfrey says there are unanswered questions.

“There was some ointment on the back of his neck. Samples were sent to a Home Office laboratory which couldn’t identify it.”

Mr Godfrey said he would never forget the look on Mr Adamski’s face.

“Those eyes were staring up at me. I was looking down on him from a foot away. Those eyes sent a shudder down my spine. They were wide open. He had a look of someone who had seen something or someone that had scared him to death.”

He added: “Something or someone put him on top of that pile of coal. And something scared him to death.”

Later, Mr Godfrey spoke to the pathologist who carried out the post mortem on Mr Adamski’s body.

“He said it was a classic case of someone who had been scared to death.”

The former policeman has no idea how the body ended up on the coal pile.

“How he got there I don’t know. I think something put him there.”

Mr Godfrey, who recently self-published a book which includes details of the Adamski case, said it had similarities with the alleged alien abduction of American logger Travis Walton in Arizona in 1975.

“He (Travis Walton) went missing for five days and he turned up alive. There are similarities.”

Almost 40 years on the case continues to fascinate investigators and those interested in unexplained deaths.

In Tingley local people still talk about the case.

Neil Beecham, who in 1980 was a reporter on the Morley Observer, said: “Mr Adamski’s mysterious disappearance 37 years ago has always troubled me and is a topic of conversation for the tight-knit community of Tingley, even to this day.”

Some commentators have suggested that Mr Adamski may have been abducted – but not by extra-terrestrials.

Ten years ago, two British UFO investigators looked again at the case. According to reports, they discovered that at the time he disappeared Mr Adamski was in the midst of a feud with a family member who was having marital problems and had moved in with the Adamski couple.

The investigators believed that Mr Adamski’s disappearance may have been an abduction linked to the feud.

Mr Godfrey has no information on this angle but said: “We had no reason to suspect any members of the family.”

Les Hewitt, in an article for Historic Mysteries, says the family members believed Mr Adamski had been abducted and held in a barn before having a heart attack.

He concludes: “The bizarre facts of this case – clothes that were improperly fastened, the body dumped atop a coal heap without noticeable disturbance, burns that were reported to be only two days old with an unidentified gel substance, only one day of beard growth, and another strange encounter with a UFO by the police investigator – lead us to imagine all kinds of possible outcomes.”

A writer for website The Iron Skeptic concluded that aliens played no part in Mr Adamski’s death.

“This case is just another example of a story that sounds good at first, but that dissolves under direct scrutiny. As are so many stories of space alien abduction.”

James Turnbull, the coroner who dealt with Mr Adamski’s death, told the BBC in 2003 that it was the biggest mystery of his career - but he wasn’t convinced by any of the theories relating to paranormal activity.

He said: “The question of where he was before he died and what led to his death just could not be answered.”

The questions are unlikely to ever be answered.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said this week: “The Adamski case is not part of any current investigation by the Protective Services (Crime) department.”

* Alan Godfrey’s book, Who or What Were They? is available through eBay.

{ http://www.examiner.co.uk/ }

16-01-2018 om 20:53 geschreven door peter  

Het is zover: machines kunnen nu officieel beter begrijpend lezen dan mensen (en wat dat betekent) - HLN.be

De test werd gecreëerd door experts van Artificial Intelligence (AI) aan de Amerikaanse Stanford University om de leesmogelijkheden van AI-software te meten. Het wordt gezien als ’s werelds beste in zijn soort. Ook bekende namen als Google, Facebook, IBM, Tencent en Samsung hebben intussen hun AI-modellen bij het Stanford-project ingediend. 

Lees ook

Artificial Intelligence, vriend of vijand? Een gesprek met robot Sophia, die ooit zei dat ze mensen wilde vernietigen

De software van de Chinese online retailer Alibaba was vorige week donderdag de eerste die erin slaagde de mens te kloppen op de test. Het werd een nipte overwinning: Artificial Intelligence: 82.44 punten, mens: 82.304 punten. Een dag later slaagde ook de software van Microsoft erin te winnen, met een score van 82.65. In beide gevallen waren de machines beter in het beantwoorden van vragen over moeilijke net ‘gelezen’ teksten. Pranav Rajpurkar, één van de onderzoekers aan Stanford University die de leestest mee ontworpen heeft, spreekt trots van “een grote start van 2018”. 

