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Conspiracy Theorists, Meet The Moon

Spock the Baptist writes "You can read about an article entitled: "Telescope to challenge moon doubters" in the online edition of Sydney Morning Herald. The SMH reports that, "European scientists are to use the world's newest and largest telescope to see whether the spacecraft are still on the lunar surface." Does anyone really think that this will change the alleged minds of doubters?"

70 of 504 comments (clear)

  1. Doesn't matter by ewithrow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does anyone really think that this will change the alleged minds of doubters?

    No, these people just want attention, they don't care if they're wrong or not.

    1. Re:Doesn't matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful
      You mean "they don't caare that they're wrong."

      Moon doubters are wrong. No doubt about it. They know it themselves.

    2. Re:Doesn't matter by ewithrow · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, that is what I mean, I was just trying to point out that either way there will always be the naysayers. The best thing to do is to probably ignore them instead of investing time and money that could be better used elsewhere, like actual research in the case of the telescope.

    3. Re:Doesn't matter by AvitarX · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I disagree, some photos of the moon lander taken from earth would be really cool IMHO.

      Even if there were no doubters I think it would be a cool thing to do.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    4. Re:Doesn't matter by Wastl · · Score: 3, Funny

      But they won't get a story on Slashdot with actual reasearch.:-)

      Sebastian

    5. Re:Doesn't matter by drunkmonk · · Score: 5, Funny

      The only way you'll ever convince these people is to take them to the moon and let them touch the stuff.

      And then leave them there, because we've got enough wackos planetside.

    6. Re:Doesn't matter by Negatyfus · · Score: 5, Funny

      Look at the moon pictures published by NASA They are so obviously fakes. USA couldn't cut is before the '60s ended, so they had to make it all up to not lose face. It's all on the internet, if you don't believe me! Besides, I think they also made up women. I mean, how many of you can claim to have even seen one?? Exactly. They just don't exist, I tell you.

    7. Re:Doesn't matter by hagardtroll · · Score: 4, Funny

      Whats so funny, is these are probably the same people who believe the 'Face On Mars' is of alien intelligence origin.

    8. Re:Doesn't matter by macdaddy357 · · Score: 5, Funny

      From the article...According to Mr Allen, NASA was forced to send robots to the moon and faked the manned missions because radiation levels in space were lethal to humans. Robots in 1969? These nuts need to stop smoking crack.

      --
      How ya like dat?
    9. Re:Doesn't matter by b1t+r0t · · Score: 3, Funny
      Then they'd just claim that what they were touching was just some mock-up put there after the fact.

      I was just thinking that. But then I realized that you might get lucky and they'd try to prove it by opening their helmet.

      --

      --
      "Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
      "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
  2. Yep, it'll change their minds... by pcbob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    instead of doubting the moon landing, they will now be convinced that it's fake.

    Why else would somone try to show them otherwise?

  3. They are all owned by... by lexcyber · · Score: 3, Funny

    disney!!!! And if disney said the US landed on the moon. They did... or was that andy kaufman? Or maybe the marx brothers? hmmm... - Im not sure anymore.... - Maybe we are living in some tank and the world is computer generated by machines. Like a big matrix.... uhu... who are you black people in my office..... no... dont drag me away....

    --
    - To understand recursion, we must first understand recursion -
  4. Conspiracy Theorists... by LordOfYourPants · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Will see these photographs and say "Wow, those are excellent fakes."

    Then there will be tons of websites that crop up showing how the images were doctored, photoshopped, impossible, etc.

    Some people just can't be convinced, and I'm not sure how much tax money should be spent on such a pursuit.

    1. Re:Conspiracy Theorists... by richie2000 · · Score: 4, Funny

      They didn't. They used this really, really big gun. That's why no humans could be on that trip and NASA had to fake it. The people came later, when They got the anti-grav technology They found in Roswell working. Say, isn't the shuttle right above Turkey now? They read Slashdot, you know.

      --
      Money for nothing, pix for free
    2. Re:Conspiracy Theorists... by Savage-Rabbit · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I might be willing to swallow the concept of NASA doctoring photographs because the actual material from the moon was too lousy for grade-A propaganda. That might explain some of the admittedly very strange flaws in official NASA photos that people have pointed out.

      But the idea of moon landings not taking place is pretty idiotic. The US govt/NASA would have had to have been pretty stupid to fake the moon landings. After all they had to expect the Russians, or somebody else, would either go there sooner or later or send probesx to verify or just out of pure curiosity and they would look to be huge fools if no traces of landings were found.

