In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black are supposed men dressed in black suits who claim to be quasi-government agents who harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen. It is sometimes implied; the term is frequently used to describe mysterious men working for unknown organizations, as well as various branches of government designed to protect secrets or perform other strange activities. The term is generic, used for any unusual, threatening or strangely behaved individual whose appearance on the scene can be linked in some fashion with a UFO sighting. Several alleged encounters with the men in black have been reported by UFO researchers and enthusiasts. Stories about real-life men in black inspired the semi-comic science fiction Men in Black franchise of comic books and other media. Folklorist James R. Lewis compares accounts of men in black with tales of people encountering Lucifer and speculates that they can be considered a kind of "psychological drama."

Men in black figure prominently in ufology and UFO folklore. In the 1950s and 1960s, UFOlogists adopted a conspiratorial mindset and began to fear they would be subject to organized intimidation in retaliation for discovering "the truth of the UFOs."In 1947, Harold Dahl claimed to have been warned not to talk about his alleged UFO sighting on Maury Island by a man in a dark suit. In the mid-1950s, the ufologist Albert K. Bender claimed he was visited by men in dark suits who threatened and warned him not to continue investigating UFOs. Bender maintained that the men in black were secret government agents, given the task of suppressing evidence of UFOs; the ufologist John Keel claimed to have had encounters with men in black and referred to them as "demonic supernaturals" with "dark skin and/or'exotic' facial features." According to the ufologist Jerome Clark, reports of men in black represent "experiences" that "don't seem to have occurred in the world of consensus reality."Historian Aaron Gulyas wrote, "during the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, UFO conspiracy theorists would incorporate the Men in Black into their complex and paranoid visions."In his article, "Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker," John C. Sherwood claims that, in the late 1960s, at the age of 18, he cooperated when Gray Barker urged him to develop a hoax—which Barker subsequently published—about what Barker called "blackmen," three mysterious UFO inhabitants who silenced Sherwood's pseudonymous identity, "Dr. Richard H. Pratt."

The song E. T. I by Blue Öyster Cult references them in its lyrics that are about UFO sightings The first film appearance of men in black was in Hangar 18, which had four credits for MIBs, who chase the film's protagonists and try to prevent them from learning the truth. In Season 3, Episode 20 of The X-Files, "Jose Chung's From Outer Space", a man in a black suit and gloves appears to warn and threaten a character in the episode not to share his experience witnessing an alien abduction. Another man in black shows up in the episode and is played by Alex Trebek; the first man in black is played by Jesse Ventura. It's stated. Men in Black, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as Agent K and Agent J was based on Lowell Cunningham's comic book about a secret organization that monitors and regulates alien activity on Earth – The Men in Black from Aircel Comics; the film was followed by Men in Black: The Series, which ran from 1997 till 2001. Two sequels to the film were released, Men in Black II in 2002 and Men in Black 3 in 2012, a spin-off film, MIB:International, was released in 2019.

Will Smith made a song titled "Men in Black" for the first film and "Black Suits Comin'" for its sequel. Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, who published the comic book, took the property to Sony where it became a billion-dollar film franchise.'The Agents' in The Matrix who are tasked with preventing humanity discovering and escaping from an artificial world, are styled on the classic appearance of men in black. The British TV series Doctor Who features a race of aliens known as The Silence that appear to be dressed in black suits; these beings work behind the scenes altering the course of human history to their own ends, cannot be remembered by those who see them. The only trace of their presence is either a vague memory or subconscious image of their appearance, or the hypnotic suggestions they leave during their encounters; the concept and appearance of The Silence draw upon the myth of the men in black. The British spin off series from Doctor Who called The Sarah Jane Adventures features a group of android agents known as men in black that were used by the Alliance of Shades to remove any evidence of extraterrestrial life from planet Earth, they removed the memory of those who had encountered aliens and they secured alien artefacts and technology.

