Slashdot Mirror
Top of the Crops 2002
Steeltoe writes "For those deeply familiar with crop circles, 2, they are truly an amazing wonder of the world. Not only are they getting unnervingly complex and beautiful, but last year researchers found themselves dumbfounded by an ET-face with an accompanying encoded CD-disc, 2, 3! Clearly, there are not enough wonders in the world, but lack of wonder and excitement! If you like adventure, you cannot turn your back on this, 2! Check out the cool circles of 2002 at Crop Circle Connector and at Circlemakers 'Top of the Crops 2002', or even take a physical *gasp* tour during the high-peak season next summer and see for yourself!! Only imagination may tell what will pop up from the crops in 2003."
I wonder when people will realize you can make these things with a 2x4 and a piece of rope? I'm from Nebraska, we've got a lot of corn there... So, well, its just fun, ya know? -Bill
-Bill
Huh?
...Bill the Cat, Jenna Jameson or Osama bin Laden. Wake me up if things change...
Blarf.
Makes me wonder how long it will be before someone hacks together some control units, a lawn tractor, and a gps system and some randome patteren generator software and creates an autonomous crop circle generator.
How cool would it be to drop off this contraption in the middle of a field, set some width/height parameters, and let it run free, just to see what you could come up with. Maybe even have it draw fractal patterns or somthing.
-===- "Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserver neither" -===-
Columbia, South America. Know why? 'Cause not even aliens will mess up their special "crop." Or maybe it's cause the dumbass drunks plodding around fields wearing snowshoes all get shot for damaging the crop and being mistaken for theives.
Nevermind, the public would still say it was alien crop circles made to prove that NASA faked the moon landings, as was written in the email I got proclaiming that I would get 14 million longer penises in Nigeria because of the government conspiracy to spy on us using the IR receivers for our television remotes.
As long as religion reigns, ignorance will be our biggest social problem.
'cause i have a hard time seeing enough drunken frat boys to do the job in one night getting those lines straight.
C'mon, I want photos of the circle perpetrators! I can't believe that in this era of cheap technology that someone hasn't camcorder'd yay-hoos stomping around in their field in the act of making crop circles. Or, after hearing their dog barking at 2 AM, driven down the road to inspect their fence and photographed idiot kids in the process of throwing their 2x4's into a pickup before racing off. Forget the ET's - Circulate enough photos of the real circle makers and this one will go quietly into the dark night of historical obscurity.
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
an ET-face with an accompanying encoded CD-disc
...
So did someone read off what was encoded on the disc with ET? I bet it reads something like this:
Microsoft End-User Licence Agreement
(1) This licence entitles you to limited-use rights to this crop circle
Reliable, Great Value Hosting: $7.95/mo 2.4G/120G
Curse words written by pre-pubescent extraterestrial hooligans to express rebellion and pent up sexual frustration.
not for long buddy, not for long..
It's not another one of those free AOL CDs is it!?!
Wow. Bullshit works as a fertilizer. Who'd a thunk it?
Help savingAmigaOS and a free PowerPC market
"Or maybe on the Greenland icecap done in yellow snow."
That'll take 10X the number of fratboys as it does now. Madness I tell you, MADNESS!
If you will notice, nearly all of these things are in fields that have tracks - parallel lines through the field. Is this a machinery (tractor, harvester, irrigatation) track? ANYHOW, if you look closely, the track always intersects the design in the center, or at a node that could be the "pivot point" of the design. Why does the design always align with the tracks? Could it be that this is the ingress and reference point for a clever ground crew? NAW, the aliens just like fields with tracks and the symmetry of aligned patterns!
It's much worse than just taking money away from the farmer so he can "buy more things." Farmers go into debt at the beginning of each year, and basically hope to make enough money out of their crop to pay that debt off and pay their bills for the rest of the year.
IANAL... But I play one on
and assumptions out there. 99% of the posts I'm seeing here are people who have heard something once or twice on the radio about some hoaxters with a tow-by-four, and who have made up their minds and decided that every single instance of a crop circle all over the world, past and future, can be explained away by that one method. I had expected a little more from the Slashdot crowd.
