29 dic 2017

Mars-Cold Weather across Canada and the US Breaks both Records and Windows

An mass of cold Arctic air has descended from the north over the continent, causing temperatures to plunge across Canada and the eastern half of the United States. Many regions between Nunavut and Ontario are seeing temperatures well below zero -- Fahrenheit, that is (-32ºC), cold enough to crack windows in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Although low-temperature records in many regions aren't being broken, these conditions are encroaching on century-old records for the duration of regional cold snaps.

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Russian-Made Code in FBI Security Software has Cybersecurity Experts Concerned

Two whistleblowers from French aerospace and defense conglomerate Safran SA have revealed that the company bought computer code from a Russian company with connections to the Kremlin, incorporated the code into their own fingerprint recognition software, and sold their product to the Federal Bureau of Investigation -- without disclosing the presence of the Russian-made code to the FBI. Analysts are concerned that the code could provide a backdoor for Kremlin-backed hackers to steal biometric data, a potential problem compounded by the fact that over 18,000 other law enforcement agencies in the US, including the TSA, rely on the FBI's fingerprint database.

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Love is Holographic

I have another diary entry from Anne. Again, the subject is love and again it's very original. It is the first time I have ever seen the concept that love is holographic. I find it quite astonishing and I dearly wish that it was in the Afterlife Revolution but it just came now. It is an extension of her thinking in the book, though, and attests to something I have sensed, which is that, in the afterlife, we grow and change and learn, just as we do in this one.

Anyway, it is truly beautiful. Anne writes:

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27 dic 2017

Acclaimed Film Director Guillermo del Toro Disappointed and Terrified by Encounter with "Crappy" UFO

In a November speaking engagement at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film & TV, acclaimed film director Guillermo del Toro described an encounter with a UFO near Cerro del Cuatro, Mexico. Being a master storyteller of fantasy movies with lavish visuals such as Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, it should come as no surprise that he was disappointed by the otherwise mundane appearance of what he called a "crappy" UFO -- although he says that the encounter was the most terrifying experience of his life.

"You sound like a complete lunatic, but I saw a UFO. I didn't want to see a UFO. It was horribly designed."

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26 dic 2017

The Allure of Forbidden Treasures




The Allure of Forbidden Treasures
By Scott Corrales © 2017

Anyone who ever read Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, or was otherwise entranced by stories of daring pirates and corsairs burying chests of plunder on desert islands, or even brave explorers recovering the wealth of the ancient world from forgotten tombs, has felt the allure of treasure. The word alone elicits mental images of wooden chests brimming over with gold coins, hoards of bullion and jewels on the stone floor of a crypt, perhaps even brazen thieves removing a prized stone from the uncaring head of a graven image.

The unforgiving twenty-four hour news cycle in which we live makes us overlook - and promptly forget - items that appear one minute on the evening news or in the back pages of newspapers. The discovery of a fabulous treasure trove in 2015 at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in southern Indian state of Kerala was big news, but as ephemeral as a shooting star. In our fake news-ridden times it was refreshing to learn that the story was in fact true, and that experts had estimated the hoard's value at over one trillion U.S. dollars, conceivably making it the most prized treasure on our planet (as an aside, the value of the diamond planet orbiting 55 Cancri, discovered in 2004 by our telescopes, has been calculated at 384 quadrillion times more than our world's entire GDP of seventy trillion).

Indian auditors opened some of the temple's vaults and were bedazzled by the splendid array of gold, silver and gems contained within. There was initial hesitation about penetrating one of the chambers - one supposedly guarded by terrible reptiles, perhaps even the mighty Nagas of the Sansrcrit texts. A year later the India Times reported that the inner sanctum appeared to have been looted in the past and that hundreds of vessels containing gold and silver were now missing. The supernatural guardians must have fallen asleep on the job.

Temple authorities noted that the structure contains a further vault - one with walls supposedly made of solid gold - which was never been profaned. It has no visible means of access, and the 'hidden door' can only be opened by holy men able to chant an obscure mantra. The Illuminations blog (http://ift.tt/2C6OTOm) calls this the Garuda Mantra and adds the following admonition: "At present NO WHERE IN INDIA or in the WORLD such a highly sacred and powerful ‘SIDDHAPURSHAS’ or ‘YOGIS’ or ‘MANTRIKAS’ who does know how to execute highly sacred ‘GARUDA MANTRA’ are EXISTING. If any human attempts are made with man-made technology to open the mysterious Chamber-B other than by chanting highly sacred and powerful ‘GARUDA MANTRAS’ by a highly sacred ‘SADHUS’ or ‘MANTRIKAS’, catastrophes are likely to occur in and around the Temple premises or throughout India or even throughout the world according to VEDIC ASTROLOGERS OF INDIA." (Quoted verbatim with our thanks to the author).

Seeing the amount of trouble that bedevils the modern world, perhaps it is wiser not to make a clumsy effort that dooms us to more trouble...

The Wrath of Phantom Sentinels

The belief that otherworldly forces are at work in the safeguarding of treasure troves is widespread. Curses laid by holy men - whether Inca or Egyptian - are as common a belief as the presence of genies or ifrits guarding Eastern treasure hoards. South America gives us a tradition in which the supernatural clasps its hands with the erotic.

Mexican folklorist Rafael Olivares has carefully compiled the legends and traditions of the state of Nuevo Leon and published extensively on the subject. His works include an observation on the methods employed by treasure hunters in his country, and other Latin American nations, when approaching buried caches supposedly defended by an otherworldly guardian.

"This is a custom," he writes, "that ranges from Colombia to Argentina. When an evil spirit has a treasure site in its custody, it is necessary to hire a woman to accompany the explorers. Upon reaching the place in question, she must strip naked and stand a few meters away from the dig. Once the pit has been opened, the woman will drop to the ground and shake, thrusting her pelvis in the air as if simulating a sexual attack."

While this is scandalous to our understanding, the firmly held belief is that the paranormal guardian, having abstained from flesh for centuries, will ignore the diggers and busy itself in a carnal relationship with the female. "The men will seize the treasure and take the woman with them," Olivares observes. "She will neither remember what happened, nor who or what with."

There is a gruesome consequence to securing treasure by this means. The hapless woman offered to the spirit in exchange for a pittance will be tormented by the evil entity for the rest of her days.


Treasures of the Andes

In his Leyendas Populares Colombianas, author Javier Ocampo expands on the Colombian belief that those who seek and find lost treasure also inherit the curse that goes with it. It is necessary to recite certain prayers and carry out certain rituals to undo the malediction. The Andean nation apparently has several lost and enchanted hoards: the treasure of Buzagá, the treasure of Cariababare and the treasure of Hualcala, the Golden Mountain.

The desert peninsula known as La Guajira contains a not fully explored cave (Cueva de la Perrita, in honor of the little dog that allegedly made humans aware of its existence) containing not only petroglyphs of considerable anthropological value, but lost treasure safeguarded by a supernatural sentry. Carolina Parra interviewed the cave's discoverer and explorer - Jorge Solano - confessed that he was more fearful of the living than the dead, but that the ancients "buried their belongings and the treasure right there where you're standing. I once tried digging for them but soon regretted it." As an intriguing aside, Solano adds that going after the treasure would have entailed making a deal with the guardian spirit, and that lights resembling tiny bells and stars would entice him toward the spot under which the treasure lay hidden.

There are other explanations for paranormal burden that weighs heavily on these forgotten caches of wealth. Rich landlords would have a farmhand dig a pit in which to conceal the treasure, then murder the worker to keep anyone else from knowing the location. Conversely, the hapless peasant's soul would be bound to the trove, becoming its unwilling keeper, although in some instances, it is the greedy landlord's own spirit that is bound to amassed gold and jewels.

Other traditions posit the capricious nature of the treasure spirits. The lucky explorer or adventurer may find the hoard, and in so doing, prompting the manifestation of the guardian entity, which issues a severe admonition: the treasure hunter must take it all or not a single coin or gem. The sheer size and weight of these forbidden holdings makes it impossible, so the hunter is forced to withdraw lest the cave collapse. This, according to folklorists, is the reason why skeletons are often found upon the heaps of gold - the remains of prospector who ignored the warning.

