In February, there were reports of an unidentified flying object in the sky near Vancouver, Washington.  But, the mystery has been solved for now.  According to the owner, a Chinese-made kite was in the sky that night.

During the UFO sightings last month, people reported seeing something high in the night sky.  Reports stated that the object danced strangely back and forth and emitted vivid blasts of flowing colors, sort of like large fireworks displays.

The Chinese kite, with parachute fabric in a triangle shape, stands 7 1/2 feet tall and has a wingspan of 13 feet.  It is decorated with hundreds of LED lights in every bright color imaginable.  The battery powered lights display many different flashing light patterns while the kite floats quietly in the sky.  According to the kite’s owner, the first minute of the patterns depict the rising sun, and then there are four more minutes of other patterns and it repeats the cycle.

After seeing a news story about the sightings, kite owner and operator Mike—he did not want to give his last name for privacy purposes– realized that many people thought his kite could be from outer space.  He invited a news team to demonstrate the kite.   Shortly after nightfall, Mike carried his kite to the center of a park for a news crew.

Kites this large are different than the kites that kids fly on windy days.   The reel to Mike’s kite is the size of a small child’s bicycle wheel. He’s harnessed with it, over his shoulders and around his back, to anchor against the wind’s pull. The reel has a big hand crank and two brakes and is wound with 300-pound-test braided string, enough to fly it to 5,000 feet, nearly a mile high.   When it is windy, the kite also has a 60 foot tail, also covered with lights, to weigh it down.  With the tail attached, the kite has 480 LED lights.

Federal Aviation Administration regulations for kites mandate that they stay lower than 500 feet from the ground within a controlled airspace, or in the close vicinity of an airport. Mike isn’t breaking any rules by flying his kite.  He certainly is causing a buzz though.

The article UFO over Vancouver, Washington is a Kite appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In April 2010 there was an event on Facebook that attracted more then 60,000 RSVPs.

It wasn’t a concert, or a sale, or a protest.

It was what appeared to be a house party, started by an unassuming looking young woman named Kate.

It created not only the 60,000 responses, but a huge variety of other facebook groups – “Is going to try to get with Kate at Kate’s Party”, “We met at Kate’s Party”, “Kate’s party would have gone off” and “Osama Bin Laden is at Kate’s Party”.

And it turns out it was all a hoax – Adelaide man, Dave Thorne, created the event to highlight the failings of Facebook privacy settings.

It became a huge sign of how quickly information can be spread by social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook.

Currently there is another event that has surpassed Kate’s house party in terms of guests.

As of March 14, there are over 100,000 people who have responded to Jess Cooper’s 16th open house party.

The event includes an address and phone number, which the party event says is Jess Coopers’.

Facebook took down the page for Kate’s party after it reached 60,000 guests, and it was confirmed to be a hoax.

It is not yet known whether this new event is another hoax, or a powerful warning to always be careful of privacy settings.

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