They featured in the animated Doctor Who serial, Dreamland. The 1997 film The Shadow Men features a family that has a UFO encounter and are followed and harassed by men in black. History drama Project Blue Book has a character known as "The Man in Hat", who leads Dr. J. Allen Hynek to many strange encounters and kills anyone who knows the truth. In the alternate history short story Dukakis and the Aliens by Robert Sheckley in the 1992 anthology Alternate Presidents by Mike Resnick, Michael Dukakis defeats George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election, but is revealed to be an alien attempting to infiltrate Dulce Base; the men in black along with some friendly aliens therefore rewrite history in order for Bush to win the 1988 election, instead. National Lampoon's Men in White is a straight-to-t

The 2010 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held 19–22 August 2010 in Poznań, Poland, on Lake Malta. This is the third time that the Polish city will host the championships, having done so in 1990 and 2001. Paracanoe and the women's C-1 200 m events that were exhibition events at the previous world championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, became official events at these championships. Germany and Hungary won the most medals at the championships with twelve each though the Hungarians won six golds, the most of the championships, compared to the Germans' five golds. Brazil and Tahiti won their first championship medals. Ronald Rauhe of Germany became the winningest medalist in men's kayak with his 21st career medal, earning that in a K-1 200 m silver. Rauhe eclipsed that record he had tied at the previous championships with fellow German Torsten Gutsche. In women's kayak, Hungary's Katalin Kovács tied Germany's Birgit Fischer for most career medals with 38 with three medals earned though Kovács 29th gold passed Fischer's 28 career golds.

For the first time since 1975, a tie occurred in the medals only this time it was for the bronze in the C-1 200 m event between Canada's Richard Dalton and Ukraine's Yuriy Cheban. Canada won the first gold medal in women's canoe with Laurence Vincent-Lapointe winning gold. Paracanoe's big winners were Canada with three medals each. Canoe sprint competitions are broken up into Canadian canoe, an open canoe with a single-blade paddle, or in kayaks, a closed canoe with a double-bladed paddle; each canoe or kayak can hold two people, or four people. For each of the specific canoes or kayaks, such as a K-1, the competition distances can be 200 metres, 500 metres, or 1,000 metres long; when a competition is listed as a C-2 500 m event as an example, it means two people are in a canoe competing at a 500 metres distance. Poznań was awarded the 2010 championships at an ICF board of directors meeting in Madrid, Spain, on 23 October 2003. At the 2009 ICF board of directors meeting in Windsor, England, women's C-1 200 m was added for these championships while women's C-2 500 m will remain a demonstration event like it had the previous championships.

The relay events, started at the previous championships, 5000 m events, included for the first time since their discontinuation after the 1993 championships in Copenhagen, will occur. Paracanoe will have four events covering three classifications with LTA, TA, A; the events were confirmed following successes at the previous world championships on 18 December 2009. The schedule for the championships was released on 10 June 2010. During the week of 1 March 2010, the ICF visited Lake Malta to meet with the Host Organizing Committee to see how event preparations were progressing; some items discussed were broadcasting, event promotion, athlete services, communications. 2.5 hours of live television coverage on a daily basis is planned for the semifinal and final event as provided in the contract to meet the needs of the European market. 61 million people watched last year's championships in Canada. ICF Secretary General Simon Toulson expressed his support of the HOC and his hope that the 2010 championships will be a good one.

After opening ceremonies on the 18th, the first round of events took place on the 19th with 1000 m events completing their heats and the semifinals. Paracanoe heats were suspended that day to high winds and weather conditions. 75 nations were listed on the preliminary entry list. The numbers in parentheses shown are for those. Russia had the most overall attendees with 42; the media guide listed 75 nations as participating. Non-Olympic classes Russia won the most medals with four; the people with the most medals were two with Ivan Shtyl, Alexandru Dumitrescu, Victo Mihalachi, Vadim Menkov, Dzianis Harasha, Ronald Verch, Paweł Baraszkiewicz. For the second time in the history of the championships, a tie occurred for a medal in the C-1 200 m bronze between Canada's Richard Dalton and Ukraine's Yuriy Cheban; the first occurred thirty-five years earlier, in the K-1 1000 m gold between Italy's Oreste Perri and Poland's Grzegorz Śledziewski. Germany and Great Britain were the big medal winners with four each.

