Are French Spies Responsible For Creating Mysterious YouTube Videos?

Are French Spies Creating Mysterious YouTube Videos? Bizarre 11-Second Shorts Could Be Encrypted Codes, Claim Conspiracy Theorists -- Daily Mail

* Unexplained clips appeared on Webdriver Torso's account in September
* Clips were posted for seven months, stopped three weeks ago but then started again today
* Each upload has 10 slides with blue and red rectangles of different shapes
* A BBC report has suggested the videos were likely uploaded in France
* Theorists claim it could be a modern-day equivalent of a numbers station used by spies during the Cold War

For seven months, a YouTube user posted a series of bizarre videos one after the other in quick succession before suddenly stopping.

Almost every clip on the Webdriver Torso channel lasts for 11 seconds and features ten slides, each one showing a blue and red rectangle of different sizes and shapes.

These were posted approximately every hour until three weeks ago, when they just stopped.

However, a new video has appeared today – causing conspiracy theorists to speculate on what the clips are.

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More News On Reports That French Intelligence Is Responsible For Creating Mysterious YouTube Videos?

Webdriver Torso YouTube mystery clips' French connection -- BBC
Are French spies creating mysterious YouTube videos? -- Digital Trends
Is this espionage or an art project? -- Globe and Mail
Could This Mysterious 'Number Station' YouTube Account Be A Message Board For Spies? -- Huffington Post
The truth behind one YouTube account's 77,000 mysterious videos -- The Guardian

WNU Editor: Here are some more mysteries on the web .... Five of the Internet’s eeriest, unsolved mysteries -- Washington Post

Dolphin Wars?

NATO Military Dolphins to Roam Black Sea – Media. © Photo public domain

NATO Military Dolphins to Roam Black Sea – Media -- RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti) – US military-trained dolphins and sea lions will participate in upcoming NATO military exercises in the Black Sea, the Russian Izvestiya newspaper reported Monday.

The paper, citing a spokesman for the US Navy’s marine mammals program, said some 20 dolphins and 10 sea lions will participate in exercises.

The exercises will test new equipment designed to "disorient enemy sonars, while sea lions and dolphins are looking for mines and military divers," the newspaper wrote.

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More News On NATO Exercises To be Conducted In The Black Sea Using Dolphins

US Navy to deploy combat dolphins for Black Sea military drills – report -- RT
Dolphins 'to Take Part' in NATO Black Sea Drills - Report -- Novinite
US, Russian military dolphins may face off in Black Sea -- News.com.au
US Military Dolphins to Participate in Black Sea Nato Drill -- IBTimes
Russian and American Military Dolphins Might Face Off This Summer -- Government Executive
Will U.S. and Russian Dolphins Face Off? No Way, Navy Says -- NBC

The Future Of Surveillance Will Be On Display In Today's Boston Marathon

Creepy Autonomous AI CCTV Surveillance Network Watches All Of Boston -- Daily Caller

Following the Boston Marathon bombings almost one year ago, the Boston Police Department started looking toward more high-tech means of securing the city against future attacks. They found the solution in the form of an artificially intelligent, self-learning surveillance network that now watches the entire city, and all of its inhabitants.

The Texas-based Behavioral Recognition Systems, Inc. (BRS Labs) headed by former Secret Service special agent John Frazzini has a reputation for developing advanced, AI-based surveillance platforms. The system the company built for Boston after the bombings is on the bleeding edge of such technology, and not only watches and analyzes human behavior, but learns from it to identify suspicious or abnormal activity.

It actually predict threats by itself, completely free of additional human programming, guidance or monitoring.

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My Comment: This is cutting edge technology that is just as disturbing as the NSA's ability to monitor our communications networks.

A 'Radiation Belt' For Nuclear Emergencies

Israeli Company Develops 'Radiation Belt' For Nuclear Emergencies -- Jerusalem Post/Reuters

Called the "StemRad 360 Gamma" belt, it shields the body from the effects of gamma radiation.

"It may look simplistic on the outside but the structure inside is three dimensional and very unique. The idea here was to create a product that on the one hand protects but on the other hand is not over burdened weight."

Oren Milstein is co-founder of Stemrad, the company behind the belt. He won't give much away about its key technology, but says it's partially comprised of lead and has been designed to protect the pelvic area, where most of the the body's renewable bone marrow is concentrated.

