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Disney Making Fake Crop Circles?
GuNgA-DiN writes: "It seems that Disney has been busy trying to promote their upcoming movie 'Signs' (by M. Night Shyamalan). There is an interesting article from some guys who REALLY follow and study crop signs: Paul Anderson of the Canadian Crop Circle Research Network has reason to believe that they will be creating some man-made formations to promote the forthcoming movie. Anderson cites a competition or sweepstakes currently being promoted on the official 'Signs' website." Remember, patronize only genuine alien-swirled crop circles!
I'm shocked, shocked!
Better yet, don't patronize any crop circles at all, since it's destruction of property (how would you like it if a bunch of jokers spray painted your house or car, or broke into your computer and muddled around with the files? It's all the same -- destruction of property). If Disney's really doing this, then I expect to see a rash of lawsuits against them as well.
Of course, if you believe that crop circles really are made by aliens, well ... I guess it's time to break out the ol' tin foil hat.
The original "crop circles" were later admitted to be a hoax. However, when I tried to run a search for that information to show it here, I couldn't find it among the deluge of sites like this one which claims that "most serious researchers" believe that they are from "supernatural intelligence" and give quasi-religious defense for that... Where is the Amazing Randi when I need him?
Get off my launchpad!
short intro, and the homepage of Dansk Korncirkel Central.
Any Disney crop circles will have a little (C) mark somewhere nearby.
And maybe some mouse ears.
On the other hand, if Disney goes to Canada to make crop circles, we can reasonably claim the crop circles were made by aliens. But if Disney hires Canadians to make the crop circles in Canada, are the circles still considered to be the work of aliens? This is actually a very important topic of discussion, because crop circles have historically been produced by illegal aliens who are not only underpaid and overworked, they're not paying income tax. I don't know about Canada, but the IRS has a whole division devoted to hunting these tax evaders.
The only thing certain is that these circles will probably appear in threes -- two smaller circles sitting atop a larger circle -- and a pop musician will be performing in the center of each one.
...if the aliens just got tired of doing these designs and decided to have us humans do them ourselves in a mask of PR and prizes. :)
The latest issue of Scientific has an enligtening short article on the fine mischief of crop circles. (no doubt released in a timely manner in an effort to counter some of the nonsense from the release of the movie Signs.)
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
It seems fairly likely that Disney would want to create some hype for the film by commissioning man made crop signs. The only 'harm' to researchers would be if Disney never discloses doing so. Just as the Blair Witch cast was under contract to avoid all media attention until after the hype had died down I see little reason for Disney NOT to disclose not only which circles they commissioned, but how they did it as well. This final media thrust could even help researchers identify fake signs in the future.
A steaming cup of soykaf would be real wiz right now.
The crop circles were made by a couple of fellows from Winchester named Doug Bower and Dave Chorley. They made the circles for years at night, and Bower even kept the secret from his wife for seven years. When they finally told the public, few people believed them, and the UFO crowd still insists that the hoax was not the crop circles but the claim of authorship. (ObNeologism: ("cereology" -- those who study crop circles.) Never mind that Bower and Chorley have the original designs and dates, signed the drawings with "DD," and other supporting evidence. Of course, there is also Doug Bower's statement that he was programmed by UFOs to make the circles. Sigh.
Some links:
An interview with Doug Bower
An article by Carl Sagan on crop circles
Circlemakers, an art group creating crop circles
flip
Art Bell is either an idiot or a charlatan, I'm not sure which though. He constantly airs completely unconfirmed anecdotal stories and tries to use that as evidence for all sorts of completely ridiculous things. I suggest you pick up an issue or two of Skeptical Inquirer. It is a very good magazine that has lots of good debunkings on such topics as dowsing, Kirlian photography, and even crop circles. I also suggest that next time you listen to Art Bell, you ask yourself how critical is he being of his "evidence", and whether or not there is a simpler, naturalistic explanation for the things that people claim to see.
if you see the pics they are quite elaborate and definitely not natural, and for having been done in a single night Disney would have had to put down some serious money.. espeically considering the biggest one is right next to StoneHenge (correct me if i'm wrong but Disney still releases movies in teh US first)
No one is saying that Disney is responsible for the crop cirlces that have already occured. If you had taken the time to read the story, you would see that they are concerned that Disney may in the near future sponsor some people making crop circles in order to promote their new movie.