      --
      Only to idiots, are orders laws.
      -- Henning von Tresckow
    3. Re:Conspiracy Theorists... by Savage-Rabbit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I too a look at the doubters photos and found most of their argumentation to be quite weak. The only photos that really stuck out, at least to my mind, were photos where cross hair patterns, placed on a plate between the shutter and the film om the astronauts cameras disappear behind the astronauts or other objects.

      I meant my statement to indicate the furthest that I would go in accepting the doubters argumentation. I can see, if I try really hard, how NASA MIGHT have been tempted to "help photography along" ie. retouch photos if they got a bunch of not very good material back. NASA would not be the first one to fall into that pit. What would you do if you just spent an obscene amount of money on a moon landing and all you had to show for it was bad photographic material? That being said I will consider every alternative other than even minimal retouching of NASA photos. I find it simply too hard to beleive that the USA and its Govt. would risk the colosal humiliation that a faked moonlanding would inevitably bring with it.

      --
      Only to idiots, are orders laws.
      -- Henning von Tresckow
    4. Re:Conspiracy Theorists... by Tzoq · · Score: 5, Informative

      No mystery there. You'll notice that all of the "disappearing" crosshairs go behind bright white objects. As it happens, when film is exposed the bright areas tend to "bloom" and bleed into neighbouring dark areas. So what happens when a thin black line goes through a bright white area? The bloom washes over the black line entirely and it disappears.

      --
      -- Meet the Residents -- http://www.residents.com/
    5. Re:Conspiracy Theorists... by Jerf · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Addendum to Tzoq's message: A lot of the claims made by the conspiracy theorists, like that exact one, are falsifiable without too much effort. Rather then arguing endlessly, why not try taking a photograph of a thin black line on an extremely bright background? (Be sure to match the "alleged" conditions on the moon, which is a brighter daylight then we get even down here, because there's no atmosphere. Also match the film they would have used, as a different formulation might be able to distinguish between the line and white on Earth, but perhaps not survive on the moon for other reasons. Very few lights can match sunlight... another easily testable assertion.) You can argue from ignorance until your lips fall off, or you can try it for yourself, find out how many of the conspiracy theorists arguments fall flat, and draw the natural conclusions about their arguments.

      Nobody is forcing ignorance on you!

  5. Hogwash by mdechene · · Score: 5, Funny

    Had astronauts ever landed on the moon, the cheese surely would have melted when they tried to blast off. Cripes, I can't even cook cheddar in my oven, a mere 400 degrees F, without it melting and getting all smelly. How could it have stood up to rocket blasts? Riddle me that!

    --

    Karma: Not Particularly Funny.
  6. And in other news.... by idiotnot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Spanish scientists, doubting Christopher Columbus' trip to the "new world" will use the same telescope to prove that the Earth is flat.

    1. Re:And in other news.... by kmellis · · Score: 3, Informative
      You mean "...doubting Christopher Columbus's trip to Asia and to prove that the world is really just about as big as people thought it was". No one thought the world was flat.

      Hey, what do you know? Turns out that all the naysayers were right and Columbus was a deluded nutcase.

    2. Re:And in other news.... by dbrutus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Which just goes to show you that it sometimes pays to cater to deluded nutcases as interesting stuff can show up along the way.

  7. Re:Lies! by rtconner · · Score: 3, Funny

    The U.S. government... lie? nooo...

    --
    023AD01("Child", "Evil");
  8. This would at least help by cmallinson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think the majority of "moon-landing-doubters" are naive people that watched that socially irresponsible Fox TV show, and a few pictures of the landing site may be enough to sway them. There is, however, no use even talking to the true "conspiracy theorist".

  9. What if... by Russellkhan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Does anyone really think that this will change the alleged minds of doubters?

    What if it shows them to be right?

    Note: Although I'm beginning to see signs of conspiracy theorist (General paranoia, distrust of my own government, a sinking feeling that all my civil liberties are disappearing quickly, a belief that my government values the greed of corporations over the needs of its people, etc) in myself, I do not ascribe to the belief that the moon mission was faked.

    --
    Information doesn't want to be anthropomorphized anymore.
    1. Re:What if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I do not ascribe to the belief that the moon mission was faked

      But in a sense, mankind has never been to the moon. So ok, we may have sent 12 individuals to the moon, that's hardly mankind is it? And that was 30 years ago.
      12 individuals don't really count as mankind, so we havn't REALLY been to the moon. We just visited it, very briefly, then decided it was too expensive.
      Where's all these moon colonies we were promised?