The Colombian government's Sistema Nacional de Información Cultural (www.sinic.gov.co) includes narratives about lost treasure. The town of Salazar de las Palmas in the Department of Santander is reputedly the home of the Cueva de los Mil Pesos (The Thousand Peso Cave) and local tradition holds that "an immense treasure" emerges from the bowels of the cave every Good Friday at three in the afternoon to dazzle the local residents. A 1908 expedition - well equipped and armed - ventured into the cave, supposedly finding stone chambers crafted by an unknown culture, their walls festooned with undecipherable signs and symbols. The website states that historian Luis Miguel Marciales is of the opinion that the cave is actually an opening to a gold mine that was discovered in the early centuries of the colonial era.

As we travel down the Andean Range, we find that similar beliefs in Peru. Burial sites of containing the bones of forgotten chieftains and their gold finery are guarded by the Apus, the mountain deities of the Inca and Aymara lore. Profaning any such burial to retrieve these riches must be done at a prescribed time and date, wearing amulets that will ward off the supernatural guardians. Not doing so exposes the grave robber (to speak plainly) to the wrath of the protecting spirits.

There is a very real fear of this supernatural wrath, and not always involving buried treasure. The now world-famous "Ice Princess", the mummy of an Inca maiden sacrificed at the summit of the Peruvian mountain known as Nevado de Ampato, near the city of Arequipa, has also attracted considerable controversy due to the supernatural forces apparently surrounding it. Her remains were found by U.S. archaeologist Johan Reinhard and taken out of Peru for research purposes.

The city of Arequipa, however, began to experience a string of calamities shortly after she was taken out of the country: two air traffic accidents, one of which made headlines around the world and left nearly two hundred dead, a mid-air collision between two helicopters and the collapse of a high-voltage cable during a fireworks display, killing thirty onlookers. The word spread around southern Peru that the "wrath of the gods" had been unleashed due to the maiden's removal, and local brujos hastily convened to pray for divine forbearance. Despite their fervent orisons, local authorities were advised to seek the return of the "Ice Princess" post haste.

But rather than risk public ridicule by citing the reasons given by the brujos, local leaders chose to cite financial reasons. "If the mummy were here, we might get some tourists," said Antonio Jiménez, mayor of Cabanaconde, a hamlet in the foothills of the massive Nevado de Ampato. Others cited the fact that museums around the world were charging an admission to see their "ancestor" and that the mountain people were not benefitting from it at all.

Neither were the museums. Perhaps Mayor Jiménez would have been startled to read that the "Ice Princess" had been de-accessioned (removed from display) from the Everhart Museum. Museum authorities cited the need to comply with the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act of 1992, which mandates the immediate return of Native American human remains to their respective tribes for immediate burial. Thus, the Everhart collection had a mummy that could neither be photographed nor displayed, and which further had to be repatriated: what greater curse than that of bureaucratic entanglements?

The Wages of Plunder

A treasure hunter fell to his death from the top floor of a hotel in the Moroccan city of Tangiers in April of 1968. An instantaneous death, according to the coroner.

The victim's name was Sven Bornholm.

The matter would have probably ended there, with the corresponding transactions between local authorities and the embassy involved for repatriating the corpse. But the coroner received a visit from Mr. Bornholm's widow, who had a story to tell. Years earlier, her late husband had gained access to some old sea charts that pointed to the existence of a sunken treasure ship in the waters of Libya's Gulf of Sidra - a body of water better known as a trouble spot during the years of the Qaddafi regime.

Bornholm went on to tell his spouse that the treasure - while worth millions - had been given a wide berth by most divers not on account of hazardous diving conditions, sharks or other perils of the deep, but due to the curse laid upon the treasure by its owner...a notion he dismissed as fanciful. Following the charts, he located the ship in March 1968 and went ahead with the salvage operations, successfully retrieving the salt-encrusted riches.

It wasn't long, said the late Mrs. Bornholm, that the treasure hunter began showing signs of being disturbed by an invisible presence that made him distracted, forgetful and frightened. Worse yet, the "thing" appeared to beckon him toward it, and resisting it was becoming increasingly difficult. Thinking that a vacation in sunny Tangiers might be just the tonic, the couple flew to Morocco, where Bornholm was set upon by the "thing", grappling with it in broad daylight on the hotel's rooftop solarium. During the struggle, the treasure hunter fell backward into the void.

His struggles with the unknown had come to an end, and Bornholm had become another victim of the curse that Ahmed Musa, the Bey of Tripoli, had set upon his own riches.

Today's war-torn city of Tripoli had been the splendid capital of the Turkish bey, or governor, whose ships raided European vessels without compunction, filling the ruler's treasury with ill-gotten gains. An Italian raid on the city, led by a Genoese admiral, managed to penetrate the city and seize fantastic wealth accumulated by the tyrant over the years, but not before the bey stabbed himself with a bejeweled dagger and cursing the treasure. The conquering admiral became the first victim of the curse, dying during the return voyage.

So what became of the treasure? It was reportedly returned to Libya and deposited in a mosque in the late 1960s. What has become of it during the upheaval following the fall of Qadaffi is anybody's guess.

[Note: Efforts at corroborating this otherwise compelling story have been unsuccessful. It is possible that the original source (Revista Duda Vol. 1. #24, December 1971, researched by Jaime Reyes) gave the protagonist a pseudonym, but there is no evidence of military action by any of the Italian states at the time against Barbary, or the existence of “Ahmed Musa.”]

A cache of lost wealth more compatible with the swashbuckling era is said to lie at the bottom of an estuary in Northwestern Spain. In the early 1700s during the War of the Spanish Succession, an Anglo-Dutch fleet managed to engage Spanish galleons at anchor in the Ría de Vigo in a situation worthy of Horatio Hornblower. The galleons went to the bottom, their holds reportedly containing gold and jewels from the viceroyalties of the Americas. No curse or supernatural mystery lies upon it, however.

via Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology http://ift.tt/GCRz8J

23 dic 2017

Santa's Psilocybin Secret: the Alternate History of the Tradition behind Santa Claus

Most of us are familiar with how the legend of Santa Claus evolved, having descended from the traditions of Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century saint famous for his charity work and gift-giving, along with all of the details that have been added onto the story of Santa over the centuries, including his red suit, flying reindeer, Arctic abode, etc. However, Sierra College anthropologist John Rush suggests that many of these details might have an origin that has flown under the radar until recently: the shamanic use of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

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Disclosure and Close Encounter

Whitley talks in depth about what the disclosure of the presence of unknown objects in our skies means to the close encounter witness. Are these objects related to the close encounter experience or not? If we don't yet know, how can we find out? And what about the disclosure process--are there still obstacles or will it proceed smoothly.

Don't miss this insightful and provocative discussion!


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22 dic 2017

Year End Extravaganza: 12 Guests on Afterlife, the New Disclosure Process and Much More!

December 22, 2017
A four hour 2-week Dreamland extravaganza. The show is posted in full for both subscribers and non-subscribers. This is a huge program covering many topics. It is divided into two parts and all the guests appear at the times listed below.

If you are using a mobile device with 16GB or less, you may not be able to download or listen to the whole show without the stream stopping or the download freezing. If so, try downloading through an app such as Filer or go to our YouTube channel, http://ift.tt/2kYQn5e and listen from there. On YouTube, the show is divided into 2 parts. Here it is presented as a single program.
Guest Start Times:

1ST HALF OF SHOW: 0:00:00

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Haunted Deserts: UFOs in the Emptiness



Haunted Deserts: UFOs in the Emptiness
By Scott Corrales (c) 2017

Many years ago I wrote an article for FATE magazine about lost civilizations in our planet’s desert areas – regions that may have once been suitable for large, organized communities, even cities, but had which had succumbed to erosion and were now simply uninhabitable. Even in the Sahara Desert we find the ruins of Roman settlements in desert oases, otherwise hospitable locations that settlers had to abandon due to a proliferation of scorpions, for example.

