UFO

A recently released videotape recorded in 2010 at an Air Force Base in Chile is being touted as perhaps the best-ever evidence that UFOs have visited Earth.

Leslie Kean, author of the New York Times best seller "UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record" (Crown, 2010), wrote in an article discussing the Nov. 5, 2010 sighting at El Bosque Air Base in Santiago Chile: "From different locations, spectators aimed video cameras and cell phones at groups of acrobatic and fighter jets performing an air show overhead. Nobody saw anything amiss. But afterward, an engineer from the adjacent Pillán aircraft factory noticed something bizarre while viewing his footage in slow motion."

That bizarre something was a roundish black object that seemed to chase the jets as they flew overhead. The engineer sent his video to the government's Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena, whose experts concluded that the Chilean jets were being stalked by a UFO. 

The slow-motion image shows something with a dark body and light-colored top flying quickly through the air. Kean and others interpret it as a metallic interplanetary spacecraft flying past the jets in excess of 4,000 mph.

Others, however, are far less impressed with the video. Many people — skeptics and UFO believers alike — are pretty sure it's from this earth. In fact, they think it's an insect. [5 Fake Scientific Breakthroughs]

Is this truly the case that "UFO skeptics have been dreading?" Two Internet video sleuths have compelling evidence that suggests otherwise. The first compared an unrelated video taken of a swarm of bees in flight to the object in the video; they are virtually identical. A second investigator going by the handle "Hoaxkiller" did his own video analysis that clearly shows the "UFO" flying up from the foreground in front of nearby hills. It seems that whatever it is — whether extraterrestrial spacecraft or very terrestrial insect — the UFO began its journey into the skies above the El Bosque Air Base from approximately knee height, and probably took off from less than 20 feet in front of the cameraman.  

If the Unidentified Flying Object truly is some sort of extraterrestrial spacecraft and not flying insect, it's odd that it apparently didn't show up on radar. Then there's the fact that not a single person on the scene, including the pilots, noticed the UFO. This makes fits with the flying insect theory — the pilots would of course be unable to see the bee or fly, and the crowd was of course watching the jets overhead.

Kean and others insist that the bug explanation was ruled out by expert analysis, in part because there are said to be several different videos showing it. While that claim appears to be true, it does not rule out the likelihood of the image being an insect, because so far all of the available videos are from a nearly identical vantage point. In order to conclusively debunk the bug explanation, we would need to see the UFO appearing in video taken from different locations.

Veteran UFO researcher Robert Sheaffer, who covered the topic on his "Bad UFOs" blog, told Life's Little Mysteries, "What is truly surprising is how easy it is to create a 'world class' UFO video, and stump the so-called 'experts.' Just get a video of an insect flying around, and edit it carefully so it's not immediately obvious that the object is a bug. Many UFO promoters have such a powerful will-to-believe that they often do not apply any reasonable critical analysis to sensational claims."

Skeptical explanation-defying ET craft stalking Chile's military jets or annoyed insect? You be the judge.

NBA

Oklahoma City recalls rookie PG Reggie Jackson

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma City Thunder have recalled rookie point guard Reggie Jackson from the NBA Development League prior to their game against the Miami Heat.

Jackson played only one game for the Tulsa 66ers before being called back up Sunday. He had 22 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in 41 minutes in a win against Iowa.

Jackson had been filling in as Oklahoma City's backup point guard after Eric Maynor was lost to a season-ending knee injury in January. Veteran Derek Fisher signed with the Thunder this week and took over Jackson's role.

Trayvon Martin's dad thanks Miami Heat for their support

MIAMI (AP) -- The father of the unarmed black teen whose killing has sparked widespread outrage said Sunday night that he and his family have been overwhelmed by sports stars such as Dwyane Wade and LeBron James speaking out about the case.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Tracy Martin thanked the NBA's Miami Heat for "taking notice" of the killing. Martin is the father of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla. on Feb. 26 by a neighborhood watch volunteer who claimed self-defense and has not been arrested.

The teen was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, known as a hoodie, when he was shot. On Friday, Wade posted a photo of himself in a hooded top to his social media pages, while James tweeted a photo of 13 Heat players wearing black hoodies with their heads bowed in a tribute to the slain boy. Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire of the New York Knicks made similar gestures.

"I saw a post that D-Wade had saying, `I am Trayvon Martin,"' Tracy Martin said. "To see all these athletes put Trayvon in the same sentence with them, it feels real good. Trayvon was an excellent athlete and if he could hear them saying his name, he would be so moved by it."

The neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, had called police to report the hooded figure as suspicious. Trayvon Martin was carrying a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea while returning to the home of his father's fiancee in the gated community.

As they did in Friday night's game against Detroit, several Heat players scrawled messages about Trayvon Martin on the sneakers they wore on the court Sunday. The Heat have said they hope having players speak out about the killing helps "in our nation's healing."

"We just couldn't imagine (anyone's) son leaving to go play basketball or go to the drugstore or go anywhere and he doesn't return," James said Sunday in Oklahoma City, where the Heat were playing the Thunder.

Tracy Martin said a number of athletes have reached out to the family, asking how they can help.

A large rally is being organized in Sanford on Monday, coinciding with a city commission meeting, and more star power from the sports world is expected. Orlando Magic assistant coach and former NBA star Patrick Ewing plans to attend, according to a spokesman for the Martin family, as does Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis - who makes his offseason home not far from where Trayvon Martin was killed.

Lewis plans on addressing the crowd at Monday's rally.

"These athletes are saying, `It's not about who I am. It's about right and wrong,"' Tracy Martin said. "It's like everybody's taking notice. The Miami Heat came out in their hoodies, and that's just saying, `We are people, we have hearts, we have feelings, we have emotions.' That's a warm feeling. The sports world has embraced this big-time."