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Area 51 Officially Confirmed by US Government

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Area-51-map
Official US Government Map of Area 51 (Image Source:National Security Archive)

Newly declassified information actually contains the first official acknowledgement of Area 51 by the government along with information on just exactly what was going on behind closed doors. Area 51 is mentioned many times in the documentation and is also shown in a declassified map (shown above).

The primary use of Area 51 according the the newly released history was, no surprise here, to test out secret US government projects, but more interestingly, the declassified history points out the secretive development of the U-2, a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft used by the CIA and USAF to gather intelligence. The documents go into great detail and include information like the names of pilots, code names, locations, inter-govermental co-operation details, cryptonyms and more.Alien Sign

Unfortunately, for those who are awaiting acknowledgement of extraterrestrial life, you will have to wait a little longer. There are clearly no references to knowledge of alien life forms, but there is a ton of awesome, once highly secretive and classified information that’s now available to the public.

You can read the history of the U-2 project at the official National Security Archive website. The site contains many images, maps, videos and even offers up some highlights from the documentation, it’s definitely worth a look.

Voyager 1 Leaves the Solar System, Maybe?

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voyager2_large
Voyager Spacecraft ( Source: NASA/JPL)

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is the most distant human-made object at over 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) away from our sun. The mission of the Voyager spacecraft both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, was to explore Jupiter and Saturn. After major success, the mission was extended to have Voyager 2 explore Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 is still operating and sending back data after more than 35 years later. The new mission of the Voyager spacecraft named, the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), is to explore space outside of our solar system, which is all new territory for us.

We have been anticipating Voyager 1 to finally leave our solar system completely and enter interstellar space, one group thinks we have done just that. UMD research scientist Marc Swisdak,  James F. Drake and Merav Opher of Boston University believe that recent data suggests that Voyager 1 is now in interstellar  space, this conflicts with NASA’s view of the data in which they believe the spacecraft is still on the outer edge of our solar system.

It’s a somewhat controversial view, but we think Voyager has finally left the Solar System, and is truly beginning its travels through the Milky Way”

It’s all about our sun’s magnetic field and how it interacts with the magnetic field of interstellar space. The direction that the magnetic field of interstellar space is coming from is the source of controversy. As NASA writes, “Other models envision the interstellar magnetic field draped around our solar bubble and predict that the direction of the interstellar magnetic field is different from the solar magnetic field inside. By that interpretation, Voyager 1 would still be inside our solar bubble.”. This is in contrast to the view that the interstellar magnetic field direction is the same as that which originates from our sun, which would mean that Voyager 1 left our solar system back on July 27th, 2012.

This is obviously new for everyone and discussions will need to continue in order to better understand what’s going on at the edge of our solar system. The best thing we can do is continue to analyze new data as it comes in and hopefully it will provide a clearer picture.

You can read the original article from NASA about this topic and you can learn more about the Voyager spacecraft from a post we did last year.

 

LEGO Architecture Studio Leaves Design Up To You

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legoArcStudio

This new LEGO® set, LEGO Architecture Studio,  is one of my favorite kits yet, why? It’s because this is what building LEGO is really all about. Don’t get me wrong, all of the themes that LEGO releases are great but leaving it entirely up to you is just going back to the roots of what building LEGO is all about. It’s just you, 1210+ white and transparent LEGO bricks and an inspirational guide to help spark your imagination. There are no instructions.

The 272 page guidebook has been endorsed leading design houses, REX architecture, Sou Fujimoto Architects, SOM, MAD Architects, Tham & Videgård Arkitekter, and Safdie Architects. So, yes it’s the ultimate Architect’s LEGO kit but just about any builder will appreciate a kit like this.

The set sells for $149.99 but is currently out-of-stock, you can see more pictures and details on LEGO’s official site.

New League of Legends Debit Card Will Give RP

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LOLAEXCard
(Image Credit: The New York Times)

According to the New York Times, American Express will be releasing a League of Legends pre-paid debit card that will award you Riot Points when you use the card for everyday purchases. Just for signing up you will get 1,000 RP, plus another 1,000 RP when you preload $20 onto the card. You will get 10,000 RP when you set up a direct deposit to the card and another 1,000 RP for the first 10 purchases.

If this type of reward system catches on, and I hope it does, it could be a great incentive to use these cards. This is a great way to get into the growing gaming demographic. This could easily apply to any other popular game currency and appeal to a rather large audience. Getting in-game cash for spending money like you normally would in real life, sounds like a good deal to me.

There haven’t been any details on just how much you will be able to accumulate after the first 10 (ten) purchases, but either way, it’s more than what you were getting before.

How to make Halloween potion bottles

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If you go into any craft store this time of year, they are starting to bring out all their Halloween decor. I came across some awesome potion and poison bottles (fake of course) but the price was a little high, so I thought I will just make my own.

Halloween potion bottles

For this project you will need:

  • Glass bottle(s)-  Any shape and size you want. I got mine at the craft store for very inexpensive, they also came with corks.
  • Paint– I used acrylics, they tend to dry fast.
  • Paper and Printer– To print out labels, for the tags I used a thicker paper, like scrapbook paper. You can also use card stock.
  • Double sided tape– For stick on labels
  • String/Yarn- To wrap around the bottle neck

 

Optional:

  • Hole punch- If you want to make a tag
  • Coffee or Tea- For “aging” the paper

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LABELS:

For the labels, you can either make your own or find them on the internet. You can search ” free Halloween potion labels”, or I found a bunch of pre-made potion bottle labels on flickr.

Print out your labels then take your cup of coffee or tea (I used herbal tea, so it didn’t come out as dark) place your label inside and soak for a few minutes, or dab on with a paper towel until desired darkness.

You can either let the paper air dry, or use a blow dryer on low heat (careful not to burn yourself or the paper). While still a little damp I crunched the paper in my hand, opened it back up and continued drying. This seemed to keep the crumpled look in tact. After that you can cut, rip, tear, bend, whatever you want to do to “age” the paper.

BOTTLES:

First, wash your bottles and let dry completely.

Next, you will take your paint and poor a small amount right inside the bottle, start by slowly tilting and turning it so the paint starts to coat all the way around. Be careful around the opening that you don’t get any paint on the outside. Depending on the color you choose, you may have to use two coats.

Set upside-down on a few layers of paper towels to get the excess out.

Turn over to air dry. Acrylics will usually dry pretty quickly.

Once dry add your corks.

For tags skip this step! Take your double sided tape and center it on the bottle. Carefully place your label because it probably won’t come off after it’s on there.

Cut your string whatever length you desire, if using tags take your hole punch and make a hole where you want the string to go through, wrap around bottle neck and thats it! You’re done!

Now you have an awesome DIY decoration that looks even better then the ones in the store!