    2. Re:What if... by GospelHead821 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Unfortunately, I've seen disturbing evidence that some of the citizenry values the greed of corporations over the needs of the people. The other day, after reading the /. article about Nissan vs. Nissan, I told my parents about it, and they agreed that Nissan has more right to defend its name than Uzi Nissan does, because it's bigger, and that it would most appropriate for Uzi Nissan to change the name of his site or give up the URL entirely.

      --
      Virtue finds and chooses the mean.
      Aristotle, Ethica Nichomachea
  10. Who cares? by Beautyon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why do people care so much about what lunar denial folk think?

    Lunar deniers are an extreme minority (in both senses), they do no harm to anyone; the way astronmers obsess about proving that man went to the moon is just as insane as saying that man never went.

    Honestly, people who believe man never went to the moon will change nothing. Progress will continue. New projects will be financed, launched and will return spectacular results. The manned space station is in orbit right now, if you needed any proof of this.

    There will always be people like the lunar deniers.

    Get over it, and ignore them.

    --
    ATH0 Bitcoin: 1DnwFLXczVZV8kLJbMYoheUrpqHesjxrSi
    1. Re:Who cares? by zmooc · · Score: 4, Informative
      New projects will be financed

      Projects are financed by the state which is financed by it's people. Now some of those people don't believe their money is really spent right with NASA. That might hurt financing in the long run or may already do so; getting people enthousiastic is very important. And to get that done, they first have to believe.

      --
      0x or or snor perron?!
    2. Re:Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I care. The lunar landings were arguably the greatest achievement of mankind, ever. Denying that diminishes us all.

      Furthermore, assigning all these mysterious conspiracies to perfectly legitimate institutions like NASA is bad for their profile, which in turn could lead to further budget cuts.

    3. Re:Who cares? by Bastian · · Score: 5, Funny

      In other news, Alabama has passed new legislation requiring all history textbooks to include the following disclaimer before discussing the Apollo program:

      Humans landing on the moon is just one of many equally valid theories concerning the video footage and rock samples resulting from the Apollo program. The moon landing is a controversial theory. Instructional material associated with controversy should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."

      Alabama history teachers are encouraged to devote class time to discussing other theories about the Apollo mission.

  11. NASA Sues European Scientists.... by mdechene · · Score: 5, Funny

    ....over DMCA violation.

    Allegedly, the European Scientists were using a new large telescope (technological means) to circumvent NASA encryption (Apparently they own that thing that if something's really freakin far away, you can't see it). Too bad the public will never know what really happened on that big orb in the night sky, so very, very far away.

    --

    Karma: Not Particularly Funny.
  12. what the government should do by interstellar_donkey · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is start up websites that do nothing but debunk all those UFO photos and make wild outlandish claims that it's a giant cover-up by the conspiracy therorists to mask the horrifying truth; That they have no lives.

    --
    The Internet is generally stupid
  13. It's a conspiracy! by tgrotvedt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The images from the telescope are actually made with subliminal images of the Coca Cola logo. If you turn the image upsides down, draw a square around the ship and read the horizon as a waveform you get the sound of John Lennon saying "JFK is not dead" backwards 3 times.

    The "telescope" was actually a UFO that crashed on the moon and was hidden by the FBI and CIA for all these years. We have leaked documents to prove it!"

    There is NO point trying to disprove conspiracy theories, that merely validates them, and gives the impression that these theories were taken seriously. Anyone can come up with a conspiracy theory about anything.

    --
    What makes a man want to be a mouse? (Python's Flying Circus)
  14. Problems with these people... by acehole · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You show them the moon through the telescope, they'll say the telescope has been tampered with.

    You show them pictures, they say they've been doctored and are fakes.

    You show them footage, they say it was staged and point out supposed inconsistancies.

    You take them to the moon and show them the lander, they say it was planted there.

    There is no end to it, just dont even bother.

    --
    Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
    1. Re:Problems with these people... by BrookHarty · · Score: 4, Funny

      You take them to the moon and show them the lander, they say it was planted there.

      SHOTGUN! I'll be waiting in the Space Shuttle.

    2. Re:Problems with these people... by rakerman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You can't use rational proof to combat irrational faith. It just doesn't work. You're not on the same playing field, and you're not even playing the same game.

      Rather than wasting money trying to convince unconvinceable people, spend money on education, particularly for children.

      People are not, by nature, particularly good at many things. This certainly includes assessment of risks, and may include rational thought. You want to get reasonable people? Raise reasonable people.

    3. Re:Problems with these people... by Mr+Guy · · Score: 5, Funny

      You take them to the moon and show them the lander, they say it was planted there.