“Een ware eer”, noemt Luo Si, hoofdwetenschapper van natuurlijke taalverwerking van de AI-onderzoeksgroep van Alibaba het. Bij ‘Natural language processing’ (NLP) imiteren machines het menselijke bevattingsvermogen van woorden en zinnen. Deze keer gingen de machines dus ‘erop en erover’. 

Jobs

Si erkent in één adem dat de mijlpaal hoogstwaarschijnlijk betekent dat verschillende mensen in de toekomst hun job zullen verliezen aan een machine. De leestechnologie kan immers gradueel toegepast worden op talrijke applicaties zoals klantenservices, tutorials, online antwoorden op medische vragen van patiënten, … “Daardoor daalt de nood aan menselijke input daar op een ongeëvenaarde manier”, aldus Si. Alibaba zette de technologie overigens al eens aan het werk op ‘Singles Day’, ’s werelds grootste shoppingfeest. De technologie werd gebruikt om vragen van klanten te beantwoorden, met succes. 

“Deze tests zijn handige maatstaven om te zien hoe ver we staan op het AI-pad”, stelt Andrew Pickup van Microsoft. “Hoewel AI pas echt een voordeel heeft als het in harmonie met de mens wordt gebruikt”, voegt hij toe. Maar Artificial Intelligence verstoort intussen al wel danig het ‘gewone’ leven van de mens: in verschillende sectoren en processen werden mensen al vervangen door robots, auto’s worden zelfrijdend, … De Russische president Vladimir Poetin voorspelde in september dat wie de leider in AI wordt, ook de heerser van de wereld wordt.

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

16-01-2018 om 20:32 geschreven door peter  

Wetenschappers denken 500 jaar oud mysterie ontrafeld te hebben over hoe Azteken zo plots aan hun einde kwamen - HLN.be

Bron: Nature, The Guardian

‘Cocoliztli’ noemde de lokale bevolking de plaag die hen had getroffen. In het Nahuatl – een taal die de Azteken gebruikten – betekent dat ‘de pest’. Het was een van de dodelijkste epidemieën die de mensheid ooit trof en kwam in de buurt van de Zwarte Dood, de builenpest die in de 14de eeuw naar schatting 25 miljoen mensen het leven kostte in West-Europa, zo wat de helft van de bevolking.

Lees ook

Hij stond bekend als woeste en genadeloze piraat, maar ontdekking in wrak van zijn schip toont andere kant van Zwartbaard

Pest

In de daaropvolgende eeuwen werd gezocht naar wat die pest precies was en dat leidde tot hypothesen als waren het de pokken, de mazelen, de bof of de griep. Maar nergens werd hard bewijs gevonden om dat te staven. Wetenschappers kwamen gisteren met een nieuwe these, nadat ze DNA-materiaal geanalyseerd hadden op tanden van enkele van de slachtoffers van wie het lichaam was bewaard. Ze schreven over hun ontdekking in het wetenschappelijke tijdschrift Nature Ecology and Evolution. (lees hieronder verder)

“De plaag was een van de vele epidemieën die Mexico overspoelden na de aankomst van de Europeanen op het Amerikaanse continent”, aldus coauteur Ashild Vagene van de universiteit van Tübingen in Duitsland. De kolonisten brachten bacteriën mee die de lokale bevolking niet kende en waartegen ze ook geen resistentie hadden. “Het was de tweede van drie epidemieën die een hoge dodentol eisten. Twee decennia eerder hadden de pokken al eens tussen de 5 en 8 miljoen doden gemaakt en een tweede uitbraak van ‘cocoliztli’ roeide tussen 1576 en 1578 nog eens de helft van de resterende bevolking uit.”

Greppels

Fransiscaans historicus Fray Juan de Torquemada maakte een verslag van de periode en omschreef het zo: “In de steden en grotere dorpen werden diepe greppels gegraven. Priesters deden van ’s morgens tot ’s avonds niets anders dan daar lijken naartoe brengen en ingooien.” (lees hieronder verder)

De wetenschappers van de universiteit van Tübingen onderzochten het DNA van 29 van zulke skeletten en ontdekten er sporen in van de salmonella enterica-bacterie, paratyphi C. Die kan een darminfectie veroorzaken, zoals buiktyfus. “Het is de eerste keer dat er direct bewijs wordt gevonden die naar de oorzaak van de ondergang van de beschaving kan wijzen”, aldus Vagene.

