Say did anyone see that UFO special with Peter Jennings last night? While I personally don't believe in flying saucers or alien abductions, it was interesting how this sort of subculture came about and how people react to such alleged "sightings".
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
Yeah. Can you say "End of Career" for Petey?
I was asked once if I believed in UFO's. I said YES. If something whacks you in the back of the head and disappears, and you didn't see what it was... it was an Unidentified Flying Object.
They treated it like it was a NEW phenomena when you can even find descriptions of UFO's in the Bible. Next will come the "Bermuda Triangle" reports.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
When people ask me, "Do you believe in aliens?" I say yes. It's a big fucking universe, I can't believe we're the only life in it.
Now as for UFOs... well that's a different story. On the one hand assuming there are alien races relatively nearby odds are they might be searching for other life just like we do. And further assuming they didn't have periods like the dark ages technologically they would be more advanced which SG-1's Tollan they might haved manned 'UFO' versus our unmanned probes.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I can't imagine that any culture that has learned to travel faster than light would find us interesting enough to study for this long. Nor would they find us to be that much of a threat if their intentions were hostile.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Under the usual set of assumptions, the universe looks very old and very large. However, since we have no viable theory supported by evidence about the origin of life on Earth, scientifically predicting how much life is likely to be anywhere, let alone how much intelligent life, is a very tricky thing. All I can say is that if we have intelligent visitors, and thus presumably neighbors, they're going to absurd lengths to hide their existence.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
I too believe in aliens, just not in "flying saucers". I think an alien species capable of space flight wouldn't be so brash as to expose their vessels to an entire city a be like,"Hey everbody look at my Constitution class Starship!". I would think they would try to avoid direct contact with a more primitive species. But then again, those UFO's could be Romulan ships with crappy cloaking devices that break down every once in a while
As for Peter Jennings I think he's saying to himself, "Why the f**k did I do this special ?" Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Personally, I think the UFOs people see are the alien equivalent of drunk rednecks with nothing to do but spook the "animals". Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Visiting Earth and abducting a human for anal probing is kind of like cow-tipping, then?
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
You guys should read Greg Bear's Forge of God.
An extremely advanced alien race (s) sends out unmanned probes to search for -then- destroy any sentient races it finds as a means of self-preservation. Kind of a get them before they become a threat kind of thing.
Smart alien cultures keep their comunication signals to a minimum to avoid detection. (imagne a baby deer crying because it's lonely in a forest full of wolves)
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Personally I like the "ant" analogy that G'Kar gives on Babylon 5. IF (big if) we did encounter an "advanced culture" (I've always found that a curious term, it betrays linear or two dimensional thinking, but I digress) chances are that we wouldn't even recognise it for what it was, if we noticed it at all. If life is as diverse as the Universe appears to be then chances are that nothing remotely like us is around for the relatively tiny window of space and time that humanity has existed and even less chance anything will crop up in whatever time we have left.
That's not to say it isn't possible, there are indeed always possibilities. However the fact seams to be that there's currently no way to prove the existence of alien visitation one way or the other.
As for Flying Saucers, they do exist and I've seen photos of them. Some of them had USAF markings, others had German Air force markings, and I believe they were called lifting body aircraft. Some even flew...but most seamed to crash. One nearly killed Steve Austin I'm told.
When it comes to cow tipping and anorexic Talosians with seriously dilated irises, I believe that has much more to do with dream psychology and the subconscious mind than alien visitations. If I remember correctly, even the author of "Communion" said as much.
Not that rational thought and reason ever got in the way of a good belief. The best modern example of this kind of mindset that I�ve heard of is that it wasn�t until the 1980�s that the Vatican, rather half heartedly, admitted that maybe Galileo wasn�t all wrong and that perhaps the Earth isn�t the centre of the universe after all. Too bad he wasn't around to hear the apology in person.
Funny really.
Posted by missmanners (Member # 1523) on :
Uh huh...... and I suppose you'll try to tell me that not one of you has a tinfoil hat tucked away "just in case".
mm
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Am I to believe that NONE of you here have spotted or witnessed something in the sky that you cannot explain? Curious.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Well smarty pants, have YOU seen one.
The only time I can say I saw something strange was last summer, when I was staying over my cousin's house in Philadelphia and at about 2 in morning I noticed lights floating around the neighborhood. Now one might say I saw a UFO but you have to consider the following: It was 2am and I was tired as hell but I couldn't sleep, I also did not have a good view of the thing since I was looking at it from across my room and through venetian blinds. As far as I know, I probably saw a helicopter (not a plane since most don't hover) or a really manuevarable blimp. I tend to believe it was a helicopter since I've never seen any blimps in that area. The only thing I find strange is the fact that the "chopper" didn't make any sound.
dun,dun,DUN!!!