      Well no shit. Isn't that what the argument is about?

      It would seem to me they would have to say, "No, we are really in Arizona" at that point. This is when you encourage them to remove their helmet.

      It's like one of those "How much do you believe" arguments to disprove alot of philosophy. Say you believe there is a chair all you want, let your mind and your body take a vote and see if your ass ends up on the floor.

  15. Bang, ZOOM! by NeuroManson · · Score: 3, Funny

    Here's a simple solution: Stick all the doubters and nay sayers into a rocket and shoot it to the moon. Then they'll have all the proof they need (at least as long as their oxygen holds out, nobody says they need to return). Ralph Kramden was a visionary!

    --
    Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
  16. Re:Keep Luna Tidy! by jericho4.0 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I'm all for the development of heavy industy in space.. I don't think a barren, airless rock qualifies as an 'enviroment'.

    In the very long run, this gives some hope for an almost pristine Earth, with all the benifits of industry.

    --
    "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
  17. Re:Lies! by Guppy · · Score: 5, Funny

    "All lies! Only if the government gives me a ticket to fly over to where the telescope is located and see at it for myself and allow me to check out other things in space to ensure it's not a fake. Then MAYBE I'll believe them.

    Hey, you've got my support. To cut down on costs, though, I'm going to vote for the one-way ticket option.

  18. This isn't the conspiracy you're looking for. by Gumshoe · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Does anyone really think that this will change the alleged minds of doubters?"


    I doubt it. Simply because the conspiracy theory isn't whether or not spaceships are on the moon but whether, to paraphrase JFK, man was sent to the moon and bought back alive (during the Apollo missions). Conspiracy theorists generally accept the existence of moon rocks and so forth because they consider it entirely plausible that unmanned spacecraft can help fulfill the various missions -- and indeed they did, for many years, before and after the Apollo missions and by several nations.

    To repeat myself, the conspiracy theory hinges on whether or not it was/is impossible to send man to the moon and to bring him back alive. I should also add that I have no conspiritorial beliefs of my own on this subject.
  19. Re:The American flag by Richard_at_work · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Its been said before, I will say it again, Hubble does not have the resolution to take those sorts of pictures. Also the moon reflects so much light that it would dazzle hubbles collectors anyway. IIRC Nasa did release a rather grainy shot of one of the Apollo landing units still on the moon.

  20. Public relation by Random+Walk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While this may not end the conspiracy theories, detecting the Apollo lunar landers on the Moon would be a spectacular demonstration of the VLTs' superb performance. The VLT can achieve a resolution as good as the Hubble Space Telescope (and far better, once the interferometer is installed). Unfortunately, it has neither the staff nor the money of the HST public relation office, so pretty much nobody outside the scientific community knows that.

  21. Re:Hmmm Is this necessary? by Troy+H+Parker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > I mean what kind of costs go into taking a shot of the moon when we dont really *need* to? Sad to see equipment being *wasted* on this kind of thing.

    Some feel that way about going to the moon in the first place, and that cost orders of magnitude more money.

  22. I don't see how this will be conclusive... by dubious9 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Consider the following: the telescope can see a human hair from 16km away. A human hair is about .1mm. The moon is 384400km away from earth.

    (384400km/16km)*.0001m = 2.4025m, which is to say that the telescope can see objects as small as 2.4 meters on the surface of the moon. That means the lander wouldn't be bigger than 2 pixels square.

    "What's that little black dot?"
    "That's the lander, duh."
    "Still don't believe you"

    You can never absolutely positively convince a person of the existance of a historical event. For all I know, the United States didn't even exist in 1950. Hell, I don't even believe in France, since I've never been there. I mean come on, you want me to believe that that silly French accent comes from a real language?!! Proposterous!

    --
    Why, o why must the sky fall when I've learned to fly?
    1. Re:I don't see how this will be conclusive... by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hell, when pushed into a corner, the French won't even admit to believing in France.

      --
      This space available.
    2. Re:I don't see how this will be conclusive... by hagardtroll · · Score: 4, Funny

      Then how do you explain the french toast I had for breakfast?

  23. Fantastic documentary by stud9920 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Last month I saw a fantastic documentary on Arte, the French-German culture TV channel. The point of the documentary was that although the moon landing was real, Nixon had been so scared that it would fail, that he ordered to make a fake film about it. As this was decided pretty unexpectedly, they negotiated to use the London based film set for Kubrick's "2001".