Van salmonella enterica is bekend dat het in de middeleeuwen voorkwam in Europa. Heel wat van de salmonellastammen verspreidden zich via geïnfecteerd voedsel of water en kunnen meegekomen zijn naar Mexico met de dieren die de Spanjaarden bij zich hadden, volgens het researchteam. “We hebben alle bacteriële ziekteverwekkers en DNA-virussen getest waarvan we genetische data hebben en vonden alleen salmonella enterica”, aldus coauteur Alexander Herbig.

Kanttekening

Ze maken zelf echter ook een kanttekening. Het is immers mogelijk dat er ziekteverwekkers zijn die niet meer te detecteren waren of die we gewoonweg niet kennen. “We kunnen niet met 100 procent zekerheid zeggen dat salmonella enterica de oorzaak was van de ‘cocoliztli’-epidemie”, aldus onderzoekster Kirsten Bos. “Maar we denken wel dat het een hele sterke kanshebber is.”

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

16-01-2018 om 19:02 geschreven door peter  

KCE: “3D geprinte implantaten niet beter, veiliger of goedkoper dan klassieke implantaten” - HLN.be

Bron: Belga

Op dit moment is er evenmin bewijs dat 3D-printen besparingen zouden opleveren voor de gezondheidszorgverzekering, aldus het KCE in een dinsdag verschenen studie.

Lees ook

‘Pacemaker’ in hersenen moet depressies onderdrukken

In de medische sector kent 3D-printen de laatste jaren een toenemende belangstelling en groei. Bij die techniek wordt een product in laagjes door een printer opgebouwd, op basis van een computerbestand. 3D-printen wordt vooral in de orthopedie en de tandheelkunde steeds meer gebruikt.

Volgens de voorstanders zou het gebruik van 3D-implantaten de duur van de operatie inkorten, met een minder vermoeid chirurgisch team dat minder fouten maakt. Daarnaast zouden de ziekenhuizen kosten besparen omdat de operatiezalen minder lang worden ingenomen. De KCE-onderzoekers vonden hiervan echter geen unanieme bevestiging. Het is niet aangetoond dat ze beter, veiliger of meer kosteneffectief zijn dan de ‘klassieke’ implantaten. Er is meer evidentie nodig, aldus het KCE in een persbericht. 

Hogere prijs

Het KCE beveelt aan om het gebruik van deze nieuwe hoogrisico-3D-implantaten eerst te beperken tot gespecialiseerde centra en daarbij wetenschappelijke data te verzamelen. “De terugbetaling van een 3D-implantaat aan een hogere prijs dan het bestaande alternatief is in principe enkel mogelijk als de fabrikant kan aantonen dat zijn 3D-hulpmiddel beter is dan dit alternatief. Indien de fabrikant de werkzaamheid nog niet kon aantonen of indien de gevraagde prijs te hoog is, kan het RIZIV de terugbetaling weigeren. 

In dat geval kan de kost van het implantaat aan de patiënt worden aangerekend of is het mogelijk dat het ziekenhuis deze draagt. Dit is ook het geval indien de fabrikant ervoor kiest om (nog) geen terugbetalingsdossier bij de ziekteverzekering (RIZIV) in te dienen.”

Het RIZIV zou de veilige 3D-hulpmiddelen waarvoor de toegevoegde waarde (nog) niet is aangetoond, toch kunnen terugbetalen, maar aan hetzelfde bedrag als dat van het reeds bestaande ‘klassieke’ alternatief.

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

16-01-2018 om 18:56 geschreven door peter  

Back in 2012, David Weatherly’s then-much-awaited book, Black Eyed Children was published. So, you may well ask, why am I mentioning this now, six years later? The answer is simple: Just recently, David decided to put out a new version of the book, a revised 2nd edition, and which has a cool cover courtesy of Sam Shearon. If you aren’t fully conversant with the BEC phenomenon, the sub-title to the new edition will give you a good idea of what you can expect in its 240 pages: “The B.E.K.s – They Reside On The Fringes Of The Paranormal. Are They A Diabolical Threat, Or The stuff Of Urban Legend?”

As I have noted in several of my books and articles over the years, the Black Eyed Children are, in many ways, similar to the Men in Black (no, not the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones type. The very weird, pale, cadaverous and creepy types are the ones I mean). The BEC so often turn up at night, knock on peoples’ doors and do their absolute utmost to try and get an invite inside. Fortunately, most people get a distinctly weird and creepy vibe from the BEC, something which generally ensures the “kids” don’t manage to get into the home of the targeted person. On occasion, however, some unfortunate souls have seen exactly what the BEC are capable of when they succeed in getting inside.