Milstein says protecting that bone marrow can be crucial to ensuring survival after radiation exposure.

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Update #1: Nuclear Accident? Fasten Up Your 'Radiation Belt' -- NextGov
Update #2: ‘Anti-radiation belt’ developed by Israeli firm for nuclear emergencies -- RT

My Comment: There are three Nobel laureates on-board, and they are vouching for it.

Scientists Reconstruct Asteroid Impact To Have Hit Earth 3.26 Billion Years Ago

The massive asteroid was almost as wide as Rhode Island and about three to five times larger than the rock thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs.

Scientists Reconstruct Asteroid Impact SIX TIMES Bigger Than The Blast That Wiped Out The Dinosaurs Which Boiled Oceans, Burned The Sky, And Shook The Earth For Thirty Minutes -- Daily Mail

* 36 mile wide asteroid is believed to have hit Earth 3.26 billion years ago
* Collision punched a crater into the planet’s crust 300 miles across
* Atmosphere filled with dust and the tops of oceans boiled

cientists have reconstructed one of the biggest asteroid impacts ever to hit Earth - and say it was six times as big as the blast than wiped out the dinosaurs.

The 36 mile wide asteroid is believed to have hit Earth 3.26 billion years ago, creating unique geological features found in a South African region known as the Barberton greenstone belt.

Researcher say the impact would have boiled oceans, burned the sky, and cause the planet to shake for 30 minutes.

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My Comment: That must have been one hell of an impact 3.26 billion years ago.

Boeing's 'Phantom Swift' Vertical Take Off And Landing Craft

 

Boeing Going Vertical with 'Phantom Swift' Military X-Plane (Video) -- Yahoo News/Live Science 

Aerospace giant Boeing is designing a new type of aircraft capable of taking off, hovering and landing vertically, the company says. Such vehicles are essentially hybrids of helicopters and fixed-wing airplanes, and could one day be used by the military to transport troops, weapons or cargo to and from the battlefield. 

Boeing was one of four companies recently selected to receive funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — the arm of the U.S. Department of Defense charged with developing new technologies for the military — to design new, unmanned vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. Boeing will receive $17 million as part of the agreement, which is part of DARPA's VTOL Experimental Plane, or X-Plane, program.  

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My Comment: The above Live Science article provides a good description of DARPA's X-Wing Competition.

For One Day Only Next Week, Google Will Let Anyone In The US Buy Glass

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

For One Day, Google Will Let Anyone In The US Buy Glass -- The Verge

Google is about to make its biggest push yet to get Glass in the hands of as many people as possible. The Verge has obtained documents indicating that the company will open up its "Explorer Program" and make Glass available to anyone who wants to purchase a pair, possibly as soon as next week. It’ll be a limited-time offer, only available for about a day, and only US residents will be eligible to purchase the $1,500 device. Google will also include a free sunglass shade or one of its newly-introduced prescription glasses frames along with any purchase. An internal Google slide shows that the promotion may be announced on April 15th, though all the details of this program have yet to be finalized.

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Update: Google Glass available to anyone for one day only -- CNN

My Comment: Rats .... it will only be available in the U.S. .... and I live in Canada.

U.S. Air Force To Test Google Glass For Combat And Intelligence Missions

Above: Airforce test dummy wearing Google Glass. Image Credit: Rick Eldridge, 711 Human Performance Wing, U.S. Air Force

U.S. Air Force Is Testing Google Glass & Building Apps For Battlefield Use (Exclusive) -- Venture Beat

The U.S. Air Force’s “BATMAN” research team at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio is beta-testing Google Glass for possible use on the battlefield.

And so far, it likes what it sees.

The positive attributes “are its low power, its low footprint, it sits totally above the eyes, and doesn’t block images or hinder vision,” said 2nd Lt. Anthony Eastin, a behavioral scientist on the BATMAN team testing the glasses.

The BATMAN evaluation group is part of the U.S. Air Force’s 711th Human Performance Wing and is one of the military’s most distinguished research and development groups. It comprises both military and civilian behavioral and technology scientists. The BATMAN acronym stands for Battlefield Air Targeting Man-Aided (K)nowledge.

“We borrowed the “N,” Eastin said.