    They went on explaining that Kubrick as a perfectionist decided to shoot it himself, how the CIA got rid of the witnesses one by one in the seventies, and how eventually Kubrick died "unexpectedly" in 1999, just before he could make some revelations.

    The whole documentary was backed with interviews with Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, and TV footage from Nixon's White House. None of these interviews were dubbed. They only cut it the right way.

    As a critical person, I sat on my chair all the time thinking : "This can't be true ! That'a amazing !". The great thing is they didn't deny the moon landing at all so it made all the rest seem plausible. Then after half an hour they revealed it was all manipulation. The moon hoax theory was a hoax itself. Really a great documentary.

  24. why so unbelievable? by hugesmile · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't understand why people doubt the lunar landings. I mean, it's not rocket science.

  25. Alleged Minds by mcgintech · · Score: 4, Funny
    "Does anyone really think that this will change the alleged minds of doubters?"

    Who is alleging that these people have minds and what proof do they have! I think NASA should pay someone $15k to prove whether or not these people actually have minds.

    Perhaps scientists could use cutting edge technology and the world's most powerful microscope to prove whether or not these people's minds exist.

    Slashdot readers want to know!

    --

    Uhhhh, yeah, thath dithgustin. [The lady's man]

  26. If I was American... by pubjames · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think if you're American, you'd be nuts not to be a conspiracy theorist! Bear with me...

    I'll leave Bush aside... But have you read up on your Vice President Dick Cheney (exCEO of Halliburton Industried, and oil services company with dealings with Iraq), Secretary of Commerce Don Evans (ex chairman and CEO of Tom Brown Inc, an oil and gas company), Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld (ex board member of the Tribune Company which publishes the Los Angelese Times, Chicago Tribune, NY's Channel 11), Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham (received more from the automotive industry than any other candidate, voted in 2000 to abolish the department he now leads), Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson (received paid for trips abroad to promote free trade and $72,000 in campaign contributions from Philip Morris, the tobacco giant), Secretary to the Interior Gale Norton (ex national chairwoman of an "environmental group" funded by Ford Motor Company and BP Amoco, White House Chief of Staff Andrew H Card Jr (ex General Motor's chief lobbyist), National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (served on Chevron's board of directors, has an oil tanker named after her!), Secretary to the Treasury Paul O'Neill (ex. president and CEO of Alcoa - one of the biggest polluters in Texas), Shadow Adviser to the President Kenneth L. Lay (ex Head of Enron...)...

    Maybe things were better in 1969. But I don't believe much your Government says these days. Especially about the "war on Iraq" not having anything to do with oil. Does that make me a crazy conspiracy theorist?

    1. Re:If I was American... by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But I don't believe much your Government says these days. Especially about the "war on Iraq" not having anything to do with oil.

      I'd be curious to know how specifically the US government benefits from the oil in Iraq after a war. Keep in mind that Saddam (is that his surname?) could very well destroy all of his oil facilities and set all his wells alight if he senses the end is nigh.

    2. Re:If I was American... by pubjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'd be curious to know how specifically the US government benefits from the oil in Iraq after a war.

      Iraq has the second largest proven reserves of oil in the world after Saudi Arabia. American oil companies have not had access to this since the late 1980s. They stand to profit enormously from a post-Hussein government friendly to the United States. It would also allow the scuttling of oil deals between Iraq and other countries and reshuffling world petroleum markets in favor of US oil firms.

      There is a lot for US oil companies to gain from getting a US friendly regieme into Iraq, and that is exactly what Bush wants to do. They have also been trying to put in place a regieme that will cancel oil agreements Iraq currently has with China, Russia and France. I shouldn't need to point out the links between Bush and his cronies and the oil companies.

      You don't have to take my word for it. Spend a few hours reading what the better international press has said about this over the last few months.

  27. Re:The American flag by bovril · · Score: 3, Funny

    h'm, it's supposed to be the apollo 15 landing site but to my untrained eyes it looks suspiciously like dark splotches. anyone know of any better ones out there? maybe some moon rocks or golf balls all lined up to spell HELP or something?

    --

    ---
    Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
  28. Something about this was on Space chan (cdn) today by Nogami_Saeko · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And I could only stand the drivel for around 10 minutes before I switched it to something else.

    To all the doubters, let's put the issue to rest like this:

    The US and USSR were competing neck and neck to get both astronauts into space and then to the moon. Like adolescent schoolboys, they took every opportunity to embarrass their opponent in the space race.

    So...

    When the US went to the moon, the USSR would've been watching with EVERY intelligence instrument in their posession. Every radio receiver, every telescope, every single spy would've been trained on the mission.