In his book, David not only provides us with numerous eyewitness-reports of encounters with the BEC, but also theories for what they might be. Those theories that David takes a look at include Changelings, Hungry Ghosts, the Djinn, Alien-Human Hybrids, Tricksters and more. But, there is one particular section of the revised Black Eyed Children that I want to draw your attention to. It’s a brand new section that deals with a man named Brian Bethel.

If you don’t know who Brian Bethel is, I’ll tell you. He’s the guy who really got the BEC ball rolling, after a creepy encounter with a pair of Black Eyed Children in the late 1990s. The location being Abilene, Texas. In the years since Bethel’s story surfaced, numerous others have come forward talking about their own encounters with the Black Eyed Children and that predated Bethel’s experience. But, it was definitely his report that got the wheels turning, so to speak. In that sense, Bethel’s is a very important case. As for what Bethel has to say now, more than twenty years later, let’s take a look.

There is no doubt in my mind that Bethel’s words – revealed at length in the book – are gripping and thought-provoking. And he shares the details of some chilling and sinister things that happened to him in the wake of the 1997 encounter. Bethel tells us how, in the immediate aftermath of the late-night incident, he “felt unsafe” going to sleep. Insomnia gripped him. He experienced what I have termed here at MU in earlier articles as a form of “psychic backlash.” And the list of supernatural negativity and menace goes on and on.

In terms of what Bethel thinks the Black Eyed Children are, he doesn’t waste any time in getting to the point. Indeed, he refers to them as “a predator species” and suggests that “we are the food.” Bethel adds that he believes the BEC are “dangerous entities.” He also concludes that “we have something they don’t, something they desperately want.” That something, Bethel suggests, is the human soul. He also suggests they can be beaten at their own game, particularly as a result of their “strange sets of rules,” such as not being able to get into a home or a vehicle unless specifically invited to do so.

If you are interested in the BEC phenomenon, then I would urge you to get a copy of the revised edition of David Weatherly’sBlack Eyed Children, and particularly so because of the revealing interview with Brian Bethel.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

16-01-2018 om 18:45 geschreven door peter  

Is there a prize for being designated as the world’s newest (or biggest or fastest-growing) UFO hotspot? Even if there isn’t, the fine folks of Basingstoke, England, may want to put their name in the running. A recent video showing five lights moving in a line is the latest in a string of UFO reports in that southeast England town since 2008, as well as others in the 1980s and 70s. What’s up, Basingstoke?

The latest sighting comes from MUFON and was reported by Express.co.uk, which also noted some of the previous sightings in Basingstoke. Along with the video (seen here), the unnamed witness submitted a report (portions here – misspellings in original)

“i have ruled out them being any kind of servilian craft as these would have had some sort of flashing light on them and with it being dark and foggy we would have seen this. it couldnt have been search lights shinning up from the ground as we could clearly see the lights surface area getting wider as it shon down meaning the light source was in the sky … the sighting lasted around 30mins and managed to take around 4mins of video”

Fortunately, the good people of Basingstoke keep their cellphones locked and loaded. In April 2016, uploaded this video of four red blinking lights he saw near the Basingstoke train station. Chinese lanterns?

They always get the blame from someone

It looks like one common thread in these Basingstoke sightings is the lights. Another witness took this video of a dozen orange lights overhead on a night in June 2008 between 10.40pm and 11.10pm

That time of the night may be a common theme as well. There were reportedly numerous sightings on night in May 2012 at around 10:30 pm. That incident elicited a government response that hints at what at least some of these sightings might be. The RAF Odiham helicopter base is nearby in Hampshire and had choppers in the sky that night, although no one admit responsibility.

Not all of the Basingstoke sightings were lights. A famous photograph (seen here) taken of a sighting in June 2013 of two discs was examined by former Ministry of Defence UFO expert Nick Pope, who said:

“It’s one of the best UFO photos I’ve seen for a while. The shape and colour seems to rule out things like aircraft lights or Chinese lanterns.”

The news report said this was the second sighting in Basingstoke in 2013, following another in February.