They may be the repository of lost civilizations, but it can also be said that our desert regions appear to be teeming with something else – unusual happenings that fall under the loose mantle of UFO phenomena, in the strictest sense. Are these luminous manifestations the residual energy of the peoples who once occupied this region, reduced to flickering lights in the dark? Perhaps even manifestations of the spirits of the empty lands that kept them in abject terror during the long desert nights? Or are we more inclined to think in terms of extraterrestrial visitors availing themselves of these hostile, recondite areas to shelter their spacecraft and operating bases on our small blue marble?

Colombia’s La Tatacoa desert in one of these locations, nestled in the heart of the mountains. The first report we have of its existence comes from Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, one of the lesser-known Conquistadors, entrusted with the mission of “reaching the Kingdom of Perú by following the course of Magdalena River, demanding gold from local natives to finance the expedition.” Easier said than done, as the explorer traversed some of the most astonishing badlands in the South American continent, known as the “valley of sorrows” due to the overwhelming presence of rattlesnakes. Later researchers would find in La Tatacoa a startling deposit of Pleistocene fossil remains.

The odd geographical feature has also been become known for its constant UFO sightings. A woman named Orfanda Soto, a permanent resident of this forsaken location, claims having seen these spectacular lights from her farm. “On two separate instances,” Orfanda told journalists from Colombia’s Huila Extra website, “me and my family have witnessed flashing lights and objects shaped like Chinese hats flying directly overhead. The light emitted by these UFOs is tremendous. It can even go straight through rock surfaces.”

Expanding on her UFO sightings in this desert region, Mrs.Soto told listeners of Colombia’s NCN Radio that fifteen years ago, she and her family were gathered around seven o'clock in the evening when a 'flying saucer' staged an appearance. The shock caused a pregnant woman present at the gathering to lose consciousness. The object made a noise similar to that of an airliner 'as it takes off', according to her description. Orfanda Soto made it clear that these things do not frighten her, nor is she worried about being abducted by one of the objects - on the contrary, she would like one of the nocturnal visitors to carry someone away 'in order to make sure that we're really dealing with flying saucers.'

The prevalence of these lights led to the creation -- at a cost of five million Colombian pesos and fifteen truckloads of stone – of a platform that has been dubbed an “ovnipuerto” (UFOport), but is more correctly described as a place where people gather to obtain healing from earth energies. It has been a success with the contactee set, who assure that only “those who manage to tune into the vibratory frequency to be found within the five concentric stone circles will be able to contact the higher goals of other worlds”, whatever that means. There are suggestions that a Sasquatch-type creature may also live in the area - El Mohán, described as a monstrous, hairy humanoid.

Riddles of the Atacama Desert



As we head deeper into South America, we come to the better known salt deserts of Chile and Bolivia. The Atacama Desert is notorious for being one of the driest places on Earth, although abnormal weather conditions – such as the event in the year 2015 – have caused it to become covered in desert flowers, despite receiving less than half an inch of rain in a twelve month period.

Archaeologist Juan Schobinger has written in his Prehistory in the Americas (NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2000) that Chile faces one of the richest seas in the world and is backed by one of its most forbidding deserts. The dryness of the salt desert, where rainfall is measured in inches per century, made it ideal for preserving cultural artifacts such as baskets, textiles and even food.

It also preserved something darker—the rituals of forgotten shamans who would bury sacrifices deep in the desert for the “gods” to feast upon. The sacrifices would be held at night and the victim, usually a llama or a dog, left out. At daybreak, the ancient medicine men would return to the site to insure that the gods—the meandering lights of the desert—had accepted the offering. The carcass would be utterly exsanguinated and a puncture mark could usually be found somewhere on the body, which was then transported back to the primitive settlement to be consumed by the community. Subsequently, evidence of this communion between man and his deities was buried under a cairn known as an apachetca, a tangible link of the trade between ancient man and supernatural forces. It is easy to dismiss this as the savagery of ancient man until we remember that the books of the Pentateuch mentioned that the blood of the sacrifice belonged to the godhead. Contemporary thinkers of the paranormal like Salvador Freixedo have written at length about this curious aspect of the human worship (Defendámonos de los dioses, Spain: Quintá, 1985).

The first contemporary UFO account from this part of the world dates back to the year 1868, when a local newspaper, El Constituyente, reported on a strange even in the Copiapó Valley. The news item, dated November 14 of that year, reports: "Yesterday, around five o'clock in the afternoon, the time when work is over at the mine, all of the workers were gathered together, expecting our evening meal, and we saw a giant bird flying through the air, having taken it at first to be a cloud. As the object came closer, we were rightly startled, realizing that it was an unknown flying entity, perhaps even the Djinn from The Arabian Knights. Flying a short distance over our heads, we became aware of the odd structure of its body. Its large wings were covered in dark feathers, the monster's head resembled that of a lobster (or locust), while its body only displayed glittering scales that sounded like metal as the strange animal pulled away". A compelling description, but of a cryptid or an unknown vehicle?

Centuries later, miners toiling in the same copper mines as those of the 19th century took a spectacular video of something bearing no relation to anything in The Arabian Nights. In 2013, a survey team photographed an apparently cylindrical object resting on one of the nearby mountainsides. Voices captured on the tape can be heard to say that ‘no one would believe this is actually happening’ as the large object flew across the skies. A corroborating photograph from the Cerro Negro region was also taken in 2013 by workers of the Grupo CAP mining concern.

Perhaps even more startling than these events was the alleged CE-3 involving Argelio Araya, a desert hermit who witnessed an enormous "spaceship" disgorging its crew complement of so-called Grey aliens. The terrified loner braved the distance that separated him from the local police station, where he was met by senior warrant officer Claudio Ramirez, who documented the event and ordered search of the landing area where the object and its occupants had been reported.

In March 2005, local newspaper El Chañarcillo reported that a blackout in the city of Copiapó had supposedly been caused by two unknown objects flying at high speed over the city, submerging the community into stygian gloom between eight and nine o’clock in the evening on the third of March of that year. The story gained traction in spite of the usual denials from the area power utility, the Empresa Eléctrica de Atacama, particularly when a witnessed stepped forward to tell his story. Gonzalo Delgado told the newspaper that he was returning to the city along the Cuesta de Cardone when he saw how the two objects in question “crossed the sky at high speed, and when I turned around to look at the city, I realized it had vanished. That leads me to believe that it was at the time that the power failure occurred. Two trucks were also coming down the road at the same time, whose drivers could have also seen the phenomenon."

Hostile UFOs in the Brazilian Desert

When 16th century Portuguese explorers reached the northwestern corner of Brazil, they were faced with a surreal landscape - impossibly blue green waters and enormous dunes of white sand. Accustomed to the sands of North Africa, they promptly referred to the area as Ceará (the Sahara Desert, or Saara in Portuguese, although this etymology has been challenged). Its spectacular dunes aside, this semi-arid region of caatinga-type vegetation has also been a hotbed of UFO sightings, something that can be said for the entire Brazilian northeast.

A UFO "invasion" allegedly occurred on March 3, 1996 when a still-unexplained blackout plunged the community into darkness at 6:45 p.m., and 26 UFOs cruised through the skies unmolested. Wellington Santos, director of EPUC (Equipo Pesquisa Ufologica Guarabira), observed that "the UFO situation in Guarabira is one of a kind in Brazil and the whole world, since never have there been so many collective sightings involving people of all ages, sexes and occupations, having repeated sightings over a long period of time."

Massive cigar-shaped craft flew over the region of 23 cities. According to EPUG's report, a farmer went out in the middle of the night to fire a shotgun-blast at one of the smaller discoidal craft which came closer to the ground than their putative "motherships." His hostile gesture was duly reciprocated by the UFO, which aimed a beam of light at the assailant, inflicting third-degree burns. In Mamamguape, fifty-five miles from Joao Pessoa, one of the cigar-shaped objects (known locally as charutos) reportedly fired a gas weapon against a hapless man who was running away from it. On October 14th, three hundred Guarabirans witnessed another UFO invasion, which included a massive craft reportedly as big as a twenty-floor building. "Had this been a southern city," Santos noted ruefully, “journalists would be raining out of the sky."