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More News On The U.S. Air Force To Test Google Glass For Combat And Intelligence Missions

The US Air Force is testing Google Glass for use on the battlefield -- The Verge
Air Force researchers test Google Glass for combat, intelligence missions -- RT
Holy Smokes! BATMAN Tests Google Glass for the U.S. Military -- NBC
Google Glass testing begins with the US Air Force -- Android Community
US Air Force takes a look through Google Glass -- CNet
U.S. Air Force’s ‘BATMAN’ team tests Google Glass for combat use -- Guns.com
U.S. Air Force Reportedly Assessing Disruptive Technology Like Google Glass -- Wall Street Pit

Astronomers Believe They May Have Found Evidence Of A Potential Exomoon

Image Caption: Researchers have detected the first "exomoon" candidate -- a moon orbiting a planet that lies outside our solar system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astronomers Say They May Have Found Evidence Of A Potential Exomoon -- Red Orbit

Titan, Europa, Io and Phobos are just a few members of our solar system’s pantheon of moons. Are there are other moons out there, orbiting planets beyond our sun?

NASA-funded researchers have spotted the first signs of an “exomoon,” and though they say it’s impossible to confirm its presence, the finding is a tantalizing first step toward locating others. The discovery was made by watching a chance encounter of objects in our galaxy, which can be witnessed only once.

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More News On Astronomers Believing That They May Have Found Evidence Of A Potential Exomoon

Faraway moon or faint star? Possible exomoon found -- Phys.org
Out of This World: Astronomers May Have Spotted First 'Exomoon' -- NBC
NASA-funded researchers spot first possible 'exomoon' -- FOX News

Take A 'Global Selfie' When Celebrating Earth Day

A “Blue Marble” image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's Earth-observing satellite — Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on Jan. 4, 2012. Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring

Celebrate Earth Day With NASA By Taking A 'Global Selfie' -- Space.com

NASA is asking everybody on Earth to help create a new image of the planet composed entirely of selfies taken during Earth Day on April 22.

The aim is not only to raise awareness about Earth and climate change, but also to advertise the five Earth-gazing satellites that NASA will launch this year. That's the highest launch count for the agency in more than a decade.

"Designed to encourage environmental awareness and recognize the agency's ongoing work to protect our home planet, NASA's 'Global Selfie' event asks people everywhere to take a picture of themselves in their local environment," the space agency said in a statement.

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My Comment: This is something that I will support.

One More Step Forward To The Development Of A Quantum Computer

Photo: In this experiment, an atom is sandwiched between mirrors, forming half of the quantum switch. Graphic: Andreas Reiserer, MPQ, Quantum Dynamics Division

Two Big Steps Toward The Quantum Computer -- Popular Mechanics

With lasers and mirrors, researchers develop clever quantum versions of key computer components.

It's a machine that could calculate solutions to problems so impossibly time-consuming that even the most powerful supercomputers could never handle them. And it would do so in an instant. This is the quantum computer, made possible by the bizarre nature of quantum mechanics. And though the idea is still in its infancy, it's no fantasy.

Two research teams, at Harvard University and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany, have just announced that they have independently forged the building blocks for tomorrow's quantum computers. As they published today in the journal Nature (1, 2), the scientists discovered a way to hook up atoms and particles of light to create a new type of switch and logic-gate‚ quantum versions of the connecting structures that link bits of data in modern computers.

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More News On Developments Towards A Quantum Computers

Atom-Photon ‘Switch’ Heralds Quantum Networking Advances -- Time
New “switch” could power quantum computing -- R&D
New ‘switch’ brings scientists one step closer to quantum computing -- Science Recorder
New 'Switch' Could Bring Scientists Closer To Highly-Anticipated Quantum Computing -- HNGN
New Atom And Photon 'Switch' May Bring Quantum Computers Closer to Reality -- Counsel & Heal
Atom-Photon switch: Quantum computing looks closer than ever -- NVO News

Human Organs: The The Next Frontier In 3-D Printing

The Next Frontier In 3-D Printing: Human Organs -- CNN

(CNN) -- The emerging process of 3-D printing, which uses computer-created digital models to create real-world objects, has produced everything from toys to jewelry to food.

Soon, however, 3-D printers may be spitting out something far more complex, and controversial: human organs.

For years now, medical researchers have been reproducing human cells in laboratories by hand to create blood vessels, urine tubes, skin tissue and other living body parts. But engineering full organs, with their complicated cell structures, is much more difficult.