Going back to August, 12 1983, a 77-year-old man was fishing on the Basingstoke Canal when he claimed a disc-shaped UFO landed near him and two English-speaking humanoids took him on the ship, examined him and let him go back to fishing because he was “too old.”

Take a young one … like Justin Bieber.

Other than the RAF helicopter base, there doesn’t seem to be anything in Basingstoke that would cause so many UFO sightings. Sure, it has artifacts dating back to the Paleolithic era, but so do many other English towns. There’s no nuclear plant or precious metal mines nearby – it sits on a mound of chalk and clay. It’s the birthplace of Jane Austen. Are aliens fans of her novels?

Whatever the cause, Basingstoke residents are wise to keep their cellphones charged and ready, and always tell humanoids doing probes that you’re older than you look.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

16-01-2018 om 18:33 geschreven door peter  

16-01-2018 om 17:59 geschreven door peter  

Black Knight-Like Spacecraft Passing The Moon

The following image has been captured by a photographer from Cornwall Ontario, Canada and shows a remarkable unidentified flying object that passes the moon. An object that looks like a black knight craft.

The photographer says that he has never witnessed anything like this and wonders whether it could be military, dimensional, other-worldly…

He states: I was out shooting images with my kids on the side of my house, just randomly shooting the moon and clouds. I captured images using a Canon SX60HS which has zoom capabilities allowing you to zoom in on the moons craters.

I did not notice the object while shooting, in this particular moment I was using 3 shot burst and just trying to get the circumference of the moon.

It was only when I was going thru the images when I noticed an object in view of the moon. The object seems to resemble a hat shape, likely metallic, and what I would call a disc with an elevated dome of sorts. It does not look to have many attachments at all.

I was immediately shocked by what I had captured; however, with my kids there I asked them "what do you think this is?" They all respectively said they thought it was a "UFO" or "Spacecraft".

Unfortunately, this was a still image, However, there was no object in the two subsequent images, meaning it was either faster than the shutter speed on 3 burst, or it was there and gone, disappearance.

I was utterly afraid to report this object, photographed in 2015, because I did not want to be subject to ridicule, but some friends and family, who have all encouraged me to report the sighting and get my story out there. Mufon case 89578.

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

16-01-2018 om 17:43 geschreven door peter  

This article was originally published by Scientific American.

{ https://www.salon.com/category/news }

16-01-2018 om 01:36 geschreven door peter  

Get Your First Look at the Future of Hypersonic Flight

 

U.S. Air Force

IN BRIEF

Boeing has revealed a new design of their in-development hypersonic plane. The aerospace giant is racing against competitors in the U.S. and abroad to develop a viable hypersonic aircraft.

Aerospace companies are in a heated race to create a hypersonic plane to replace the SR-71 Blackbird. Though retired in 1990, the SR-71 still holds the record as the fastest plane ever built, achieving a top speed of 3,540 kmh (2,200 mph). The goal now is to build a plane capable of reaching speeds above Mach 5 (6,171 kmh/3,835 mph), and Boeing thinks they may have the design that could do it.

During the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ SciTech Forum in Florida last week, Boeing unveiled a model of their next-generation demonstrator hypersonic aircraft. The twin-tail, tapered-wing concept hasn’t yet been approved for full-scale development, but Boeing’s head of hypersonic research told Aviation Week Aerospace Daily that it is a feasible design.

Popular Mechanics reports that Boeing’s current design works off of previous successes in hypersonic aircraft, including the unmanned X-51, which broke records in 2013 when it flew at Mach 5.1 for three-and-a-half minutes before running out of fuel and crashing into the ocean. The big challenge is building a plane that can not only reach Mach 5, but that can also decelerate to land.

To that end, both Boeing and Lockheed Martin are researching designs that utilize turbojets, a type of engine that has long been used in commercial aircraft, to achieve Mach 3 speeds before swapping to a dual ramjet/scramjet. Those types of compression engines only function at speeds above Mach 3, and they would provide the power to propel the aircraft to Mach 5 speeds and higher.

Lockheed Martin’s planned SR-72, which they are developing with the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has a similar design to the craft revealed by Boeing last week. The tentative release date for the SR-72 is 2030, though sightings of an unmanned demonstrator aircraft at Lockheed’s California facility suggest the company may be further along in development than expected.

China also has several programs currently researching and developing hypersonic flight systems, including a hypersonic space plane and scramjets that have already been tested at speeds of Mach 7 (8,642 kmh/5,370 mph).

