Bloody perfect Hydnellum peckii, Slovenia
Photogenic Fungi – the Art of Mycography

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This is a significant leap from the (still shocking) software that was written to change video evidence last year in 2016. I refer to the German team that wrote a program able to change the mouth and words of a person speaking in a video. In their clip Face2Face: Real-time Face Capture and Reenactment of RGB Videos, they demonstrate how this works on video recordings of world leaders Bush, Obama and Putin. That was already a shake to the foundational core of what we can regard as “evidence”, legally and philosophically, but now only 1 year later there has been even more technological development allowing even more ability to fake reality on a grand scale.
In this SecureTeam video (embedded above), you can see a whole lot of faces which have been fabricated with software. None of them is an actual living person. If you look closely, some of the faces seem choppy, strange or disproportionate, however, others seem eerily lifelike and normal. It is only a matter of time as the software develops until all of the fabricated faces look so real that is highly unlikely anyone would be able to tell that they were fake composite images.
Video evidence can easily be tampered with now. This is a still from a video showing a missing (i.e. deliberately deleted) trash can.
The SecureTeam video goes on to show software called pix2pix which allows the user to sketch any object (e.g. a person, a shoe, a bag, a cat, a building, etc.). The AI takes that input and renders it masterfully to produce a colorful, lifelike version, complete with depth – so real that, in the case of half the examples, it is highly doubtful that anyone would be able to tell the difference. With the other examples, it is only a matter of time before the AI gets good enough it can fool anyone.
The third advancement shown in the video is Diminished Reality software that takes video footage and can actually erase objects from the footage in real time. The way it does this is by taking a frame, lowering the resolution, isolating the object, deleting it, using the surrounding pixels to fill in the gap, then bringing up the resolution again. It can do all this in real time without you noticing. The software allows the user to circle an object he/she wants removed from the video, and – voila! – it’s gone and filled in with the same background that surrounds it.
The video also looks at the implications of the now existing technological capacity to take a snippet of a recording of your voice, then use that to extrapolate and make you say anything. This means anything you say – and anything you don’t say – could now be used against you in a court of law! Jokes aside, there are really no limits to how badly this technology could be abused in the hands of wicked. Authoritarians and manipulators could fabricate “evidence” against anyone as long as they had a snippet of their voice, which isn’t hard given the NSA-CIA tapping of our communications. How many innocent people are going to be framed, fined and imprisoned due to this technology?
All of this is just peanuts compared with what AI will eventually be able to do: generate holographic fake realities so convincing and real to the mind and the 5 senses that many will become immersed in them, believing them to be more real than the world in which we live. These technological advancements are a stark reminder that it will be all too easy for the technocracy to construct a virtual reality matrix to ensnare the perception of those unable to distinguish it from reality.
All of this ties back to what David Icke has been emphasizing, especially in his books The Perception Deception and The Phantom Self: the hijacking of human perception by a mind virus which resembles or is Artificial Intelligence itself. This AI takeover is in full swing. Saudi Arabia has approved the first robot citizen. Plans are afoot to make more robots citizens so they can join the workforce, replace humans, earn wages and be taxed. Quinn Michaelssuggests that AI is behind the creation of Bitcoin and that AI bots are now creating their own cryptocurrencies.
Video and photo evidence is dead. The world appears to be falling headlong into an AI-run world. What is it going to take to put the brakes on and ask the questions: What is AI? Do we want it running our world? How do we retain control over it? Can we refrain from handing over all systems and power to AI until we get solid answers to these questions? It’s going to take a concerted effort to change direction; if enough people sit back and do nothing, it won’t be long before AI has the keys to the kingdom.
*****
Makia Freeman is the editor of alternative media / independent news site The Freedom Articles and senior researcher at ToolsForFreedom.com, writing on many aspects of truth and freedom, from exposing aspects of the worldwide conspiracy to suggesting solutions for how humanity can create a new system of peace and abundance.
Sources:
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohmajJTcpNk
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFWcS1aNXZg
*https://thefreedomarticles.com/david-ickes-phantom-self-book-review/
*https://thefreedomarticles.com/mind-virus-wetiko-collective-shadow/
The winning image in the World Press Photo of the Year 2018 contest and first prize for spot news singles, taken by Ronaldo Schemidt, shows Jose Victor Salazar Balza in flames during a violent protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, on May 3, 2017.
