November 13, 2012
Out-of-place artifact (OOPArt) is a term coined by American naturalist and cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson for an object of historical, archaeological, or paleontological interest found in a very unusual or seemingly impossible context that could challenge conventional historical chronology.
The term ‘out-of-place artifact’ is rarely used by mainstream historians or scientists. Its use is largely confined to cryptozoologists (who study big foot, the loch ness monster, and other cryptids), proponents of ancient astronaut theories, Young Earth creationists, and paranormal enthusiasts.
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November 13, 2012
The Morning of the Magicians, first published as ‘Le Matin des magiciens’ was written by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier in 1960, it became a bestseller, first in French, then translated into English in 1963 as ‘The Dawn of Magic.’ A German edition was published with the title ‘Aufbruch ins dritte Jahrtausend’ (‘Departure into the third Millennium’).
In a generalized and wide ranging overview of the occult, the book speculates on a variety of Forteana (anomalous phenomena), mysticism, and conspiracy theories such as secret societies, ancient prophesies, alchemical transmutation, a giant race that once ruled the Earth, and the Nazca Lines. It also includes speculations such as Nazi occultism and supernatural phenomena conspiracy theory that the Vril Society and the Thule Society were the philosophical precursors to the NSDAP Nazi party.
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November 13, 2012
According to ancient astronaut theories, intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth during the origins or development of human cultures, technologies, and/or religions. Some of these theories propose that deities from most – if not all – religions are actually extraterrestrials, and their technologies were taken as evidence of their divine status. Ancient astronaut theories have been widely used as a plot device in science fiction (e.g. ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ ‘Stargate’).
Such theories have not received support within the scientific community, and have received little or no attention in peer reviewed studies from scientific journals.
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November 13, 2012
Mechanitis is a genus of tigerwing (ithomiine) butterflies, named by Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1807.
They are in the brush-footed butterfly family, Nymphalidae. It has gained fame due to the metallic appearance of the cocoons of certain phenotypes.
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November 13, 2012
The uncanny valley is a hypothesis regarding the field of robotics. The theory holds that when robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers.
The ‘valley’ in question is a dip in a proposed graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot’s lifelikeness. People are not as affected in an emotional way by an object if it is easy to tell it is not human. After a certain point, they start to feel emotionally about it, but feel bad emotions because it is so nonhuman. As it gets closer to looking human, they start to feel more positive emotions towards it.
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