I am one of the biggest skeptics out there, but I always try to balance it with an open-minded analysis of all available facts. Looking at all the factors involved, it seems to me that calling every single crop circle instance a hoax with confidence is just impossible. Let's run down some factors here:
Numbers: First off, there's the sheer number of these things occurring all over the world. They often show up in areas where the locals have never heard of the crop circle phenomenon and don't care when they do. They show up in areas where everyone is so poor that no one has time for stupid practical jokes. They show up all over the world.
(This factor, in and of itself, I do not offer as complete evidence.)
Size: Some of these crop circles are huge. A pair of people may be able to flatten a circle 75 feet across in a few hours during the night, but even a team of people wouldn't be able to finish some of these things in one night.
(This factor, in and of itself, I do not offer as complete evidence.)
Precision: There is an amazing level of geometrical precision to many crop circles. They aren't all just flattened circles, they're quite often fairly complex geometrical patterns. And they're huge, layed out on flat ground with nothing high nearby to get up on and observe the progress of the pattern. I have a distinctly hard time believing that anyone could create a pattern that precisely in the dark. Even in the daytime, without precise surveying instruments and some way to measure and mark off every single arc of the pattern, it would be really difficult. Certainly more than a few hours work if it was just a pair of people.
(This factor, in and of itself, I do not offer as complete evidence.)
Evidence on the ground: In the types of crop circles that aren't immediately identifiable as hoaxes (yes, there are hoaxes, and they are almost always easy to identify, go check out some of the links), there are strange phenomena that happen inside the circles. The stalks of plants are bent without being broken. Have you ever tried to bend the stalk of any plant like grass, wheat or corn to a 90-degree angle without breaking it? Personally, I don't know of any way to do it.
There's also evidence of odd things like stunted growth within the circle and things not growing there even months or years after the fact. I'd love to know how a two-by-four could do that.
(This factor, in and of itself, I do not offer as complete evidence.)
History: Crop circles didn't just start in the last couple of decades with a couple of 40-year old guys and a board. There are instances of them a long ways into the past. I'd be willing to bet that the "original" hoaxters who claimed to have done some of the circles had gotten the idea from something they heard or read about that had already happened. I think the hoax is the fact that they believed they'd started it all.
(This factor, in and of itself, I do not offer as complete evidence.)
Human nature: The nature of the human animal is pretty set, and always has been. There are a lot of things that just don't jive if you make a blanket statement that every circle is created by a single person or set of people. People crave attention and recognition. Do you know anyone who knows someone who actually made a crop circle? No? The larger the circle, the more people it would have taken to create it, and the more chance for some dumbass to get drunk and start bragging about he and his buddies getting together and making "that big crop circle on the south side of town".
Saying that human hands created every crop circle ever made would also mean that there are a lot of copycats in the world. A lot of people who just love the idea of crop circles and think nothing would be more fun than going out and making their own, and then never telling anyone about it for the rest of their lives. Why? I don't buy it.
I see several people posting about how "somebody should just catch those dumb kids in action and show it on video, and all this would go away". So you know a lot of groups of teens who are organized, motivated, knowledgeable in the correct use of things like surveying instruments and laser distance measuring devices, or even know how to run a tape measure with the necessary precision to create a beautiful mathematically complex geometrical pattern 200 feet across in the space of a few hours? The idea is just ludicrous. Ever think just for a minute that there might be another reason that no one has been able to "catch them at it"? I'll let you ponder that one.
(This factor, in and of itself, I do not offer as complete evidence.)
Taking all of these factors into account, I, the skeptic that I am, find it scientifically implausible to believe that crop circles are a purely human-derived phenomenon.
Ever think for a moment that there might just possibly be things out there that we don't understand yet? That science doesn't yet have the answer to everything? That everything can't just be explained away on a moment's notice without examining all the evidence? Extra-terrestrials don't even have to enter into it. There are things right here in our natural world that we just don't yet understand.
I think that the treatment of the poster is deplorable. Everyone seems to be just immediately writing him off as a kook (like the first post) and not even bothering to examine the history and wealth of physical evidence about this phenomenon. Yes, there are plenty of kooks out there, but they can't all be kooks. That's like classifying everyone on Slashdot a troll because some trolls happen to post here.