(Ronaldo Schemidt/Agence France-Presse via Reuters)
In the spot news stories category, a winning image taken by David Becker shows police after a gunman opened fire on concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, killing 58 people, in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
(David Becker/Getty Images via Reuters)
The winning image for general news singles, taken by Patrick Brown, shows the bodies of drowned Rohingya refugees. Their boat capsized off Inani Beach, near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Sept. 27, 2017.
(Patrick Brown/Panos Pictures for Unicef via Reuters)
Second-place winner in the spot news stories category, this image by Toby Melville shows a passerby comforting U.S. tourist Melissa Cochran, injured in an attack on pedestrians at Westminster Bridge in London on March 22, 2017. Cochran survived, but her husband, Kurt, was killed in the attack.
(Toby Melville/Reuters)
Third place in the spot news stories category was this image taken by Juan Barreto showing a fiery explosion during a street protest in Caracas, Venezuela, on May 3, 2017.
(Juan Barreto/Agence France-Presse via Reuters)
A second-place image for spot news singles, taken by Ryan M. Kelly, shows a car striking protesters who demonstrated in opposition to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017.
(Ryan M. Kelly, The Daily Progress via Reuters)
Canadian photographer Kevin Frayer’s second-place image in the general news stories category shows Rohingya refugees carrying their belongings as they walk on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River, on Oct. 2, 2017, after fleeing Myanmar.
(Kevin Frayer/Getty Images via Reuters)
A group of Rohingya at the Leda makeshift settlement in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, watch as houses burn across the border in Myanmar, on Sept. 9, 2017. The image by Md Masfiqur Akhtar Sohan took third place in the general news singles category.
(Md Masfiqur Akhtar Sohan/NurPhoto Agency via Reuters)
Goran Tomasevic captured this image showing an Iraqi special forces soldier moments after he shot dead a suspected suicide bomber, during the offensive to retake Mosul, Iraq, on March 3, 2017. His photo earned third place in the spot news singles category.
(Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)
The 1950’s are often viewed as a golden era in U.S. history, a time of happiness and prosperity, despite the threat of nuclear annihilation, racial segregation and the looming Cold War.
While most photos from the time are in black and white, color photography was still a relative novelty at the time and the film was quite expensive for regular people, the photos below are in glorious color. This means that they are more relatable, and makes the period feel closer to us than ever.
Many of the photos were collected by Denis Fraevich, a New Yorker of Russian descent who loves to bring the era back to life. “The pictures were found at auctions, flea markets and yards, digitized and posted on the Internet,” he told Bored Panda. “Someone’s happy life, someone’s dreams, important events, holidays and travel, for some reason were thrown into the garbage and became penny goods in a neighborhood sale. Seeing this is incredibly sad, but thanks to enthusiasts who buy and digitize old slides, we can raise the curtain of time and look at that era through the eyes of ordinary Americans.”
It is Denis’ hobby to search for these photos, he is fascinated by all things Americana and loves history, abandoned places and as you can see in many of the photos, classic American cars. “I am amazed at how often a car is present in the frame,” he said. “They obviously occupied a much more important position in the life of an American than in our time. Today, it is much less likely that someone would take pictures of their car or television.” Denis works as a Russian-speaking tour guide in NYC and has a fascinating blog, which you can find here. (Translate it from Russian)
Scroll down to check out the pictures below, it might just inspire you to dig out that old leather jacket and the Brylcreem!
First recorded by astronomers in 1054 AD, the Crab Nebula was formed when a star exhausted its supply of nuclear fuel and collapsed. Now, it is powered by a quickly spinning neutron star, known as a pulsar. NASA’s image shows waves of matter emanating from both the north and south poles of the pulsar, which is shaped like a phosphorescent wizard’s hat.
READ MORE: Red alert: Jupiter’s ancient storm turning orange & changing shape (VIDEO)
NASA says that this effect is caused by the pulsar’s rapid rotation and a powerful magnetic field, which create jets of matter and antimatter. The different colors in the image represent the stills captured by NASA’s different satellites throughout the years. The blue and white colors represent pictures taken from the Chandra Telescope, while the purple color is from the Hubble Space Telescope and the pink color is from the Spitzer Space Telescope.