In 2015, the town of Santa Quitería in Ceará would face a similar wave of hostile UFOs. Car and motorcycle drivers would complain of being chased in the dark of the night by strange fiery objects along the stretch of road linking communities in this remote region, prompting some to leave their cars at home and use rail transportation instead to cover the distances involved. The A Voz de Santa Quitería news portal (http://ift.tt/2mvCvDz) presents the following quote from an anonymous local driver: "I was on my motorcycle with my wife, heading for my parents' home. Suddenly, a reddish light approached us...we felt a wave of powerful heat, prompting me to head into the bushes and get off the motorcycle. We were very frightened by that thing. We decided it was probably the device that chases people to suck their blood. Once the lighted vanished, we resumed our journey to my parents' house."

The news portal adds another case from the same region. A married couple motoring along the road leading to Trapiá was confronted by a shining object "engaged in making pirouettes" over the treetops. They were so taken aback that they wondered if it was prudent to continue their trip, but the bizarre craft - if craft it was - made the decision for them by flying off into the darkness. Reporters advised their readers to avoid taking any violent action or retaliation against the objects, "since we are uncertain as to how they might react."

The town of Almecegas - a sandy fishing community of two hundred souls, whose homes are sheltered by languid palm trees against a cloudless blue sky - has also become a UFO hotspot. A place that looks peaceful and inviting in the light of day becomes an island of fear in darkness, as its residents look to the sky for signs of abnormal lights. Fishermen have narrowly escaped from the strange objects when their boats are offshore at night - a situation reminiscent of the infamous Ilha de Colares attacks of the '70s, involving the mechanical "chupas".

Prof. Humberto Sales is responsible for most of the research being conducted in this remote area. He writes: "Stories like this are striking, because even one such isolated case would suffice to prompt us to look into the apparitions at Riacho de Meio, the location where the bulk of the sightings occur." Another reported case involved bikers on their way back from the locality of Aprazível. As they rode along, a powerful light appeared, flying low over their heads, causing one biker to fall off his motorcycle out of sheer panic.

Mysteries of the Mexican Desert



On July 11, 1970 the world turned its attention from the ongoing lunar exploration missions and worldwide political crises to focus on a relatively small region of the deserts of northern Mexico.

An Athena rocket V-123 rocket launched from Utah's Green River missile base went astray and landed in the Mexico's Bolsón de Mapimí, a desert region covering roughly forty-seven thousand square miles of the states of Coahuila and Chihuahua and is considered the southern reach of the Chihuahua Desert. The rocket, originally aimed at the White Sands range, somehow deviated twelve hundred kilometers to land in the so-called "Zone of Silence" or vértice de trino, as it is also called in Spanish due to the fact that it occupies the place where the states of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua come together.

Quick diplomacy by the Nixon Administration averted an incident between the neighboring countries. Some Mexican sources, however, questioned the nature of the "accident" and suspected the Athena misfire could have been deliberate effort by the U.S. aimed at exploring the mysterious area. American communiqués stated that the rocket's payload contained Cobalt-60 in an airtight container that would have almost certainly survived the impact, but a gargantuan effort was made not only to recover the payload, but also to remove and containerize supposedly 'irradiated' soil to be returned across the border. Nearly seven hundred U.S. and Mexican personnel combed the desert for a month, collecting all manner of specimens.

UFO researcher Santiago García, the undisputed expert on the subject, believed the U.S. had left behind a remotely guided vehicle, perhaps similar to the Soviet Lunakhod that would remain idle during the day and operate in the cooler desert night. García was of the opinion that this putative probe was looking for uranium deposits, but keeping an eye out for more interesting phenomena was not out of the question.

In 1975, a businessman known only as "Mister Wong" was making milk deliveries along an established route one night. When he came to the village of Nuevo Delicias, he was blinded by a tremendous light ahead on narrow desert road. Wong's eyes adjusted to the sudden flash, and he was startled to see a saucer-shaped object hurtling toward him. He promptly began rolling up his truck's windows, as if doing so could save him from a certain impact with the unknown object.

The incoming object, however, avoided the truck with ease, flying overhead, turning around, and returning whence it came at low altitude, vanishing into the darkness. Wong - who was accompanied by his wife at the time, noted that the object made a shrill noise "like that of an old blender." He was more fearful of the possible collision than of the strange object itself, since according to his testimony, the local ranchers and truck drivers were quite accustomed to seeing these strange objects, which landed at a rocky outcrop at a location known as Cuatrociénagas in the state of Coahuila, where it was possible to find evidence of their landings in the desert sands.

Wong conveyed all this information to researcher García, who would find it corroborated by an even more incredible event. In early 1976, Jesús Berlanga approached the ufologist with a series of photographs purportedly showing a UFO landing less than two hundred feet away from Berlanga's father, who was exploring the promontory known as Cerro del Imán (Magnet Hill), when he came across the glowing, hat-shaped object. As though startled by the human's presence, the object rose into the air with a thunderous roar, allowing young Jesús and the other members of the expedition to see it.





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World's Smallest Greeting Card joins World's Smallest Snowman in Wishing You "Seasons Greetings"

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the UK has created the world's smallest Christmas card, and at a mere 15 microns wide by 20 microns tall (0.015 by 0.020 millimeters), it out-miniaturizes last season's 30-micron (0.030 millimeter) World's Smallest Snowman. To apply a sense of scale, a human hair is about 50 to 80 microns (0.05 to 0.08 mm) wide.

The microscopic greeting on the 200 nanometer-thick (0.0002 mm) card includes a picture of a smiling cartoon snowman, and the inscription "Season's Greetings", etched into the platinum-coated silicon nitride card using a focused ion beam. "From NPL" is the inscription signed inside the card.

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Fleming, el pintor de cuadros microbianos

Cuenta la Historia de la medicina que, allá por 1877, siendo asistente del gran Robert Koch (conocido sobre todo por sus trabajos sobre la tuberculosis, así como por ser padre de la microbiología médica), surgió una idea en la mente del médico alemán Julius Richard Petri. Debía haber alguna manera de facilitar el manejo de cultivos microbianos y, de esa desazón, nacieron las célebres placas de Petri.

Estos recipientes especialmente pensados para los cultivos bacterianos, de mohos y otros microorganismos, siguen utilizándose en microbiología. Como también sigue empleándose otra técnica desarrollada en esa misma época y que, junto a las placas de Petri, resulta ser un lienzo magnífico para cierto tipo de arte. Veamos, hacia 1881 el médico Walther Hesse, igualmente discípulo de Koch, perfeccionó una técnica por medio de la cual podía cultivar microorganismos de forma adecuada y práctica, cosa que hasta entonces era una auténtica pesadilla. Tras mucho ensayar, fue su mujer, Fanny Hesse, quien alumbró la idea de utilizar como medio de cultivo un extracto derivado de algas conocido como agar-agar (ella había empleado ese material en mermeladas durante años). El agar-agar se demostró como ideal para gelificar el medio de cultivo, dando lugar a un material que se mantiene sólido a temperatura ambiente. Es un medio traslúcido en el que las bacterias crecen a gusto, con lo que se facilitaba la identificación de las colonias.

Algunas de la pinturas microbianas de Alexander Fleming. Imperial College Healthcare – NHs Trust.

Así que ya tenemos el mencionado lienzo, una placa de Petri, y un medio para el cultivo bacteriano, el agar-agar. De ahí, a crear obras de arte, sólo hay un paso. La propia Fanny Hesse, que era una pintora excelente, realizó diversas obras en las que inmortalizó algunos cultivos microbianos. Ahora bien, no se trata de pintar lo que ves en un laboratorio, ¡se trata de pintar con las propias bacterias (u hongos) en crecimiento! De esa manera nació el arte microbiano, que consiste en “pintar” utilizando como lienzo placas de Petri con cultivos de diversos tipos de microorganismos, generalmente empleando agar-agar como medio. Se pueden usar bacterias, hongos o levaduras con sus colores originales, o bien fluorescentes (bajo luz adecuada) o con pigmentos variados. Una vez los microorganismos han crecido siguiendo los patrones dibujados en la placa, se fija el resultado con resina sintética y, ya está, tenemos una obra de arte microbiana.