    If the US had faked it, you can be sure that while they probably could've got away with fooling the general US public, there's absolutely NO way they could ever fool all of the scientists and analysts of the USSR doing the monitoring.

    When the astronauts were transmitting from the moon, it would've been simplicity itself to check the signal source. If the signals were coming from anywhere other than the moon, the USSR would've had it in the press so fast that the ink wouldn't be dry on the page before the western media picked-up on it.

    Not to mention every other country on the planet with radio antennas, telescopes, etc...

    I'm sure some mental deficients would try and argue that a relay station was set up on the moon... Oh, but wait, that would require "going to the moon to set it up"... Time to just call it quits guys. How about working on conspiracy theories about aliens in area 57 instead? It'll sell better too...

    N.

    --
    "Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
  29. Taking care of various conspiracy arguments by weird+mehgny · · Score: 4, Informative

    Maybe someone posted this before me, I could've missed it, anyway:

    http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.htm l

    It's pretty thorough.

  30. Re:REDUNDENT!!!! by leuk_he · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://dwemus.org/archive.php?cid=167 could have done it. It is exaclty this text. (dated 2002-09-02)

    thx google.

  31. cubic reflector by geoff+lane · · Score: 3, Insightful
    so who put the cubic reflector on the moon so we can accurately measure the distance?

    If people really want to worry about govenment conspiracy they should look into the continued broadcasts of Barney The Dinosaur on TV

  32. Re:Something about this was on Space chan (cdn) to by Ektanoor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "When the US went to the moon, the USSR would've been watching with EVERY intelligence instrument in their posession. Every radio receiver, every telescope, every single spy would've been trained on the mission."

    Your statement is pretty cool. But you're wrong in your assumptions. Conspiracy theorists may tell you that US and USSR made a whole super-conspiracy outta the Space Conquer to convince their dumb citizens that they were pretty cool. They may say that they did this in accordance, no matter the divisions and disagreements. Or they may tell you that US sent retransmitters to Space so that everyone would think they were walking on the Moon.

    However these things are just corn seeds in the field The true problem here is not if we have been or not in the Moon. The problem is that we have had a huge debacle from Space Conquer since the 70s. Today, things are so histoircally far from us that we start to doubt if they really have taken place. How many expeditions have happened since then? How many events related to the Moon have happened since the last man quitted it? When the last seismic station turned off in the Moon?

    The Moon Conquer was for many people something very SF, even when it was really happening. Now, 30 years later, it goes more than SF. It's mythology, sometimes of the very worst taste. Appolo XIII Holywood mega-picture showed it in all colours. We see there a raw patriotism where astronauts are good husbands and fathers and take a walk to the Moon like into the countryside. The dramatism of the film is artificial and quite theatrical. The whole story goes around on "how good is Earth, home sweet, home and dear bloody family", and doesn't touch a little neither the technicities of the mission nor the real drama of bringing back the station. The film is pure BS. And this and other similar things about Space is what we feed to new generations. That's the Cosmos they see. No wonder that they start to doubt we have been there...

    Once I managed to hear something that one guy told me was a fragment from a conversation inside Appolo XIII. It was noisy, scrapped but some moments were clear. It was a cold blooded voice. It was clear that the guy was under extreme stress but he was fighting every second and every detail. No cries, no yellings, no discussions in maximas of Life and Values. Just good English full of technical details and sending Gods and Devils to Hell. That guy knew that he went into a place were frequently one gets one-way tickets. And he was really good on fighting back his return ticket. However, many people don't ever will know what was the real Appolo XIII.

  33. we already have proofs.. by da5idnetlimit.com · · Score: 5, Informative

    As far as I remember, the crew that landed on the moon had for mission to place some highly reflective mirrors on the moon surface.

    Those mirrors are used to calculate the exact distance bertween earth and the moon by using a large laser and getting a few photons back to make the calculations.

    Now, except if the doubters find a way to slingshot a miror on the moon, THIS is a quite valuable poof, as they DO exist and are used everyday.

    --
    It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
  34. That reminds me .... by mr_z_beeblebrox · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of a Nasa project I worked on in the 60s. It is basically a filter for telescope lenses, which adds spacecraft to any celestial bodies you point it at. I did that when I worked at a Nasa base called "Lunar Landing" out in the desert in Arizona.
    I think the date was April 1st 1969

  35. radiation by Dexter's+Laboratory · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ofcourse the conspiracy believers will not accept any proof. They will just counter it with a stupid explanation. This is one of the characteristics of pseudoscience; they refuse to listen to anything that might spoil their own beliefs. Right now it seems to be the radiation. While I'm certainly not an expert in that field, here is a link that explains more on the topic:
    http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html# radiation

  36. Why it wouldn't change MY mind IF I doubted... by dpbsmith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If it is seriously intended to change anyone's mind, there needs to be a "chain of evidence" that involves the participation of the doubters.