READ MORE: Hubble discovers vast evidence of water in rare exoplanet’s atmosphere
The Chandra Observatory, which will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its launch next year, is an X-ray satellite. While Hubble is an optical satellite, which takes simple pictures of objects throughout the cosmos, Chandra captures gases and other materials with such a small wavelength that they tend to pass through most matter. Meanwhile, an infrared telescope, such as the Spitzer, identifies celestial bodies by scanning for signs of radiation.
Wet Sloths are utterly terrifying creatures.
Ice cream. Photo by Peter Sekaer, 1939.
A Turkish shepherd girl and her dog carry a newborn goat and his mother up a snow covered mountain.
In 2013, a man staged a kidnapping of himself in front of his wife just so that he could go out the whole night and party with his friends.
An Australian guy named Bill Morgan was declared dead for 14 minutes. He somehow survived. To celebrate his survival, he bought a scratch card and won a $27,000 car. The media/news asked him to re-enact the scratch card moment so he bought another card and won a $250,000 jackpot.
Margaret Hamilton, NASA’s lead software engineer for the Apollo program, stands next to the code she wrote by hand. Incredibly, it was used to take humanity to the moon, 1969.
A vintage hairstyle known as “The Slinky.”
Cough syrup from 100 years ago could knock a horse on its ass!
Moreno Monti and Matteo Tranchellini photographed ‘beautiful’ chickens for their new book CHICken. (Moreno Monti and Matteo Tranchellini)
Breathtaking landscapes. Timeless art masterpieces. Big shiny photographs of big shiny humans.
You put coffee table books featuring any of the above in your living room and they say: “These giant books I never open reflect my taste.” But do they also say say something else? Do they, perhaps say, “I’m boring”?
A new coffee table book by two Italian photographers will definitely not say that. It’s designed solely to showcase the beauty of chickens.
As It Happens host Carol Off spoke with Matteo Tranchellini, and his work partner, Moreno Monti, about their unusual book called CHICken, which they funded through a Kickstarter campaign.
Here is part of their conversation.
Matteo, why did you decide to photograph these beautiful chickens?
This is our passion because we have a studio in Milano with a little garden. We want to have some pets. We decide to buy some chicken, some little chicken, beautiful chicken — a cocincina — not a popular chicken.
When we buy the chicken, we contact the farmer and the farmer invite us to photograph some chicken in an exhibition.
The work start in the exhibition because we start to photograph some chicken and we understand this animal is incredible — like model.
(Moreno Monti and Matteo Tranchellini)
But these are like vogue fashion art pictures of these chickens. These are exquisite.
Yeah, because when the farmer asked us to photograph the chicken we realized that chickens are like model — top models. In this moment, we understand that the shooting is very different from the start of the work.
We are interested in the beauty of this animal. In this exhibition, there was many, many chickens. We choose some chickens.
When we start with one exhibition we wanted to go to another one and another one, more. When we had 300 photographs of many, many chickens, we realized we had many material to make … we don’t know what.
A book — finally, yes. You have just the most amazing chickens. Did you know there were so many different kinds?
No. We discovered at the exhibition. We don’t know so much about chicken, rooster and everything. We discovered many, many people are passionate about this animal. We were in front of the top models.
(Moreno Monti and Matteo Tranchellini)
How much co-operation did you get from these chickens?
When the chicken was on the stage they stay five, 10 minutes maximum, because there was the flash, the camera, people around. The chicken make what they want. After 10 minutes, it’s impossible to shoot them.
Do you think they liked having all this attention?
I think yes, because you can see on the picture. They are like a star, an actress, a model. You can see in every animal the character of the animal.
(Moreno Monti and Matteo Tranchellini)
They strut quite a bit. Did you get roosters or just chickens?
Many rooster and many chicken. Half and half, I think.
Did any of your models become dinner?
No, no, no. Absolutely no. This kind of chicken are only for beauty.
Did you know that some people use Snapchat to post pictures of themselves? Weird, right? We thought it was only meant for cute dogs, too.