I dunno what they look like to you but they look like hints at the solar flares from 2012 that the mayans predicted.. my $.02
First of all, the Mayans didn't predict any solar flares, they didn't even know what solar flares are. They predicted a huge (earthly) disaster because they believed that those occur during plantary convergences (like the one that will happen in 2012) and other unusual astronomic events.
The only way that a solar flare could bend as much as a single wheat stalk woud be if a satellite malfunctioned because of a flare storm and crashed into a wheat field. The material part of a solar flare is limited to the sun's corona. The ejecta of a flare is just a bunch of charged particles, some of which are attracted to the Earth due to it's strong magnetic field. It is the immense charge that causes the damage, not the particles themselves.
disclaimer: this is neither a troll nor am i a lunatic (NATOL)
That may be true, but if so you are a sorely misguided person who doesn't know much about physics and doesn't know how to critically think.
Will Disney be able to sue for IP infringement if "real" crop circles look similar to the Disney ones?
Well... as long as they're circles, and are made in crops, they're real crop circles...
Anyway, here's an interesting HOWTO you can follow to create your own circles. Here's an excerpt: ;)
How long before IBM starts creating crop Tuxen?
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
The differences are: silicon added to the list of atomic numbers, different DNA and nucleotides, different "stick figure" and stats, other planets highlighted in the solar/star system and a completely different transmitter.
I fail to understand people's logic.
:-D ) but why don't farmers just file lawsuits against those who destory their fields? That would certainly take it out of the realm of the supernatural. Not to mention stoping the recurrance of this 'phenomenon'.
'Flying Saucers' were NEVER seen until one report back in the 60s got quite widespread. Then everyone reported seeing them everywhere.
Even worse, Alien abductions follow the same line. It NEVER happens to ANYONE in thousands of years... One day someone reports it happening. Then it suddenly happens to EVERYONE.
Crop circles are at least understood as fakes by most people because someone came out and admitted to doing them (despite expert opinions that people could not do such a thing
P.S. Next time you see Big Foot/Yeti and the Nesse/The Lockeness Monster, tell them Elvis said "Hi". I missed them at the last Christmas party.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
whats the point of stayingn up all night sneaking into crops around the world to make silly designs?
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
That's right, there are lots of people involved. I used to live in Winchester, Hampshire, which is right in the middle of one main areas where the circles appear and I knew people who made them. In fact it seems that the only people in southern England who don't know any circle makers are the loonies who think they're made by little green men.
I have read of some interesting phenomenon in a few of the circles investigated. Molecular changes at the base of the stalks causing them to bend, rather than break. (do that with a 2x4!) and magnetic issues inside the circle formations.
I agree that most of them are man made, and probably the most intricate ones are man made as well.. but I also remember reading with a giggle as the SKeptic Observer reported definitively that they were being made by "mating hedgehogs".
I feel safe in saying we dont KNOW they are all man made, but we do know a lot of them are.
Check here: for more info. This guy seems to be a genuine researcher who accepts it when his hypothesis dont come out right.
Maeryk
Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) has several informative reports debunking crop circles including Joe Nickell's Investigative Brief into Levengood's Crop Circle Plant Research.
If you're interested in more informed discussion, check out the CSICOP Mailing List, where this topic (Disney's Crop Circle promotion) is also current.
ancarett, historian and zombie gamer
Heh ... they even have a Fake Senator.
Karma? Karma? I don't need no stinkin' karma.
Those of you who were paying attention might remember that about a year ago, there was no such thing as crop circles. The only reason you think you've already heard of them now is because Disney has messed with the timeline.
Now you know why Disney really needed to extend the copyright term... When you're creating works in the past, you need that extra time!
I've seen dust devils (sortof miniature tornadoes, common in croplands) make interesting patterns in grainfields, by flattening the stalks as the dust devil passes over them. A dust devil will follow extremely small irregularities in the ground, whether natural or such as those left by circle irrigators, or dirt packed by vehicles, presumably because of temperature and airflow gradiants. On perfectly even ground, it'll tend to move in circles or spirals, presumably per the math of stuff affected by the earth's rotation. So a pattern of spirals or interlocking circles isn't too unusual as a result (albeit not as tidy as manmade examples).
