Project Blue Book Archive \u2013 (Project Blue Book Archive website \u2013 no date)<\/a><\/b>
\nProject Blue Book was one of a series of systematic studies of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) conducted by the United States Air Force. It started in 1952, and it was the third study of its kind (the first two were projects Sign (1947) and Grudge (1949)). A termination order was given for the study in December 1969, and all activity under its auspices ceased in January 1970. Project Blue Book had two goals: to determine if UFOs were a threat to national security, and to scientifically analyze UFO-related data. When Project Blue Book was closed down in January 1970, the original files were transferred to Maxwell AFB where they were made available on request for public viewing until 1975. In 1975 these documents were microfilmed by the Air Force for internal use and then transferred to the National Archives for public release. Before microfilming these documents for public release, however, the Air Force blacked out witness names and other personal information in accord with its policy of protecting the privacy of witnesses despite the fact that the files had been available for copying and inspection for years without these deletions. In 1998 a set of the original unredacted Air Force microfilm was discovered at the National Archives. In addition to witness names and information, it has been confirmed that these rolls contain some pages that are not on the NARA rolls. For those interested in serious UFO research, this website appears to contain a rich mine of documents, scans of the original microfilm, although not as easy to search as one might hope.<\/p>\nNEW TOOLS\/NEW PROCESSES<\/b><\/p>\n
The 9 Best Ideas from CES 2015 \u2013 (Fast Company \u2013 January 9, 2015)<\/a><\/b>
\nThe Consumer Electronics Show brings tens of thousands of new products to our shelves. Here are nine artifacts, seemingly sent back from the future to show us what\u2019s coming next. For example, Makerbot has introduced new filaments that, while still plastic at heart, contain tiny particles of wood, stone, or metal, resulting in products that can mimic the finish of limestone or bronze. You won\u2019t be able to print your next set of steel cookware on a Makerbot, but for crafts and jewelry, it\u2019s an exciting development in domestic 3-D printing. Another big limitation in 3-D printing is that, if you want to create an electronic device of any sort, you usually have to print the body in pieces, which will jigsaw together and sandwich themselves around the functional components. But a printer called Voxel8 can print the plastic body and metal circuitry of a drone, all at once, with the wires actually printed inside the plastic. Voxel8 teases a near future in which they can print custom hearing aids to order. They also teamed with Autodesk to create an accessible looking modeling program called Project Wire for designers who\u2019d like to try their own hand at printing electronics.<\/p>\nA Better \u2018Siri\u2019 \u2013 (Kurzweil AI \u2013 January 20, 2015)<\/a><\/b>