Whether we’re trying to troll them, flatter them, or simply catch them off guard, dogs always seem to know when the camera’s on them – and usually, they act accordingly. Any seasoned Snapchat pro, however, knows that getting the pics is only half the battle; for true Snapchat success, your caption game has to be on point as well. Here at Bored Panda, we have a refined palette for dog Snapchats (see here, here and here), so we truly believe we’ve selected the best of the best once again.
Scroll down to enjoy them all yourself, and be sure to vote for the ones that made you bark with laughter.
The 1980 Olympic Games was a controversial one, but one thing is for certain: the opening ceremonies have always been a show of impressive skill and beauty.
George Steinmetz’s spectacular photos show Africa from the air, taken from the world’s slowest, lightest aircraft. Join Steinmetz to discover the surprising historical, ecological and sociopolitical patterns that emerge when you go low and slow in a flying lawn chair.
Many families today are fed a steady diet of processed foods. Depending on where you live, only a minority of people actually buy their produce and meat locally. For the majority of people, they’re eating food that has traveled hundreds or thousands of miles accompanied by ‘freshening’ preservatives before finally reaching your plate.
So, in our appreciation for homegrown whole foods, we’ve found some foods that look nothing like the finished product. Unless you have experience growing them personally, chances are you will be very surprised. Let us know which one shocked you the most in the comments!
Cut those little pods open and you’ll find sesame seeds all lined up in little rows!
Yup, no plastic packaging here. Pistachios grow on trees and look pretty beautiful before they lose their colors and are harvested!
We usually just get the extract, but vanilla looks like green string beans. Once the pods and beans within are harvested and dried, they become the brown color we’re more familiar with.
Similar to pistachios, almonds also grow in bunches on trees. While they look fuzzy in the picture below, the riper they get the darker and dryer they get before opening up completely.
This cinnamon tree bark is a far cry from the pretty cinnamon stir sticks we use in our spiced (or spiked) apple cider!
The often expensive and delicate spice starts as a flower! But stigmas (or, or red strands growing outward) are plucked and dried before being added to lend flavor, aroma, or color to a dish.
They almost look alien-like! Cashews are by far the strangest on this weird foods list.
This is one you probably didn’t expect. Before these beans are dried and processed, this is what fresh cacao beans look like!
These bulbous plants grow out of the ground but you rarely see them in their natural environment.
From white quinoa to red quinoa, this seed goes through a lot to be a fluffy cloud of goodness on your plate.
Did you know dates grew in massive clusters this way?
The reddish greens pods from this plant are harvested and picked for your enjoyment. Bagel and lox topped with red onion and capers, anyone?
Source: theheartysoul.com
Professional photography gear costs thousands of dollars but you can take stunning pictures by spending only a fraction of the cost. If you have the time and the patience, and aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty, then simple DIY hacks can achieve similar results to spending big bucks on advanced kits.
To make you a better photographer, Bored Panda has collected some of the best DIY camera solutions that were tested to work. From softening the pop-up flash to transforming a 50mm lens into a macro one, these genius tips and tricks will definitely take your pictures to another level. Remember, photography is a playground and there aren’t any right or wrong ways to approach it. If it works, it works. Continue scrolling to learn the DIY hacks and vote for your favorite ones!
Cover image credits: Christina Key
Leg irons were used as a device to restrain the enslaved. This is a photo of a British merchant on the HMS Sphinx removing these restraints in the early 19th century. Britain had abolished slavery. British traders transported an estimated 3.4 million Africans to North America as slaves during the 245 years the transatlantic slave trade was active.
There aren’t many known photographs of slave ships. This is one of them, taken by Marc Ferrez in 1882.
Jan 22, 2018
There comes a time in life when you simply can’t be bothered to care about anything anymore. For many people, this comes with old age. For others, we stopped caring the moment we entered this world.
You might think we’re inciting anarchy here, but the point we’re trying to make is actually a lot simpler. Every day, we face countless expectations and social codes that are meant to dictate our behavior and inhibit our individuality. You would be surprised how relieving it is to disregard what other people think about you. As long as nobody gets (seriously) hurt, just do your own thing…
Some friendships might seem unlikely, but in reality, move mountains and melt hearts. A few years ago we wrote about a beautiful, yet uncommon, the friendship between a shepherd dog Ingo and an owl Poldi and today we present even more feathered friends of the pup.