Curiosamente, uno de los “pintores” microbianos más célebres fue Alexander Fleming, descubridor de la acción antibiótica de la lisozima y de la penicilina. De hecho, Fleming había sido pintor aficionado durante años, siendo miembro de grupos de arte y similares, por lo que no extrañará que terminara por crear arte con microorganismos y placas de Petri. Vale, los resultados eran simples, pero tienen su encanto y, además, la técnica no es nada sencilla. Hay que seleccionar los microorganismos adecuados, sus colores, trazar el patrón por medio de surcos en el medio de agar-agar sobre la placa de Petri y luego depositar cada tipo de microorganismo en el lugar adecuado, para que vayan creciendo siguiendo el patrón marcado en unos tiempos controlados. Tiene miga, sin duda. Hoy estas curiosas obras de arte se encuentran en el Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum del Imperial College Healthcare – NHs Trust.

Más información: Smithsonian – Painting With Penicillin: Alexander Fleming’s Germ Art.

Fleming, el pintor de cuadros microbianos apareció originalmente en Tecnología Obsoleta, 22 diciembre 2017.


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21 dic 2017

Carbon Nanotubes make for Super-Strong Spider Silk

A professor of solid and structural mechanics at the University of Trento in Italy has come up with a way of combining natural spider silk and artificial graphene-based nanoparticles to produce a lightweight material three times stronger than steel. What's more, this material is spun naturally by the spiders themselves, bypassing the need for problematic manufacturing processes.

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Diez avances científicos de 2017 que han cambiado el mundo

Como cada año, la revista Science ha elegido los descubrimientos y novedades más importantes en ciencia de los últimos doce meses. La detección de ondas gravitacionales y radiación por la fusión de dos estrellas encabeza la lista de 2017, donde también figura una nueva especie de orangután, la criomicroscopía electrónica, los avances en la edición genómica y la lucha contra el cáncer, así como un diminuto detector de neutrinos y los primeros fósiles de Homo sapiens. 
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20 dic 2017

Polar Vortex Forecast to Push Cold Weather South for Christmas

A major cold snap is forecast to push south into the contiguous United States over the Christmas holidays, with regions between North Dakota and Colorado experiencing temperatures 20ºF to 40ºF below normal over Christmas Eve. Conversely, the east coast may see above-seasonal temperatures, with a forecast high of 71ºF in Washington D.C, and 62ºF in New York City on Christmas Day.

"If you’re West of the Mississippi River on Christmas Day, then you may want to ask for coal in your stocking," tweets meteorologist Ryan Maue, with weather.us. "Extreme cold arriving via Polar Express. Off the charts Arctic cold."

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Haunted Lineage

Wednesday December 20, 2017

As with "alien abductions," sometimes Super Natural phenomena haunts a family down through its lineage. Is it going somewhere? Is there someone in the family who is supposed to do something with--or outright change--the narrative surrounding lifetimes of terrifying experiences? Meet Scott....

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China Lake UFO

The image pictured here was allegedly taken at the China Lake Naval Weapons Station in 2007. We have had it on file for some time. We can find no evidence of photoshopping, but at the same time, the photographer is anonymous and there is no way to verify the fact that the image was even taken at China Lake, or where it was taken. In addition, it has become so difficult to determine finally and absolutely whether or not something like this, which is a still that has been videoed, is hoaxed, we simply cannot be sure.

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El primer refrigerador molecular

Ingenieros estadounidenses y físicos de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid han demostrado que se pueden fabricar refrigeradores termoeléctricos con tecnología cuántica y usando moléculas orgánicas como elemento activo. El hallazgo permitirá el desarrollo de una nueva generación de dispositivos de refrigeración al servicio de la nanoelectrónica.
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19 dic 2017

Trump Administration Bans Key Words from CDC Budget Documents

In George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Ministry of Truth constricted the vocabulary used by the population in an attempt to narrow the individual's range of thought. And it would appear that the Trump administration is copying this move from Minitrue's playbook: In an apparent attempt to influence specific avenues of research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Trump administration has issued a directive banning specific words from appearing in future budget proposals issued by the agency. This directive, banning seven key words, was delivered during a December 14 meeting with senior CDC officials that oversee the agency's budget.

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18 dic 2017

"I want to fly one": One US Navy Pilot's encounter with a UFO

Over the weekend, the New York Times published an article regarding a series of videos released by the Defense Department's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program that depict unidentified flying objects, recorded by ATFLIR equipment aboard Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets. In a separate interview, one of the pilots, Commander David Fravor, offered his own account of one of these encounters with a UFO off of the California coast.

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16 dic 2017

The UFO Coverup Ends: What does this Mean for the Close Encounter Witness?

The end of the UFO coverup is the beginning of the next phase of the phenomenon. Initially, there will be resistance to even mentioning the close encounter phenomenon, but gradually this will move to the center of the human colloquy about this unknown presence that is among us. I say "unknown" not "alien" because that is the essential truth of the matter. It is an unknown presence, not a definite alien presence.

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New York Times: Pentagon Admits Secret UFO Program, Releases Authenticated UFO VIdeo

The New York Times has just published a story detailing how the US Defense Department has been carrying out an extensive program of observation and study of UFOs for years while publicly claiming it had no interest in the subject. Consistent with claims being made by Tom DeLong and the experts he assembled in his "To The Stars" presentation on October 16.

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15 dic 2017

Deep Resonance: The Hum of the Earth has been Recorded from the Ocean Floor

Despite the trials and tribulations experienced by humanity, the Earth itself continues to hum along through space -- quite literally, as researchers have made new recordings of the faint, yet steady low-level hum the Earth generates, using sensitive seismic instruments placed on the ocean floor.

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Things that Couldn't Happen--But DID!

December 14, 2017
Dr. John Alexander returns to Dreamland with mind-opening stories of his adventures into the unknown. Formerly head of the US Army's famed non-lethal weapons program, John has traveled the world in search of answers to the mysteries of such things as mediumship, out-of-body movement and near death experiences.

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The Spirit Path UNCENSORED!

Wednesday December 13, 2017
We pick up our conversation from last week with "Norm", who takes us into the high strangeness experiences that populate the spiritual paths he travels.

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14 dic 2017

Footage of a Starving Polar Bear Graphically Illustrates the Impact of Global Warming on Animals in the Arctic

 Warning: The video attached to this article will be a heartbreaker for some readers.

A chance encounter between a malnourished polar bear and the conservation group Sea Legacy provided photographer Paul Nicklen with the chance to document the sad state of a polar bear reduced to scavenging through garbage cans, unable to hunt due to the severe reduction in ice flows caused by global warming.

Nicklen is quite familiar with these bears, having grown up in Canada's far north, and immediately realized that the bear was in distress. The sight affected the team deeply: "We stood there crying -- filming with tears rolling down our cheeks," according to Nicklen.

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Crean un líquido cuántico millones de veces más diluido que el agua

Investigadores del Instituto de Ciencias Fotónicas han generado un nuevo tipo de líquido cien millones de veces más diluido que el agua y un millón de veces menos denso que el aire. Para producir las gotas en esta fase tan exótica de la materia han utilizado átomos ultrafríos y un sorprendente efecto cuántico.
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13 dic 2017

The 1998-2012 Global Warming Pause Didn't Happen, according to a New Study

A new study from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Tsinghua University in Beijing has found that the global warming pause that was supposed to have occurred between 1998 and 2012 didn't actually happen. The discrepancy was apparently due to incomplete data, making it appear that worldwide temperature increases had plateaued.

"We recalculated the average global temperatures from 1998-2012 and found that the rate of global warming had continued to rise at 0.112ºC per decade instead of slowing down to 0.05ºC per decade as previously thought," explains UAF professor and atmospheric scientist Xiangdong Zhang.

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Paja de trigo para sustituir los plásticos de las baterías de litio

Algunos de los componentes tóxicos que incluyen las baterías de litio se podrían sustituir por ligninas, un tipo de polímero orgánico presente en los tejidos vegetales. Investigadores de la Universidad de Córdoba lo han comprobado al aislar y caracterizar las ligninas de la paja de trigo.
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12 dic 2017

Breakthrough Listen to Investigate Interstellar Visitor ‘Oumuamua for Artificial Radio Signals

One of the founders of the Breakthrough Listen Project, Yuri Milner, has announced that they will be investigating the Solar System's first recorded interstellar visitor, the asteroid ‘Oumuamua, for any potential artificial signals originating from the object. Although Milner admits that it's unlikely that their investigation will find anything, ‘Oumuamua's characteristics are strange enough to warrant a look.