    Otherwise, it's just like a UFO photo. Someone pops up and says "Here's photographic proof! This picture of [a UFO][spacecraft on the surface of the Moon] was taken by [a Boy Scout leader][European scientists] on [precise time and date] and [experts] say it's authentic." To which I'd say "how do I really know where and how it was taken? Why couldn't this be a picture of [a garbage can lid tossed in the air and deliberately taken out of focus][a cleverly Photoshopped fake?]"

    It all depends on whether you believe the [Boy Scout leader][European scientists].

    No, it goes further than that. Unless you personally have INTERVIEWED the [Boy Scout leader][European scientists] it depends on whether you believe the REPORTERS...

    There are things you know because you've seen them yourself, and there are things you know because you are told them by people you trust. There has to be a chain of trust. If the don't invite representatives of the doubters to eyewitness the procedures used, the final photograph doesn't mean a thing.

    One of the aspects of scientific research that deserves to be taught better in the schools involves, not the use of the scientific method, but of the role played by citation and attribution and, in general, scholarship. That's the big difference between a journal article and an article in the popular press.

    EVERY statement in the scientific literature can, in principle, be traced back to a specific person with a name and institutional affiliation (which constitutes a usable address), who says "This is what I did and this is what I saw." And you can ask them about it if you doubt it.

    It will be very cool to see the pictures when they get them. But unless the doubters are closely involved in the process, there's no reason why it should change their minds.

    (Actually, it will be even cooler if they CAN'T get them--which I think is quite possible, the Moon is a big place and the spacecraft are awfully small. Let's say it turns out that they can't. What do you think they will do?)

  37. Golden Hind is correct. by jeepliberty · · Score: 3, Funny

    The story came from the heart...but my stomach got in the way.

  38. Gallileo by cybercuzco · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When Gallileo ffirst started using the telescope, most people thought that what he was seeing through them was some sort of optical illusion, like a funhouse mirror. No doubt conspiracy theorists will latcch on to that "Its only an optical illusion caused by natural processes on the moons surface" If somone doesnt want to believe something, no amount of factual evidence is satisfactory. Even if you shot somone to the moons surface, they would still say "well im only in some nasa sound stage" or "this is some sort of hypnotically induced suggestion" People have an amazing capacity to believe things in spite of overwhelming evidence to the opposite, or lack of evidence whatsoever, despite the extremity of implausibility (see scientology)

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  39. Two diverse groups by Restil · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Those that will believe nothing.
    Those that will believe anything.

    Skeptics and the suckers. Jaded and the gullible. Those who refuse to be fooled, and those who will buy anything, no matter how outrageous. I get them on my site all the time. A small group of people, despite the modern technology necessary to even access my website, refuse to believe its possible to control appliances via the computer. And then there are those who try to talk to a slideshow. You can't win.

    No matter what you do, no matter how much proof is available, there will always be idiots that believe the moon landings were faked. I call them idiots because their "proof" is based on scientific evidence that is actually proof against them, false implications, or outright lies. And for the most part, they fail to listen to any reason. They're not looking for a debate, they're looking to impose their view on the world, and refuse to accept that others would actually believe that the obvious happened. There are actually people in this world that still believe the Earth is flat. You can try to convince these people, but you're wasting your breath. Just let them enjoy their ignorance. It IS bliss afterall.

    -Restil

    --
    Play with my webcams and lights here
  40. Wait a minute by flikx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This wouldn't work. Not only would the local atmospheric disturbance make it impossible to focus on the landing site, but there was evidence that the lower modules were destroyed during take-off. The entire landing sites are now buried in dust, leaving no trace of the landings.

    Besides that, the article clearly states that all conspiracy theorists believe that robots were sent instead, because humans could never withstand the radiation and intense vacuum of space. Even if a telescope could be trained on some pile of trash and junk on the moon, it would still be impossible to prove that it was the result of human activity.

    --
    One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
  41. Re:Missing the entire point... by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Everyone is missing the whole point of this discussion/event/conspiracy theory.

    No, we're not.

    By majority of comments posted here are merely to malign or otherwise insult the people who think the event was faked.

    That's because you have to be a bloody fool to believe they were faked. Thousands of people were involved in the Apollo landings. You simply cannot maintain a conspiracy with that many peoiple involved. You can stop the debate right there.