Regardless of who wins this race, the development of hypersonic flight promises to change the future of travel, exploration, and military engagement — for everyone.

References: 

• Popular Mechanics, 
• Popular Science

{

16-01-2018 om 01:22 geschreven door peter  

Cahokia; An Ancient American City Covered in Pyramids

Around four centuries before the arrival of Columbus to the American continent, the Native Indians of Illinois erected a city that came to support a population of more than 20,000 inhabitants. But not only did they create a sophisticated city, for some reason they built more than a hundred mysterious earthen Pyramids, which, until this day, remain a profound enigma, as well as the general history of the site and its inhabitants.

Scholars consider Cahokia as one of the most significant and most influential ancient settlements in the Mississippian culture that developed and built massive structures five hundred years before Europeans came to the New Continent.

The original name of this ancient city is unknown. The name Cahokia is borrowed from a tribe that lived nearby in the 1600’s.

The Cahokia site covered an area of nine square miles.

Illustration: Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.

Cahokia is an ancient settlement with a history that is more profound than we currently are willing to acknowledge.

Washington University’s John Kelly, a longtime stalwart of Cahokian archaeology, sums up the present understanding of Cahokia nicely: “People aren’t sure what it is.”

The first man to write about this ancient city was Henry Brackenridge, a lawyer and amateur historian who noted he was left amazed by what he had seen in 1811:

“I was struck with a degree of astonishment, not unlike that which is experienced in contemplating the Egyptian pyramids. What a stupendous pile of earth! To heap up such a mass must have required years, and the labors of thousands.”

The city, its monuments, and cultures are of great value.

Experts believe that Cahokia was the apogee and may have even been the origin of what scholars refer to as the Mississippian culture which spread across the American Midwest and Southeast starting before A.D. 1000 and peaking around the 13th century.

The building process of the city is another mystery. Researchers say that everywhere they dug, they found something of value, houses, buildings, monuments. The discoveries made at Cahokia indicate that it was a massive city, which, mysteriously, was built in an extremely brief span of time.

Image Credit: cahokiamounds.org

In other words, researchers say that it seems as if the entire city ‘sprang to life almost overnight around 1050’.

People from all over the area started moving to Cahokia which allowed the creation of complex infrastructure. The Cahokians built MASSIVE mounds—earthen Pyramids, a playa with the size of 45 football fields and different ceremonial and religious monuments.

Image Credit: cahokiamounds.org

To get an idea of how big the Cahokian earthen Pyramids were if you climb on top of Monks Mound, composed of 156 steps, you’d find yourself atop a structure that is larger at its base than the Great Pyramid of Giza. Now imagine the amount of work that needed to be done to create something like this around 1050.

The base circumference of Monks Mound is larger than the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan. It is believed that the inhabitants of Cahokia began building it around 900–950 CE, and was completed around 1100 CE.

Image Credit: cahokiamounds.org

At its peak around 1100, the city of Cahokia covered more than five square miles and was made up of 120 earthen pyramids. The inhabitants of Cahokia were skilled farmers, traders, and hunters, but they were also excellent urban planners and used astronomical alignments—like many other cultures in the American Continent—to build a small metropolis which was more extensive than many European cities during that tie.

The Cahokians did not leave behind a written language; we don’t know what they called themselves, where they came from, why they build these massive earthen Pyramids, why so many of them, and why they disappeared.

In fact, by the time Columbus got to the Americas, the city was already a ghost town. Experts only know that the city came into existence during a favorable climate phase and began shrinking around the time the climate became cooler, drier, and less predictable.

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

16-01-2018 om 01:10 geschreven door peter  

Zoom Through the Famous Orion Nebula with NASA's Incredible 3D Video

16-01-2018 om 00:56 geschreven door peter  

The Biggest Space Stories of the Week

Photo Credit: X-ray NASA/CXC/University of Colorado/J. Comerford et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI

Photo Credit: NASA

Photo Credit: SpaceX

Photo Credit: NASA/Retro Space Images

Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/USGS

Photo Credit: NASA

Photo Credit: X-ray NASA/CXC/University of Colorado/J. Comerford et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI

Photo Credit: Danielle Futselaar/UC Berkeley

Photo Credit: Katy Mersmann/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Photo Credit: Betsy Asher Hall/Gervasio Robles/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

16-01-2018 om 00:41 geschreven door peter