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Argentina: Not a Bird, Not a Plane...Was there a UFO Over Las Heras?



Source: MDZ (Argentina) and Planeta UFO
Date: December 10, 2017


Argentina: Not a Bird, Not a Plane...Was there a UFO Over Las Heras?

A small light shone in the skies over Mendoza. It was hard to tell whether it was a drone. See the video.

It happens often and goes unnoticed. At this rate, technology gives us many tools to find an answer when a strange object appears in the sky, particularly a UFO. However, when it happens on an ordinary day, the only tool readily within reach is human eyesight.

This video was recorded only minutes ago in the Department of Las Heras. Initial impressions suggest that it was a drone (the default option). However, if one looks at it carefully, it won't be long before questions start to emerge.

It's neither a bird nor an airliner nor a small plane. If it isn't a drone, then what is it?

There are still no answers, although some keen-eyed reader will surely have an answer at the ready.

VIDEO AT: https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/939930775281127424

[Translation (c)2017 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Gimenez]
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11 dic 2017

Biological Molecules have been found to be able to Stabilize Quantum States

Over the course of an experiment involving the quantum entanglement of photons produced from naturally-occurring bioluminescent material, a team of researchers from Northwestern University has discovered that the special structure of proteins that were part of the bio-material somehow protected the photons' quantum state from being disrupted. Typically, quantum states generated in the lab are very fragile, and researchers go to great lengths to ensure that the particles they're studying aren't affected by external forces before they have a chance to measure their properties.

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Del coche a vapor a La Hispano-Suiza

En el número de noviembre de 2017 de la revista Historia de Iberia Vieja, publiqué un pequeño repaso acerca de los primeros automóviles españoles. Lo que sigue es la versión para TecOb de ese artículo, con acceso a otros posts anteriores en los que ya habría tratado temas relacionados.

Los primeros automóviles españoles:
del coche a vapor a La Hispano-Suiza

Los orígenes de toda tecnología son siempre complicados; entre dudas y caminos aparentemente sin salida, los automóviles fueron evolucionando a finales del siglo XIX: desde los locomóviles de vapor que transportaban mercancías y pasajeros por duros caminos, hasta los primeros coches de gasolina. Mientras, la opción eléctrica parecía la más adecuada a principios del siglo XX, pero cayó en el olvido por el empuje de los motores de combustión interna… hasta nuestros días, cuando vuelve a resurgir. He aquí un pequeño repaso a los pioneros del automóvil español.

¡A todo vapor!

Si bien hasta los primeros años del siglo XX la batalla por la elección del sistema motor más adecuado para los novísimos automóviles no llegó a su fin, con la victoria de los motores de combustión interna de gasolina, la cosa no estuvo nada clara durante bastante tiempo. Es más, a finales del siglo XIX y principios de la siguiente centuria parecía que el coche eléctrico era el ganador. Ha tenido que pasar más de un siglo para que el automóvil animado con electricidad vuelva a resurgir.


Ver artículo relacionado:
Competición de automóviles eléctricos de 1898


Y, mucho antes, el vapor era el futuro. En un mundo movido por bestias de carga, ver circular trenes a vapor era algo asombroso y no digamos ya ver una locomotora rodando por los caminos, sin vías. A esas máquinas a vapor que iniciaron la historia de los automóviles las llamaron “locomóviles”.

Nos encontramos a mediados del siglo XIX, en concreto hacia 1851 en Valencia. En Llíria vivía un chaval de menos de veinte años con una habilidad extraordinaria para reparar todo tipo de maquinaria. Se dedicaba sobre todo a fabricar y arreglar aperos de labranza, pero también había logrado fama al diseñar un nuevo tipo de reloj y por su invención de ciertos artilugios ortopédicos. Se llamaba Valentín Silvestre Fombuena y, entre mil y una inquietudes, decidió que ya era hora de dejar descansar a los mulos y bueyes. El futuro se encontraba en las máquinas a motor y, sin descanso, diseñó y construyó un locomóvil de cuatro ruedas y tracción delantera. Valentín era todo un genio, no sólo inventó un nuevo tipo de motor a vapor con cilindros rotatorios, del que consta Privilegio Real de 1858 (una de la quincena larga de invenciones que patentó, lo que le convierte en uno de los inventores más prolíficos de su tiempo en España), sino que llevó a la práctica su idea del “coche a vapor”.

La osadía de Silvestre no llegó más allá, comercialmente hablando, lo que fue una pena, pero tuvo su continuación en otros pioneros de los locomóviles. Hacia 1857 circularon por caminos de Tarragona dos locomóviles, posiblemente de factura inglesa, construidos en los talleres Nuevo Vulcano de Barcelona. Aquella novedad llamó mucho la atención, tanto que hacia 1859 se vieron otros vehículos similares, construidos también en Barcelona. Las “locomotoras para caminos de tierra” tuvieron su mayor éxito en el vehículo Castilla, también de origen inglés, montado en Valladolid por el ingeniero Pedro Ribera en 1860. El sueño de Ribera, que había participado en la adquisición de varios locomóviles para comercializarlos en España, era competir con el incipiente ferrocarril.

Locomóvil Castilla

Si se podía circular por caminos ordinarios con máquinas a vapor, sin necesidad de vías, estaba claro que se podía abrir un mercado muy apetitoso. Lo intentó, con aventura incluida, rodando desde Valladolid hasta Madrid a lo largo de casi veinte días por los tortuosos caminos de la época en un viaje publicitario realmente singular. Más tarde realizó pruebas en Asturias y tuvo ánimo para armar otro locomóvil, pero ahí terminó todo, porque no encontró el apoyo necesario para levantar una gran compañía de locomotoras de tierra.


Ver artículo relacionado:
El locomóvil Castilla, primer vehículo de vapor que circuló por las carreteras


En La Maquinista Terrestre y Marítima de Barcelona, entre otros centros fabriles, se armaron también diversos locomóviles. A pesar de su limitada extensión, y del fracaso empresarial de Ribera, parecía en verdad que aquello era el futuro. No les faltaba razón, solo que el vapor no era la solución adecuada. En 1883 aparece un nuevo intento, con patente de un vehículo compacto a vapor para caminos, con el que se pretendían crear líneas de transporte bajo el pintoresco nombre de “Cochevapores”. Los locomóviles fueron extendiéndose poco a poco, sobre todo en Inglaterra y Francia, hasta con líneas para viajeros, ejemplo que llega a Barcelona hacia 1887 de la mano del ingeniero de origen francés Valentin Purrey. Se podía competir con los tranvías y posiblemente con los ferrocarriles en casos muy concretos, pero, ¿qué había del transporte personal? ¿Sería posible superar al carro tirado por caballos?

Eso pensó el barcelonés Juan Oliveras Gabarró, que alumbró en 1864 su “Velocífero”, un vehículo de tres ruedas movido a pedales. Años antes ya se había visto algo similar en Madrid, pero ningún triciclo a pedales llegó muy lejos comercialmente. El aspecto de aquellos coches llamaba la atención por lo adelantado de su concepción, pero hacía falta un motor adecuado para ellos y, por supuesto, nada de tracción humana. Había llegado la hora de los coches eléctricos y de motor de explosión.

Las primeras marcas españolas de automóviles

El mercado de máquinas de coser era algo que Miguel Escuder, de Barcelona, llevaba tiempo controlando con sus modelos de fabricación nacional. Pero, ay, llegaron las máquinas Singer desde América y las cosas comenzaron a ponerse muy feas. Fue entonces, a finales del XIX, cuando Escuder debe buscar un mercado alternativo para su fábrica. Comienza experimentando con motores de gas (de hecho, patentó todo tipo de artilugios, incluso una “una prensa hidráulica para fideos” en 1893), y poco a poco extiende su producción a motores eléctricos para todo tipo de artilugios. Aquellos motores inspiraron a otros a la hora de pensar en su posible aplicación en automóviles. La opción eléctrica parecía la más adecuada, tanto porque en otros países ya se contaba con tradición de tranvías eléctricos y algunos coches de ese tipo, como porque todavía estaba por ver qué combustible era el más adecuado para garantizar el éxito de los motores de explosión (téngase en cuenta que todavía no se habían construido las grandes refinerías y que no había gasolineras, todo estaba por hacer). Así pues, un coche eléctrico para moverse por la ciudad parecía ideal, es más, incluso se llegó a construir una “carroza eléctrica” para la reina regente María Cristina en 1896.