    I begin to wonder if anyone here even HAS an open mind anymore, or if they've all turned to mindless sheep (obligatory Dilbert reference).

    What's the old saying? Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out?

    Why would you accept something as rote simply because your self-biased government said so?

    This is a strawman fallacy. You assume we haven't analyzed the claims of the hoaxpushers. You assume we have not visited places like www.clavius.org and gotten informed. You should not make such foolish assumptions.

    I personally think a healthy dose of skepticism is needed today.

    You used the key word yourself: HEALTHY. Believing that the moon landings were some sort of vast and impossible conspiracy is not healthy- it's mental degeneration, and quite often bred from extreme anti-governmental ideology.

    It always strikes me as funny how so many people subscribe fully to the moon landing, then turn around and refuse to believe that the Bible is God's Word (or something else that is based wholly on belief).

    Good gravy! Where to even begin deconstructing THIS logical fallacy! For one thing, you are assuming the hoax debunkers are in the same set as the Bible thumpers. In my experience these are close to being mutally exclusive sets.

    I think it goes hand-in-hand with university level education today. Today's system teaches vocational trades. It no longer teaches people how to think for themselves.

    And now were in the Standard Diatribe Against Society zone so common to ideological rants. Wake me when it's over.

    Did you know that all doctorates used to be in Philosophy or the art of thinking clearly? It is still called a PhD to this day. Hence, very few people know how to think logically.

    Zzzzzzzz...

    I am not saying that I know how to think properly either, but at least I know the problem is there.

    No, the problem is that people like hoaxfollowers cannot think in terms of discrete events. To them, the government is not to be trusted. Period. They cannot see that the moon landings happened AND still distrust the government on other things. Ideologues like them can rarely even perceive the passage of time. The government is doing dishonest things now, so all government actions throughout history must be the same. It's like Muslims hating modern day Christians for the Crusades. There's no perception of distictness between different points in time. It's all one hazy amorphous mass.

    Do you think it's beyond our government to deceive you? Do you think the goverment has nothing to hide?

    Another strawman. No, of course not, but claiming the the moon landings happened is not the same as giving the government a pass on all things. It's called analyzing an event based on the relevant evidence, and avoiding the generalized ideological appraoch such as "the gummint done lies sometimes, so they done lied about the moon landings."

    The point of this post, this discussion, this conspiracy theory, is to get you to logically and scientifically deduce the truth from the chaff.

    Yes, and eventually you reach a point where the truth lies revealed. *You* have to accept that many of us have reached that point.

    It is an exercise in skepticism.

    So exercise some skepticism in the other direction and admit the hoaxpushers are just trying to sell books and videos, and their foloowers are ignorant. Occam's Razor alone gets you this one.

    Don't get angry that someone debates your postion and resort to name-calling, defend it.

    It's not anger- it's frustration that people could believe such nonsense, especially people on Slashdot who have access to all the information on the Internet at their fingertips.

    Debate is a wonderfull tool for being able to see an issue from all sides, sharpening your mind, and learning something you didn't fully understand before.

    You miss the crucial point, though. Many of us have already learned the facts, and arrived at the conclusion that the landings happened. The facts are there, and the claims of the hoaxpushers lie in tattered ruins.

    I am merely asking that you accept the possibilities, and not damn them because they are not what you believe.

    We damn them because they refuse to accept readily available facts. It's not about belief. This isn't religion. There is no faith in the government. There is, however, solid and endless evidence and epirically proven aspects about how humanity works that makes the vast conspiracy theory (and vast conspiracies in genral) completely unworkable.

    --
    --- Ban humanity.
  42. Evidence Schmevidence by Yet+Another+Smith · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This will not be proof that NASA went to the moon. Photographic evidence isn't proof anymore. Anything can be faked. Otherwise, we'd have to believe that Burt did, in fact, meet with Osama bin Laden.

    The irrefrickinfutable evidence of the moon landings is the rock samples. They don't have evidence of re-entry, so they aren't meteorites. Chemically, these things just didn't come from earth. They don't have enough water in them. Everything on earth, no matter how dry an environment it comes from, contains a fair amount of water. Even the rocks of the Antarctic Dry Valleys, where there's been no precipitation have some water in hydrated compounds in the rocks. Same for deep-crustal and even mantle rocks brought to the surface by vulcanism.

    Fact is, the moon rocks may or may not have come from the moon, but they sure as hell came from somewhere and they didn't enter the earth's atmosphere on their own.

    --
    if ($it != $onething) {$it = $another;}