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by missmanners: Uh huh...... and I suppose you'll try to tell me that not one of you has a tinfoil hat tucked away "just in case".
mm
No, but I keep a condom in the glove compartment.
In case I meet some sexy aliens, of course. Love me them big eyes. Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Flying back home from NZ, we were over Russia in the middle of the night. We saw a bright orange light away towards the Arctic Circle, but over the horizon. It lit up a whole section of whole sky. Probably the flare from a gas or oil platform, but it sure looked eery. And I've just realised I have no idea how that word is actually spelt. Also, I've yet to have any explanation for those long, wide, straight channels we saw in the ice over Canada last year. It's a conspiracy, I tell you. . .
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Eerie". Though it appears "eery" is considered a viable alternative.
Posted by missmanners (Member # 1523) on :
As long as you dont confuse it with Erie.
I can actually see the sun and blue sky for the first time in 13 days. I was going to try to make a joke about that strange big orange ball in the sky, but I'm trying to I-File my taxes and I can only concentrate on one joke at once.
mm
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
The only thing I've seen that I couldn't explain was when I was 17. My mom and I were driving home one night in Pensacola, FL when both saw a greenish-yellow fireball looking thing directly in front of us coming from the sky and landing in a field by the road. It must have only been about 10-15 feet in front of us.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"I-File"?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Didn't you hear? Everyone so resents paying taxes, that the IRS have hired Apple's design consultants to give them an image change. They're now the iRS, you pay your iTaxes. . .
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Or Bill's finally taken over the government.
Soon we'll be occupying iRaq.
Posted by missmanners (Member # 1523) on :
*snicker*
Well I wasn't happy, they make you round to the nearest dollar. I was cheated out of 38 cents in my refund.
mm
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
...and for just 38 cents (the price of a cup of coffee!), you could have helped a child in one of the poorest countries in the world.
Great kids: like Seigfried, who can barely afford pornography each month.
Kids like Liam, so poor he has to "write articles about videogames" (local slang for prostitution) just to put food on the table.
Wont you become a Flarite sponsor? Operators are standing by. Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Dial 1-800-CHUCKY?
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mars Needs Women: Well smarty pants, have YOU seen one.
Yes.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Without Tequila?
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
Well, I have never seen anything that looked even remotely like a UFO - except on those infamous TV specials... Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
I haven't seen any UFO's...but I work with a bunch of JAFO's.
(Couldn't resist the Blue Thunder acronym)
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Yikes. I remember that. I also remember that Blue Thunder and Airwolf started the same year. Guess there was room for only one super-helicopter show.
B.J.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Without Tequila?
Yes. Without any sort of intoxicating beverage, drug or softdrink.
Posted by Nim' (Member # 205) on :
I'll take Roy Schnoider over a squinting crybaby with a brother named Sinjin anytime.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Didn't he kill himself?
Not rascally Roy Scheider, the Airwolf guy.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Okay, so I can understand that someone sees something in the sky they don't immediately recognize. But how the hell does that mean they're alien spacecraft?
If there really were aliens around, I'm sure it would be pretty damn obvious. Like, you know, a 24 hour broadcast by Fox saying "OMFG ALIENS!". And the Sun coming out with the headlines like "VICTORIA BECKHAM TALKS WITH ALIENS IN THE NUDE".
And of course there are aliens somewhere. It's just utterly unlikely we'll ever meet them. And if we meet them, I'm sure it will be something more exciting than a blob of light in the sky.
Posted by Nim' (Member # 205) on :
It will be as exciting as a medical conference in Helsinki, with some suits going up in orbit and negotiating with the envoy about traficking-lanes in the system, fiscal responsibilities re: Mars and the moon and then maybe in ten years they'll get back to us when envoy-b0i gets home.
Jason: What, Jan-Michael The Vincent? Never, he's from Colorado. Unless he's built his own plane and will go coast-cruising.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Yeah: I was thinking of the guy from BSG 1980 and Farscape. Kinda the same vibe there but JMV had less dramatic range than the dead guy (still does).
Really, the only reason I dont think the UFO/abduction thing deserves more credence is that the accounts of aliens is waaaaay too simmular to us for plausability: the same numbers of arms, legs eyes etc make ir unreal.
That's not to say that I can watch Communinon with the lights off. No way man: tah's some scary shit, there.
Seriously.
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
Then there's the old "To Serve Man" theme from an OLD OLD either Outer Limits or Twilight Zone.
Aliens leave a book. Title is translated "To Serve Man". SuperIQ Dude scientist boards UFO to communicate with friendly aliens. Door shuts and UFO takes off. Man gets final communication from ground that the book is actually a recipe.
***Couldn't resist side joke***
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One looks at the other and asks: "Does this taste funny to you?"