As I said in the beginning, I had expected a little more openmindedness and intelligent discussion on Slashdot (yeah, I know, silly me, but it does happen here). I hope that a few of you who thought you knew everything will just take a few minutes to read the articles, and think, and wonder about our endlessly amazing universe, like the poster of the article suggested.
I am typing this post with a device that is installed in my brain. It's wireless, and can be transmitted on to your Web site with relative ease.
We're also very good at making sure the only people that ever see any really substantial evidence (in the rare event that one of us screws up and leaves some) are judged as insane.
Lastly, but not least, we are so very insanely advanced that we use... er, uhm... *cough* fields of wheat *cough* ...to erhm... communicate.
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
To me this stuff is at least 99,999% bunk. There is the universal claim that these circls are too symmetrical or spiritual to be handmade. The believers claim that there is no way for human beings to make these symbols without leaving obvious trace to human presence.
Last year a german TV magazin (stern tv) decided to evaluate that. After finding out that it was possible, they... well, they became alien and just did it. A large field was picked, the "impressions" were made with such other-worldly gadgets as tree logs, rope and a bunch of carbon-based glucose operated water bags.
The result: crop circles indistinguishable from all the other ones that are worshipped all the time. All the german esoteric elite piled up at that field, people sold the t-shirts and posters, and everyone believed that the god-forsaken place of Schönwalde was location to extra-terrestrial visits.
http://www.fosar-bludorf.com/kornkreis/
Scroll down a bit to see a picture of the circle in question. Interestingly enough (and although the creation of the circle was filmed) the site which has the picture is part of the "believers" who are not going to abstain from their initial belief that it is the work of alien visitors. Notice any weird feelings when looking at it? Well, if it is hunger it might be for a reason, the pattern has been taken from a salami pizza, the weird thingy coming out of one of the outer circles is a deplaced pepperoni.
Well, the wackos running the site are currently bashing the TV magazine people for obstructing the truth and stuff like that. A bunch of the wackos have found magnetic anomalies ("up to 1000%"), dehydrated soil but no burned plant matter, silicium chipping ("broken off a spaceship") or measured modulated signals on obscure frequencies. Some people just WANT to believe...
+++ath0
In any case. . . Crop circles. .
There are, to my knowledge, four entirely different parties making circles. I'll start from the lowest and work my way up.
1. Pranksters. There's quite a scene actually, of circle makers with an internal social protocol similar in ways to graffiti artists who spray paint buildings and boxcars. --Often, artists will leave their 'tag' on a crop glyph, or even tag other glyphs to claim ownership. In any case, it has been conclusively demonstrated that with a slat of wood, a length of twin, a tape measure, (and a policebox full of eager engineering students), one can construct very convincing circles of the most remarkable geometric complexity. --Some circle makers even leave weird objects at the centers, up to and including radioactive residues, etc. Humans are smart, and they are good at playing tricks, and many crop circle researchers are entirely willing to be fooled. A happy and kind of infernal madness.
2. Non-pranksters. Ooh, those pesky military dudes! (Or whoever. Blackops or somebody.) Always trying to obfuscate and mislead. The same types are responsible for replicating cattle mutilations in an effort to mislead and misdirect. (Getting more done before 6 A.M. and all. There's no life like it!) --Though probably not with $400 military slats of wood and $500 military tape measures; there has been a great deal of fast advancement recently in our realm by way of technology. Alien assisted, in some cases. --The crop glyph with the Alien head and the CD thingy was one of these. The garbled word, "BELIEvE" was just that; a garbled word. (Way to go, guys! Wishful thinking, the identity stamp of the greedy & the self-obsessed, will getcha every time. Bush drools for a reason kids, debauchery will do that to you. A rule of thumb: Bad-guys use coke.)
The psychology behind the alien head & CD glyph: To the susceptible: "Trust the 'good and friendly' greys." To the regular folks: "Crop Circles are scary and weird. Don't trust them."