Ver artículo relacionado:
Francesc Bonet y Emilio de la Cuadra, pioneros del automóvil


Emilio de la Cuadra

Convivían entonces coches eléctricos con primitivos vehículos de motor de explosión y los últimos ejemplares de autobús y camión a vapor. Sin embargo, poco a poco parecía que la potencia y fiabilidad de los nuevos motores de explosión hacía que éstos terminaran por imponerse al resto de opciones. Surgen así experiencias como las de Francisco Bonet y su triciclo con motor de explosión Daimler, que llamó la atención de los paseantes en la Barcelona de finales del XIX, o la más evolucionada iniciativa del capitán de artillería Emilio de la Cuadra Albiol con su automóvil de bencina (gasolina) de 1901, un auténtico precursor de la industria del automóvil nacional que tuvo mala suerte pero que sentó las bases de una marca mítica. Antes de eso, conviene recordar algún que otro aventurero, entre los muchos que lo intentaron. En 1899 se crea en Cádiz “Automóviles Anglada”, empresa creada por Francisco Anglada y varios socios, que aguantó en el mercado casi diez años. Los coches Anglada, de los que se vieron diversos modelos, funcionaban con motor de explosión y podían emplear incluso alcohol como combustible. En el norte, se desplegó la marca “Hormiger”, con coches fabricados en Gijón, mientras que en Cataluña proliferaron los talleres de coches a motor que tuvieron al mencionado Emilio de la Cuadra como referente principal.

El origen de La Hispano-Suiza

Volvamos a de la Cuadra, un tipo optimista donde los hubiera. Su sueño de crear una marca de automóviles de prestigio iba por buen camino, pero su músculo financiero era demasiado pequeño. Nos encontramos entre dos siglos y la “Compañía General Española de Coches Automóviles”, la empresa del bueno de Emilio, quería subirse al tren de la innovación que estaba cambiando el mundo. Desde la Barcelona de 1898 el militar reconvertido en empresario había estado representando a la marca Benz, pero quería ir mucho más allá diseñando coches propios. Uno de sus ingenieros, Carlos Vellino, sugirió contratar a un chaval suizo muy joven que trabajaba en Barcelona y que parecía muy despierto. Se trataba de Marc Birkigt, todo un genio de la mecánica. Fue la mejor decisión que pudieron tomar, porque Marc estaba llamado a dar vida a algunos de los automóviles más famosos del siglo XX.


Ver artículo relacionado:
Baradat-Esteve, la aventura de un motor futurista


Por aquel tiempo, hacia 1900, lo más innovador, como hemos visto, eran los coches eléctricos. Por desgracia, el omnibús eléctrico que dieron a conocer por entonces fue un fracaso rotundo y Vellino se vio obligado a abandonar la compañía. Quedando Birkigt como director técnico, los coches de La Cuadra cambian de orientación y van por el buen camino: el motor de gasolina es el futuro. La apuesta del suizo fue acertada: los nuevos coches eran sencillos, rápidos y fiables. Aunque comienzan a venderse en 1901, el dinero se acaba y Emilio se hunde sin poder recuperar la inversión. La idea había sido buena, pero sin dinero para invertir, poco podía hacer. El sueño había terminado… ¿o no era así? La idea era demasiado buena como para caer en el olvido y, además, el ingeniero suizo era todo un diamante en bruto a la espera de encontrar el ambiente adecuado para explotar toda su creatividad.

Marc Birkigt

En 1902, pocos meses después del desastre, uno de los acreedores de Emilio de la Cuadra, José María Castro, sigue empeñado en que la idea es buena. Manos a la obra, consigue financiación y funda la marca J. Castro para fabricar automóviles con los diseños del ingeniero suizo y la maquinaria con la que se habían construido los escasos coches La Cuadra que habían visto la luz hasta entonces. La primera tarea fue la de terminar los vehículos que estaban medio construidos, para más tarde continuar con diseños más arriesgados del propio Birkigt. El primer coche de la marca de Castro era muy avanzado a su tiempo: dotado de motor de dos cilindros y caja de cambios de cuatro marchas. Era una máquina magnífica que el suizo mejoró continuamente hasta evolucionar a un modelo con novísimo motor de cuatro cilindros. Todo muy bonito si no fuera porque, aunque se vendían coches, apenas quedaba nada para invertir y el colchón financiero era escaso. No era una sorpresa, la aventura de Castro terminó igual que la de la Cuadra, en cierre por falta de financiación adecuada. ¿Había terminado (esta vez sí) el sueño de una gran marca de coches con sede en Barcelona? Como no hay dos sin tres, se volvió a intentar y, esta vez, el resultado fue maravilloso.


Lectura
recomendada

El cierre de la fábrica de Castro en 1904 coincidió con la época en que Birkigt estaba diseñando un nuevo motor mejorado. No podía desaprovecharse aquella oportunidad, porque aquel ingeniero era una joya. Así, y esta vez con dinero de sobra, se unieron varios inversores como Damià Mateu para dar vida a una marca que nace aquel mismo año. Tras un estudio exhaustivo, queda claro que el proyecto es viable: la idea original, los desarrollos, la tecnología y el capital humano habían sido los adecuados. Lo que había fallado era el dinero. Con financiación adecuada nació entonces la sociedad llamada “La Hispano-Suiza”, de nuevo con el ingeniero Marc Birkigt a los mandos de la tecnología de la empresa. La primera tarea consistió en completar los últimos modelos Castro y comercializarlos, para pasar a partir de ahí a los nuevos Hispano-Suiza. La gran calidad de los coches que salieron de Barcelona hizo que pronto se convirtieran en leyenda. Fue el comienzo de un mito, el de los lujosos, fiables, duros y rápidos Hispano-Suiza, una de las marcas de automóviles más celebradas de la primera mitad del siglo XX y, hoy, sueño de todo coleccionista de coches clásicos.

Del coche a vapor a La Hispano-Suiza apareció originalmente en Tecnología Obsoleta, 11 diciembre 2017.


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9 dic 2017

The Afterlife Revolution is Published

The Afterlife Revolution is now on sale. I'm hoping that people will see it for what it is and not think 'ho hum, another Whitley Strieber book.'

There has never been anything like it in this world.

Working on it has been the peak writing experience of my life. It wasn’t just that it involves contact with Anne, which is lovely, but that she has brought forth such knowledge and wisdom, and in the context of the warmest, deepest sort of relationship I have ever known or known to be possible.

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8 dic 2017

Halszkaraptor is One Weird Dinosaur: Part Penguin, Part Swan... All Raptor

After having been hidden away in a private collection for a decade-and-a-half, a new, extremely novel species of dinosaur has been discovered -- and it's one that's odd-looking enough for researchers to have assumed at first that it might have been a fake. While its body resembles the infamous Velociraptor of Jurassic Park fame, it has a swan-like head and neck, and what appear to be penguin-like flippers, in place of the grasping arms that would typically be found on fossils like this.

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7 dic 2017

No Sonic Weapon involved in Attacks on U.S. Diplomats in Cuba -- But What Caused Their Injuries?

Information regarding the condition of 24 U.S. diplomats working in Cuba that succumbed to what appeared to be a sonic attack earlier this year has been leaked by an anonymous source, offering new insight into the situation, and possibly ruling out the possibility that their injuries were cased by a sonic weapon of some sort. However, the nature of the longer-lasting injuries -- namely, damage that was caused to the subjects' brains -- only deepens the mystery regarding the source of the attacks.

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The Afterlife Revolution

Afterlife Revolution

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Hidden Symbolism in the Movies, and What It Wants to do to You

December 6, 2017
Robert W. Sullivan has done some super popular Dreamlands in the past, but this one completely knocks it out of the park! He's here talking about the hidden symbolism of movies, and there's a lot of it, mostly intentionally put in by writers and directors.