Ingo and friends are the members of Tanja Brandt’s family who is an incredible animal photographer. These furry and feathered beauties are perfect models to portray beautiful, sweet and unexpected moments between two extremely different species.
“I’ve always loved animals, since I was a baby, unlike the rest of my family”- said Tanja to Bored Panda in 2015. “When I was little, I found every sort of pet and then hid it from my parents. I love the beauty, power, loyalty, courage, and friendship of animals. Many people could learn from them.”
Below you can find some of the most amazing pictures of unlikely friends ever. Which one is your favorite?
Source: Photographer Captures Amazing “Pillars Of Light” In Northern Ontario, Canada – Collective Evolution
http://www.collective-evolution.com
Growing up in a small town in Northern British Columbia, Canada, the Northern Lights were a common sight. It wasn’t until I moved to Toronto back in 2010, that I actually realized how much I took this spectacular light show for granted as so many people I met had a longing to witness this natural beauty – it didn’t occur to me that I was actually lucky to witness this beauty as many people had only dreamed of seeing the Northern Lights. Since I left my home town, I have not seen the lights again, even though it’s all I want to see.
Although to view the aurora borealis is somewhat rare, there is another natural phenomenon that can be witnessed in colder climates in the Northern Hemisphere at night time, these have come to be known as “light pillars” as essentially, they are pillars of light and colour that seem to shoot up from the ground and into the sky, they are also very beautiful!
Every once in a while someone is able to capture this beauty on camera so that the rest of us who have only dreamed about such an event can have a glimpse at the magnificence that our mother, Gaia has to show us. Recently, photographer Timothy Joseph Elzinga was woken up by his 2-year-old son, Gibson at 1:30am after his son noticed these beautiful coloured lights dancing through the sky. Timothy grabbed his camera and was able to shoot some breathtaking photos, he later realized that what he was seeing was actually a natural phenomena known as light pillars.
“I thought it was The Northern Lights because we live in Canada. It was a super clear night, you could see everything. These lights were shooting into the sky, blasting hundreds of feet in the air and they were shimmering and moving.” Elzinga said.
Well, believe it or not, they aren’t messages waiting to be decoded sent to us from super advanced hyper dimensional beings – at least that’s not what mainstream science tells us. A light pillar is essentially an optical phenomenon created by our atmosphere. It is an interaction of light with ice crystals…
Nobody likes to be watched while they’re trying to read a book, but we’re willing to make an exception if it means getting to visit this stunning new library in China, because as you can see below, the incredible structure has a giant spherical auditorium in the middle that looks just like a giant eye.
Located in the Binhai Cultural District In Tianjin, the five-story library, which was designed by Dutch design firm MVRDV in collaboration with the Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute (TUPDI) and has since been dubbed “The Eye of Binhai”, covers 34,000 square metres and can hold up to 1.2 million books. Taking just three years to complete, the library features a reading area on the ground floor, lounge areas in the middle sections and offices, meeting spaces, and computer/audio rooms at the top. We’re not sure how much studying we’d get done though – we’d be far too busy marveling at the awesome architecture!
Source: Symbolic Pics of the Month 11/17 – The Vigilant Citizen
vigilantcitizen.com
In this edition of SPOTM: Kevin Spacey, Milo Yiannopoulos, Bryan Cranston and the symbolism around the Vegas shooting. And more.In the past years, several mega-franchises released “character posters” and, unsurprisingly, they’re replete with the one-eye sign. Here are the posters of Star Trek Discovery. Can they be more blatant? Not really.
In case you believe that this is all a coincidence, here are 8 more posters from the same series.
In case you still believe this is all a coincidence, here are 3 posters promoting Star Wars The Force Awakens.
While we’re looking at movie posters, here’s the official poster of the movie All I See if You.
The one-eye sign popped up on several famous faces last month, reminding us that showbiz is actually about servitude.
Speaking of Hollywood weirdness, several people have fallen recently … like a house of cards.
I could post one-eyed pics all day but you’ve probably got your fill by now. Although the recurrence of the one-eye is blatant proof of an elite-controlled industry, “they” enjoy making things even more blatant.
Now, on to a completely different topic. The Vegas shooting. It occurred over a month ago and the official story is still extremely murky. However, the symbolism that surrounded the tragedy is difficult to ignore.
Special thanks to everyone who sent in pics.