Enter 3-D printers, which because of their precise process can reproduce the vascular systems required to make organs viable. Scientists are already using the machines to print tiny strips of organ tissue. And while printing whole human organs for surgical transplants is still years away, the technology is rapidly developing.

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My Comment: This is exciting stuff .... and will impact all of us in the years to come.

How To Levitate And Melt An Aluminum At The Same Time

An Aluminum Slug Melts And Levitates At The Same Time -- io9

Run an alternating current through a coiled length of copper and you'll create a levitation cylinder. Drop a bar of aluminum in and you've got yourself some hovering metal. But leave the metal there too long...

The thing about this levitation cylinder is that it doubles as an induction heater. In a nutshell: the current coursing through the copper (which has been coiled to form a solenoid) creates an alternating magnetic field. The magnetic field induces a special form of electrical current (known as eddy currents) in the hovering piece of aluminum. These eddy currents give rise a phenomenon, called Joule heating, that, with enough power, can cause the metal to become very, very hot, as it does here.

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My Comment: This is so cool.

What Is The Mystery Light On Mars?

Life on Mars? In this photo taken by the Curiosity rover a light of unknown origin can be seen in the distance

What Is The Mystery Light On Mars? Distant 'Glow' Seen In Curiosity Rover's Latest Photo -- Daily Mail

* A new Nasa photo appears to show an artificial light on the Red Planet
* The image was taken by the Curiosity rover
* One UFO blogger claims it ‘could indicate there is intelligent life below’
* But it is more than likely just an anomaly in the photo
* Many false detections of life on Mars have been claimed before
* Meanwhile, Curiosity is set to study a fascinating Martian region

A strange white speck of 'light' on a recent photograph taken by Curiosity rover has led some to believe that life is thriving on Mars.

UFO blogger Scott Waring claims that the new photograph taken by the rover suggests there are intelligent creatures living underground.

But Nasa, perhaps rather unsurprisingly, are not quite heralding it as the discovery of the century just yet.

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My Comment: It's probably an anomaly in the photo ... but man-o-man ....  the speculation on the web is overwhelming.

The British Military Introduces Their 'Porton Man' Robot To Test Clothes

Britain Builds Robot To Test Military Equipment, Suits For Armed Forces -- FOX News

A $1.8 million robotic mannequin that can run, kneel and lift his arms to sight a weapon like a soldier will help test the latest in military equipment, Britain’s government says.

The Ministry of Defence says its newest recruit, “Porton Man,” is made out of lightweight materials used to build Formula One racing cars, some of the fastest vehicles on Earth.

The robot, designed by the British company i-bodi Technology, is named after the home of the Ministry’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dtsl).

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Editor: The U.S. military's equivalent is "Pet Man". The video is below.

The Pentagon's X-37B Has Now Been In Orbit For 500 Days

Will The Pentagon’s Secret Space Plane Ever Return To Earth? -- Kyle Mizokami, Daily Beast

Nearly 500 days into its mission, the Pentagon still won’t say what its drone space shuttle is doing in orbit, or when it might come back.

The Air Force’s secret space plane has been up in orbit for nearly 500 days—a space endurance record. But nearly a year and a half into the mission, the Pentagon still won’t say what the X-37B is doing up there, or when it might come back.

The U.S. Air Force boosted the robotic X-37B atop the nose of an Atlas-5 rocket in December 2012. Since then it’s orbited the Earth thousands of times, overflying such interesting places as North Korea and Iran.

Similar to the Space Shuttle in appearance, the diminutive X-37B is about a quarter the size of the old shuttles. But there are major differences. Lacking a crew, the spacecraft has no cockpit windows. The X-37B has a payload bay about the size of a pickup truck bed.

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More News On The Pentagon's X-37B Being In Orbit For 500 Days

Endurance record in the books, Air Force's secret space plane continues its mystery mission -- al.com
Plane Sets Record in Space, But Mission Still a Mystery -- Newsmax
The Pentagon's Space Plane nears 500 days in the air, no one knows why -- The Celebrity Cafe
Mysterious Space Plane Has Been In Orbit For 500 Days, And The Pentagon Won't Say Why -- Bustle
Op-Ed: Secret U.S. space drone orbits Earth thousands of times -- Digital Journal

WNU Editor: The above video is a compilation of military experts speculating on the X-37B space plane.

Is This The 'End Of Days'?

APOCALYPSE NOW: Why A Rare Astrological Event TONIGHT Could Herald The 'End Of Days' -- Express

IF YOU'RE feeling out of sorts today don't worry, it isn't just you.