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Do All Spiritual Paths Lead to the Same Place?

Wednesday December 6, 2017
Do all spiritual paths the world over lead to the same central insight or ultimate experience? Or do they lead to their own unique outcomes? We'll get to that question. But first, let's see what some of these paths have in store for us by examining the experiences of "Norm," a man who has walked many of the spiritual paths the world has to offer.
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5 dic 2017

The Sudden Breakup of an Antarctic Iceberg has Researchers Worried about its Parent Glacier

In September 2017, a large iceberg roughly four times the size of Manhattan calved off of the Pine Island glacier in Antarctica (not to be confused with last July's massive iceberg that originated from the Larcen C ice shelf further east). While the event itself isn't that unusual -- the Pine Island Glacier accounts for 25 percent of all of Antarctica's annual ice loss -- this iceberg began to break up shortly after separating from its host glacier, instead of doing so after drifting far out into the Southern Ocean, as 'bergs from Pine Island typically do.

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Los catalizadores de oro más pequeños y eficaces

Investigadores de la Universidad de La Rioja han demostrado la eficacia de diminutas partículas de oro, de entre 3 y 5 átomos, como catalizadores en reacciones químicas. También ofrecen las pautas para estabilizarlas sin necesidad de otros agentes externos.
via Matemáticas, Física y Química http://ift.tt/18ZbcUb

Nuevo catalizador para revalorizar la glicerina que genera el biodiésel

Por cada tonelada de biodiesel se producen 100 kg de glicerina, un compuesto con pocos usos directos. Químicos de la Universidad de Córdoba informan ahora de un proceso para reutilizarla con la ayuda de un catalizador de fosfato de aluminio y una reacción de eterificación.
via Matemáticas, Física y Química http://ift.tt/18ZbcUb

Mexico: Cab Driver Records UFO Over San Luis



Source: La Neta (http://ift.tt/2f9uGez) and Planeta UFO
Date: 12.04.2017
Article by Iván Gómez


Mexico: Cab Driver Records UFO Over San Luis

Mankind appears not to be alone, judging by the presence of beings from other planets who come to our own Earth for still unguessed-at reasons.

Recently, a taxicab driver became part of paranormal activity as he returned from dropping off a fare at Villa Mercedes in San Luis, after which he was able to capture an unidentified flying object (UFO) on his cellphone.

The man explained that his radio started giving him trouble near the La Ribera district. Not long after, the vehicle's engine died and the driver got out of his vehicle, fearfully, to check the battery. It was exactly at that moment that he saw a light floating in the sky, which appeared to have been following him.



The driver -- according to information furnished by the MDZ web site - decided to take out his cellphone and record the phenomenon in question, as the UFO was visible at a distance.

After a while, the man says the light went out, and when he tried to start the car, the engine turned over without any problem. This occurred at 1:30 in the morning.

The video can be seen at: https://youtu.be/s_TrA9Nra3c

[Translation (c) S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO]

via Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology http://ift.tt/GCRz8J

Chile: UFO Recorded in Cajón del Maipo




Source: Publimetro.cl and Planeta UFO
Date: 12.5.2017
Article by Jaime L Liencura


Chile: UFO Recorded in Cajón del Maipo

It happened on Saturday, November 25 in Cajón del Maipo. it was past 2 am when a group of at least ten people was in the dark on a sky watch, looking for this sort of phenomena. At least four of them were distracted, whether making coffee or sheltering from the cold inside their cars. It was in this context that Antonio Chavez, 44, a member of the Grupo de Estudios Unificados (GEU) Sky-Watcher Chile, noticed something strange: a light that didn't come from any star.

"We suddenly started seeing flashes of light on the mountain, one of which only 50 meters away, but whose summit is 100 meters away, so it wasn't so tall," the protagonist told Publimetro, adding "the hill is inaccessible, all that was about was some goats" and it wasn't likely that anyone had gone up due to the rocky nature of the terrain and hard to access.



When asked if the object recorded was a UFO, Chavez replied: "Yes, as long as no one says it was a spacecraft. In other words, it's something strange and unknown.

He adds that lights did indeed turn on and off. "It would turn up elsewhere in five minutes. It seemed strange for a flashlight."

He says this happened nearly five towns and that he tried to find out the source of the light. "I used an infrared viewer to see if there was something here. I couldn't see people, nothing. Suddenly I saw something coming out of the shrubs. I thought it was a bird or a bug. It's typical for infrared to pick up such things. But it surprised me that it was so far away."

"The flight was even and unshaken. We dismissed the possibility that it could have been a bug, as these fly in a zig-zag motion. It could still be a bird, but there's no beating of wings."

"The video shows that it flies evenly and makes a gentle curve before heading skyward. I couldn't focus on it again because I couldn't find it with my lens," he adds. For this reason, the video will be submitted to analysis to ascertain the nature of the object in question.

It should be noted GEU Sky-Watcher Chile engages in constant mass sky watch affairs. To learn more about them, please visit their Facebook page: Universo Geu Vigilo.

[Translation (c) 2017 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Giménez, Planeta UFO]

via Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology http://ift.tt/GCRz8J

4 dic 2017

2018 might be an Earthquake-Heavy Year

An increase in the number of devastating earthquakes around the world is being predicted for 2018, according to the University of Colorado's Roger Bilham and Rebecca Bendick of the University of Montana. The two geologists have made a detailed study on earthquake activity recorded since 1900, and found that increases in the number of major earthquakes tend to follow predictable cycles, and 2018 happens to fall in one of those years.

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Química computacional para avanzar en organocatálisis

Investigadores del Instituto de Síntesis Química y Catálisis Homogénea (ISQCH) han mejorado la precisión y el costo computacional en estudios teóricos sobre la catálisis de las escuaramidas, un tipo de organocatalizadores. El estudio ha conseguido la valoración 'Hot Paper' en la revista Chemistry - A European Journal.
via Matemáticas, Física y Química http://ift.tt/18ZbcUb

Donde la Organocatálisis y la Química Computacional se unen

Investigadores del Instituto de Síntesis Química y Catálisis Homogénea (ISQCH) han mejorado la precisión y el costo computacional en estudios teóricos sobre la catálisis de las escuaramidas, un tipo de organocatalizador. El estudio ha conseguido la valoración 'Hot Paper' por la revista Chemistry - A European Journal.
via Matemáticas, Física y Química http://ift.tt/18ZbcUb

3 dic 2017

Stories from a Life 19: Special Moments from the Afterlife Revolution

Anne Strieber's contribution to the Afterlife Revolution is truly astonishing and revealing. What is the afterlife? What is it really like? What does it mean to be in a nonphysical state? What is the secret of becoming enlightened?

Listen as Whitley reads some of the amazing things she says in the book, that take the whole issue of the afterlife and what it means to a new level. There has never been anything remotely like what is going on between Whitley and Anne, that has led to their book and the new kind of life they are now living.

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2 dic 2017

DARPA's New Device can Boost the Brain's Learning Ability by 40 Percent

A new, non-invasive technique has been developed by researchers working for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that can boost the brain's cognitive ability by up to 40 percent.

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30 nov 2017

A Village in India is being Plagued by Mysterious Sheep Mutilations

Mysterious sheep mutilations have been occurring in the Niali region of India, with over 180 animals being killed since last June. The afflicted sheep are reportedly found with their livers removed, and although government officials are blaming the attacks on a "mysterious animal", possibly wolves, all attempts at capturing the assumed creatures have failed, and following the report of two men being attacked, the region's villagers are forced to keep watch through the night.

"On Thursday night, the mysterious creature had attacked two males in Baharana village. If any loss of human life is reported then administration will be responsible for it," according to Bharat Sahoo, a resident of Baharana villiage.

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Kundalini Explosion and Worlds of Spirit

Wednesday November 29, 2017

How does a woman raised to be a Catholic nun end up becoming a seer and doctor of indigenous medicine? Meet Phyllis Bala. After an explosive night of kundalini awakening and the long, painful ordeal that followed, she understood her role in the world much, much differently. And she began to learn from ancestors around us... in us...
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