Germany won the most golds with two. Ronald Rauhe won his record twenty-first world championship medal, eclipsing the record he tied last year with fellow German Torsten Gutsche. Ten canoeists each won two medals from five different countries. Non-Olympic classes The first women's event was won by Canada's Laurence Vincent-Lapointe. Hungary was the big medal winner; the big individual winner was Natasa Janics of Hungary with five. Her teammate Katalin Kovács, won three medals to bring her career total to 38, matching that of Germany's Birgit Fischer though Kovacs did break Fischer's career gold medal count to 29, eclipsing Fischer's 28. Japan earned their first medal at the championships with Shinobu Kitamoto's bronze in the K-1 200 m event. Rachel Cawthorn became the first British woman to medal at the championships with her bronze in the K-1 500 m event. Italy won the most medals with four. Canada and Brazil each won three overall. All three of Brazil's medals were the first in the history of the world championships.

Tahiti's Patrick Viriamu became the first medalist from his country at the world cha

Francis Hutchinson was a British minister in Bury St Edmunds when he wrote a famous book debunking witchcraft prosecutions and subsequently was made Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland. Hutchinson was born in Carsington, Derbyshire, the second son of Mary and Edward Hutchinson or Hitchinson, he was taught history by his uncle, Francis Tallents, a Puritan clergyman, before beginning his studies at Katharine Hall, Cambridgein 1678. Hutchinson graduated B. A. in 1681 and M. A. in 1684, a year after he was ordained by the bishop of London and was appointed Lecturer at the rectory of Widdington, Essex. This living represented the lowest rung of the career ladder of the Church of England and Hutchinson remained there until appointed vicar of Hoxne, Suffolk in early 1690 by local Whig magnate, William Maynard. Hutchinson received a D. D. from Cambridge in 1698. Sometime before 1692, Hutchinson became a minister and perpetual curate at St. James parish in Bury St Edmunds and this may have led to an interest in researching the infamous trials that had occurred there.

In 1700, a skeptical book about the 1692 Salem witch trials by Robert Calef was printed in London and in his own book Hutchinson praises and recommends Calef's work, providing the name of the bookseller in London. Calef had emigrated to Boston from the town of Stanstead, only eleven miles south of Bury. By 1706, Hutchinson was passing around a draft of a book that would come to be called An Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft but was discouraged by influential friends from publishing. In 1712, Hutchinson experienced the local trial of Jane Wenham firsthand and again considered publishing, but again demurred. "Writing about witchcraft is a tricky business," as Ian Bostridge notes regarding Hutchinson's process. A few years a book appeared by Richard Boulton which Hutchinson detested, this seem to have galled him into publishing his book in 1718, it was a lengthy work and patiently deconstructing and dissecting witch-hunting and the witchcraft prosecutions in East Anglia and other parts of England, as well as New England, "applied a consciously rational approach to the phenomenon."

Historian Wallace Notestein, writing in 1911, ends a similar survey in 1718 "because that year marked the publication of Francis Hutchinson's notable attack." Notestein calls it "epoch-making" and writes, "Hutchinson levelled a final and deadly blow at the dying superstition."Ian Bostridge suggests Hutchinson's delays in publishing the work "indicates how contentious the subject was, within the elite circles in which Hutchinson moved." Bostridge does not diminish the importance of Hutchinson's book, but presents the vote to repeal of the Witchcraft Act in 1735 as politically complex event and not a foregone conclusion. In early 1721, Hutchinson was consecrated bishop of Down and Conner and took up residence in Lisburn, in modern day Northern Ireland, he died in 1739, aged 79, was buried in Portglenone Parish Church, County Antrim. An Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft and a subsequent edition. Not, that while the second edition has a larger type, generous spacing, an illustration, advertisements, it seems to add no more content from Hutchinson, but omits one essay from the 1718 edition