Mars, Earth, and the Sun will all align tonight, a rare 'opposition of the planets' that only happens once every 778 days.

But what makes this so remarkable is that it comes precisely a week before everyone on earth will see the first of FOUR dark red 'blood moons', an extraordinary event some Christians believe represents the End of Days and the second coming of Christ.

The King James Bible predicts: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD comes," [Joel 2:31].

And, according to NASA, a highly unusual 'Tetrad' - four successive total 'blood-red' lunar eclipses each followed by six full moons - will, indeed, start a week today and finish on September 28 next year.

Read more ....

My Comment: As a lifelong amateur astronomer .... I love these events. Unfortunately .... it has been cloudy in my neck of the woods all day and now all night. As to the "End of Days" .... I suspect that I am still going to be blogging in the weeks/months/and years ahead.

U.S. Navy To Test It's Newest Laser Weapon In The Persian Gulf This Summer

U.S. Navy To Test Laser Weapon Aboard Ship In Persian Gulf -- L.A. Times

The Navy plans to install a laser weapon prototype on a ship this summer for at-sea testing in the Persian Gulf.

The technology, called the Laser Weapon System, will be the first of its kind to be deployed, the Navy said.

The idea is that the laser could zap dangerous swarming small boats and flying drones while on the USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf. Its power also can be scaled down, presenting the Navy a non-lethal alternative to ward off threats such as pirates, terrorists and smugglers.

Read more ....

More News On U.S. Navy Preparing To Test It's Newest Laser Weapon In The Persian Gulf This Summer

Navy laser weapon with 'video game-like controller' set to deploy -- CNet
NNS: Navy's Laser Weapon Ready for Summer Deployment -- Pacific News Center
U.S. Navy to Test New Laser Weapon at Sea This Summer -- PC Magazine
Navy Engineers To Deploy Laser Weapon Later This Summer -- Ubergizmo

U.S. Navy To Test It's Electromagnetic Gun Aboard A High-Speed Vessel In 2016

U.S. Navy to Test Futuristic, Super-Fast Gun at Sea in 2016 -- Newsweek/Reuters

(Reuters) - The U.S. Navy is planning sea trials for a weapon that can fire a low-cost, 23-pound (10-kg) projectile at seven times the speed of sound using electromagnetic energy, a "Star Wars" technology that will make enemies think twice, the Navy's research chief said.

Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, the chief of Naval Research, told a round table group recently the futuristic electromagnetic rail gun had already undergone extensive testing on land and would be mounted on the USNS Millinocket, a high-speed vessel, for sea trials beginning in 2016.

"It's now reality and it's not science fiction. It's actually real. You can look at it. It's firing," said Klunder, who planned to discuss progress on the system later on Monday with military and industry leaders at a major maritime event - the Sea-Air-Space Exposition - near Washington.

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More News On The U.S. Navy To Testing It's Electromagnetic Gun Aboard A High-Speed Vessel In 2016

Navy to test electromagnetic gun without gunpowder -- USA Today
U.S. Navy unleashes newest weapon: an electromagnetic rail gun that shoots missiles at seven times the speed of sound -- New York Daily News
'Not Science Fiction': Navy to Test Futuristic Gun at Sea in 2016 -- NBC
Navy to unveil railgun in San Diego -- UT San Diego
Navy to test electromagnetic gun aboard high-speed vessel in 2016 (VIDEO) -- RT
US Navy to Trial 'Star Wars' Weapon that Fires at Seven Times the Speed of Sound -- IBTimes
NNS: Navy to Deploy Electromagnetic Railgun Aboard JHSV -- Pacific News Center
Navy prepares to take railgun to sea -- Ars Technica
U.S. Navy's New Weapon Fires at 7 Times the Speed of Sound -- Mashable
The U.S. Navy’s 32-megajoule rail gun is one step closer to blue water -- Guns
How BAE's electromagnetic rail gun will save the Navy millions -- Washington Business Journal

Robots Getting Ready For Dull, Dirty And Dangerous Jobs (Video)

From VOA: Robotic house helpers may still be a long way off but robots that can replace humans in hazardous environments are closer and closer to becoming a reality. Roboticists at Carnegie Mellon University are designing advanced robots for dull, dirty and dangerous jobs. VOA’s George Putic reports.