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
You know, with the number of people who spell it that way, I would have thought by now that I would have met someone who actually says "sim-yoo-lar". Yet, no.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
You mean MORE people spell it "simmular"!?! That's scary. Similar. Similarity. etc. Simmular sounds like some sort of simulation.
Posted by Nim' (Member # 205) on :
TSN, I think that's because of the translation factor. I had a friend back in the early 90's who introduced me to Dune II, the sassy strategy game. While he was talking about it he mentioned the unit called "stage tank", which got me interested. Was it like a combined missile/cannon platform that could attack with different weapons depending on the range of the enemy? Or did it have two-stage rockets?
All those questions were laid to rest when we had gotten far enough in the game to build that tank, where I saw that it was called "Siege Tank". My friend's brain simply locked out the "Sieg"-part because he didn't understand it. I talked to him for a while about Stalingrad and Poland in 1939-42 and after some soft weeping and loss of innocence, he was ready to learn what a siege tank meant.
He also called the Command&Conquer "Orca" attack-chopper "okra".
So while you don't hear people say "simmular" with a "u", you can bet that some of them are thinking it.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I axe you all you get back on topic. Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I assumed it was the same language quirk that causes some Americans to say "Nucular".
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
Perhaps there are aliens on this very board... Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: I assumed it was the same language quirk that causes some Americans to say "Nucular".
Or the English to say "Bob's your uncle".
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Cram it, poindexter.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Up yer shaft, wanker.
So Liam, ever seen anything not easily explained in the night sky?
There is that whole UFO incident at the joint US/British NATO base in the early 1980's that seems to have been taken seriously at the time...
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: I assumed it was the same language quirk that causes some Americans to say "Nucular".
Or a Limey to go to "Shool" Or keep a "Shed-ule" or drink soda from an "al-oom-e-num" can
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Er, no. Americans say "aluminum" with four syllables. The English say "aluminium" with five.
And I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce "school" without a 'k' sound in it.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Spaeking of speaking strangely, anyone heard Korn's new cover of Another Brick In The Wall Pt. II?
The singer's distorted voice sounds so much like a Dalek, I nearly ran off the expressway laughing. The image of a Supreme Dalek singing "We dont need no education...' was too funny.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I have never heard anyone say "shool". Or "up yer shaft", for that matter. "stick it up your penis"? Strange.
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: There is that whole UFO incident at the joint US/British NATO base in the early 1980's that seems to have been taken seriously at the time...
Being 3 at the time, it obviously deeply affected me and helped create the Star Trek loving dude you see today.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I meant, is it still discussed (as our neverending "Roswell conspiracy" is.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon:
quote: There is that whole UFO incident at the joint US/British NATO base in the early 1980's that seems to have been taken seriously at the time...
I've never heard of this. What supposedly happened?
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Halt: OK, we're looking at the thing, we're probably about 2 to 300 yards away, it looks like an eye winking at you. It's still moving from side to side, and when you put the star scope on it, it sort of has a hollow center, a dark center. It's, you know, like the pupil of an eye looking at you, winking. And the flash is so bright to the starscope that, it almost burns your eye.
Mecha-Sauron?
Sounds like it was taking scans, photos of the humans and the base. It was probably an UAV probe sent down from those 3 recon vessels in the sky, would be stupid otherwise to put your eggs in one basket.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
what was the bit with the "woman screaming"? And if one of the two superpowers at the time took over a military base in another country, then - a scan of the place makes sense to see what is going on.
Posted by FuturamaGuy (Member # 968) on :
I remember watching something about that on the History Channel. The US soldiers they interviewed seemed damn serious about the whole thing.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
The thing is some of these people aren't out to try and make money of the thing so why would they risk their reputations etc. on lying about such things. I mean being in a doco on the History Channel or Discovery Channel isn't really trying to gain some sort of fame. They just go on to tell their story.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
People WILL do anything to get on TV, any TV. 'Reality' Programming is a perfect demonstration of this fact.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: I meant, is it still discussed (as our neverending "Roswell conspiracy" is.
Not by anyone I know. Possibly nerds, somewhere, but none of my mates (and before you point out that we are a bit young, all of them know about Roswell.)
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Actually, I was not going to point out your age: I was wondering if the mass media over there was dragging the story into the ground.
Aparantly not.
Of course, age has noting to do with it anyway: most "UFOlogists" were not even alive at the time of the Roswell incident.
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
If haven't seen any report on UFO sightings on the news or in a newspaper in years. Perhaps the aliens have finally lost interest in our miserable little planet...
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Well, if they picked up "reality TV", they probably did.
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
Maybe they're just "Forgotten"
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
All 4400 of them?
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Austin Powers: If haven't seen any report on UFO sightings on the news or in a newspaper in years. Perhaps the aliens have finally lost interest in our miserable little planet...
There was that large (supposedly quite large) deep-black triangular UFO seen over LA?? For about a week - a while back - probably a few years ago now.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
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