Planet Vulcan

 

Vulcan was a small planet proposed to exist in an orbit between Mercury and the Sun. Attempting to explain peculiarities of Mercury’s orbit, the 19th-century French mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier hypothesized that they were the result of another planet, which he named “Vulcan”. No such planet was ever found, and Mercury’s orbit has now been explained by Albert Einstein‘s theory of general relativity.  Searches of NASA’s two STEREO spacecraft data have failed to detect any Vulcanoid asteroids.

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Cryptid

In cryptozoology and sometimes in cryptobotany, a cryptid (from the Greek “κρύπτω” krypto meaning “hide”) is a creature or plant whose existence has been suggested but is unrecognized by scientific consensus and often regarded as highly unlikely.

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Operation Argus

Operation Argus was a series of nuclear weapons tests and missile tests secretly conducted during August and September 1958 over the South Atlantic Ocean by the United States’ Defense Nuclear Agency, in conjunction with the Explorer 4 space mission. Operation Argus was conducted between the nuclear test series Operation Hardtack I and Operation Hardtack II. Contractors from Lockheed Aircraft Corporation as well as a few personnel and contractors from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission were on hand as well. The time frame for Argus was substantially expedited due to the instability of the political environment, i.e. forthcoming bans on atmospheric and exoatmospheric testing. Consequently, the tests were conducted within a mere half year of conception (whereas “normal” testing took one to two years).

via Operation Argus

Cuban Project

The Cuban Project (also known as Operation Mongoose or the Special Group Augmented) was a program of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) covert operations developed during the early years of the administration of President of the United States John F. Kennedy. On November 30, 1961 aggressive covert operations against the communist government of Fidel Castro in Cuba were authorized by President Kennedy. The operation was led by Air Force General Edward Lansdale and went into effect after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.

Operation Mongoose was a secret program of propaganda, psychological warfare, and sabotage against Cuba to remove the communists from power; which was a prime focus of the Kennedy administration, according to Harvard historian Jorge Domínguez.  A document from the US Department of State confirms that the project aimed to “help Cuba overthrow the Communist regime”, including its leader Fidel Castro, and it aimed “for a revolt which can take place in Cuba by October 1962”. US policy makers also wanted to see “a new government with which the United States can live in peace”.

via Cuban Project 

The Venus Project

The Venus Project presents a bold, new direction for humanity that entails nothing less than the total redesign of our culture. There are many people today who are concerned with the serious problems that face our modern society: unemployment, violent crime, replacement of humans by technology, over-population and a decline in the Earth’s ecosystems.

The Venus Project advocates an alternative vision for a sustainable new world civilization unlike any socio-economic system that has gone before. It calls for a straightforward redesign of a culture, in which the age-old inadequacies of war, poverty, hunger, debt, and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as avoidable, but totally unacceptable.

via The Venus Project.

Neuro-linguistic Programming

(NLP) is an approach to psychotherapy and organizational change based on “a model of interpersonal communication chiefly concerned with the relationship between successful patterns of behavior and the subjective experiences (esp. patterns of thought) underlying them” and “a system of alternative therapy based on this which seeks to educate people in self-awareness and effective communication, and to change their patterns of mental and emotional behavior”.  The co-founders, Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder, believed that NLP would be useful in “finding ways to help people have better, fuller and richer lives”. They coined the term “Neuro-Linguistic Programming” in 1975 to emphasize their belief in a connection between the neurological processes (“neuro”), language (“linguistic”) and behavioral patterns that have been learned through experience (“programming”) and can be organized to achieve specific goals in life.

 

via Neuro-linguistic programming

Tachistoscope

A tachistoscope is a device that displays (usually by projecting) an image for a specific amount of time. It can be used to increase recognition speed, to show something too fast to be consciously recognized, or to test which elements of an image are memorable. Tachistoscopes use a slide or transparency projector equipped with the mechanical shutter system typical of a camera. Tachistoscopes were used extensively in psychological research to present visual stimuli for controlled durations. Some experiments employed pairs of tachistoscopes so that an experimental participant could be given different stimulation in each visual field. For example, used during World War II in the training of fighter pilots to help them identify aircraft silhouettes as friend or foe. Tachistoscopes continue to be used in market research, where they are typically used to compare the visual impact, or memorability of marketing materials or packaging designs.

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Simulacrum

Simulacrum (plural: simulacra)  is Latin for likeness or similarity and its first recorded use in the English language was in the late 16th century, used to describe a representation of another thing, such as a statue or a painting, especially of a god.  By the late 19th century, simulacrum had gathered a secondary association of inferiority: an image without the substance or qualities of the original.  Philosopher Fredric Jameson offers photorealism as an example of artistic simulacrum, where a painting is sometimes created by copying a photograph.

via Simulacrum – Wikipedia