;)
I've seen a very large dust devil (about 300 feet high, 100' wide at the top and 25' across at the base) follow the curves of a gravel road for over a mile (and it went *around* a car that happened to be in its way at a crossroads -- quite a sight!!) This road also acted as a thermal barrier when the airport behind it fogged up -- fog always ended at the road as cleanly as if it'd been cut with a giant knife.
BTW you can demonstrate dust devils' tendency to go around objects and continue on in their original line of travel -- just try "catching" a small one by getting in its way. It'll go around you every time (or even "run the other way"), doubtless because of how your being there changes the airflow.
I can easily imagine a pair of somewhat tipsy and mischievious fellows watching a dust devil moving in circles and smashing grain, and saying, "Hey, we can do that, only better!!"
I have somewhat more trouble imagining why aliens would give a shit about making crop circles (if it's communication they want, surely they can be more direct about it!) unless it's really a biohazard marking to warn their fellows.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
And Authority, (Respected Bodies of Scientists) are NEVER going to place their jobs and reputations in jeopardy by admitting that they were wrong, that Magic exists and the $20 New Orleans psychic had it right the whole time. Just won't happen.
Only it has happened, many times. Many physicists have shown themselves to be quite credulous, which is why the best debunkers tend to be magicians.
People who get too successful in convincing the world of phenomenon outside the accepted realm of science are ridiculed, tormented, punished and murdered. Or nailed to crosses. Take your pick. There is, quite simply, NO way that a person with genuine abilities would be allowed to change the whole Western belief paradigm by way of James Randi's little challenge. --Think about it. Even in the corridors of accepted science, researchers are regularly assassinated for rocking the boat.
Right. Do you also believe in UFOs, astral projection, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trans-mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis?
Can you please point out any evidence of researchers being "regularly assassinated"? Beyond the biochemist thing, which is troubling but not necessarily evidence of a conspiracy?
James Randi has too much personal stake in his 'Quest for Truth'. Remember the last time you were caught out and shown to be 180 degrees of wrong in a subject you were not just spouting with authority for years, but upon which you based massive amounts of self-worth? Perhaps this has never happened to you. Perhaps you are very good at the denial game, (which allows you to continue living in a wishful thinking daydream and not feel like a damned fool). This is James Randi. I strongly suspect that he would do almost anything to prevent himself from being proven wrong in a massive public forum. This is the kind of bias James Randi comes installed with. He has NOTHING to do with truth, and everything to do with witch hunting and serving his ego-based agenda.
Only that James Randi's challenge includes an independent judging panel agreed upon by both he and the testee. Go read how the Randi challenge is set up; it's a fair, even-handed way to test supposed supernatural powers. And on another note, he HAS been proven wrong, just not on supernatural/alien issues; check his web page. He freely admits this.
As chance would have it, I happen to know several people who have 'supernatural' abilities but who, a) Have never heard of James Randi and his little propaganda machine, b) have been so sufficiently tormented and stunted for being different while growing up by ignorant and/or cruel people around them, that they instinctively cringe away from such mean-spirited (and most likely fixed) public challenges like Randi's; they would probably shrivel up and die if forced to stand on a stage facing a million eyes determined to see only what they want to see, and to pour out only scorn and disbelief regardless of what is demonstrated
Then tell them to take the test and make a million dollars. There are thousands of people who are convinced they have powers. In controlled experiment settings, they're always proved wrong. ALWAYS. The powers evaporate, leaving a string of excuses, evasions, and prevarications.
Evidence is virtually impossible to legitimize.
If you can bend a spoon, or whatever, under controlled conditions, then you have legimate enough evidence to win the million dollars. It's not like Randi is going to let someone edit in something.
Even video tape of a shuttle launch, shot with the most expensive 'movie quality' equipment could be argued as fake by somebody with such a bent.
Sure. But the claim that science makes, is that I can go down to Houston one evening and watch the shuttle launch. Science is open to people to people looking over their shoulder; even if I'm not looking over their shoulder at this time, I can trust someone else is.
People who get too successful in convincing the world of phenomenon outside the accepted realm of science are ridiculed, tormented, punished and murdered.
Just look at the bloody way John Edwards died, just when people were starting to hear of him.
Science works by proof, and so far has been very succesful at changing the world around us using that proof. All it demands of psychic powers is the same thing.