3. The Scary Bad Aliens Themselves! Sometimes called 'fourth density' aliens, depending on what sources you look at. They inhabit the level of reality directly one step above ours, where time is a direction which can be navigated backwards and forth. They eat negative emotions when in their corner of reality, and absorb cow and (east-indian human child) plasma when in ours pulling the Men in Black thing. "The Vats are Real." They have set set us up to live in eternal misery, and when the big day comes, it's harvest feast time to the tune of 6 billion very unhappy humans clinging to bibles filled with wrong-headed messages which got garbled way back in the dark ages. Mmm. Yummy fear.
Anyway, there are supposedly not too many circles directly made by this bunch, but you can identify the ones which have been; The plants in such circles are microwaved and sort of fried and grow funny after the event.
And last but certainly not least. .
4. The good and all knowing entities. --From a another two levels up, called 'Sixth density' (Or 6th harmonic, or vibrational frequency, or whatever depending on your preferred source and level of service.) "We are you in the future. . !"
Proper circles made by this Yoda-like bunch are supposedly messages documenting the nature of reality in these end-of-times. --Not that I've been able to make head or tail of them. Math isn't my strong suit. (Though, weirdly, precious few are even making the attempt.) "Your media resists. Why?"
Oh yeah. How to tell a 'real' circle from a fake one, (aside from the perfectly bent stalks and no foot prints, versus the wake-of-carnage system preferred by the slat of wood and ball of string kids). .
"One thing to look for would be growth disruptions to the area. Real circles do not disrupt the creative principle."
A quick side-note to all those who are on guard here: The creepy Scientologists and Moonies, etc., I figure, were set up in order to obfuscate and sound a eerie and somewhat similar, (although selfish and thoroughly dispicable), message. --And to be generally creepy and culty and all that. Ignore those ass-wipes. Travolta and Cruise are royal dinks and should be considered as such. The real story is far less stupid, though still startling. Essentially. .
The world is going bye-bye within the next decade or so; global war, economic depression, rich New World Order jerks scrambling over the duped hoards as the ship goes down under the weight of hungry aliens, comet impacts, ice-ages, famine, cats & dogs living together; mass hysteria. (I believe Bill Murry may even be hosting.) Anyway, it's already underway, led by George, "See the Bad Nurse Make Disease" Bush. --Deny it if you will, but everybody can feel it on a gut level. All the little subconsciouses are chattering away. --And it's going to get much, much worse. So buckle up!)
Have no fear though. When time is circular, (as I am assured it is), all ends are also beginnings. If you don't get smeared by a comet or shot in the head by a Nazi reincarnated as an Israeli, beam-weaponed by an invading alien giant, or just ass-fucked by an American zombie, then you're going to witness some really neat stuff when the Big Shift comes. So get your closets cleaned out, and your heads and your hearts in order. It's all about awareness, baby!
-Fantastic Lad --mod THAT!
Milk Hill 2001 (scroll down, it's the 3rd one)
Possibly made by the same people but with only 3 arms in the spiral
Perfect geometry? The spiral arms don't even have the same number of circles in each arm. The Milk Hill formation has 13 circles on five of six arms of the spiral; the other arm has only 12. The 3-arm spiral has two arms with 11 circles and one with 12.
Stand in awe if you like, but jeez, this is obvious BS that these things are anything like 'perfect'.
I would have been more entertained to read that it had (c) 2002, Sony Music Corporation.. Then they'd have the RIAA trying to shut down the site.
"Beware the bearers of FALSE gifts & their BROKEN PROMISES.
Much PAIN but still time.
EELRIJUE.
There is GOOD out there.
We OPpose DECEPTION.
COnduit CLOSING [bell sound]".
This answer was found at:
http://www.dcccs.org/the_alien_at_crabwood_farm_ho use.htm
http://home.clara.net/lucypringle/articles/crabwoo d.html
http://www.earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=381&cat egory=Environment
(this one requires a registration. I haven't read it yet)
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8 &oe=UTF-8&scoring=d&q=EELRIJUE&btnG=Google+Sea rch
DejaNews shows 57 threads
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe =UTF-8&scoring=d&q=EELRIJUE&sa=N&tab=g w
Google finds 66 sites.
Most of these sites scream hoax or conspiracy. One message said straight-up that there's no way anyone could decode it (yada, yada. They just didn't try hard enough. I do the impossible twice before lunch daily.{grin})
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
According to the link, the aliens use ASCII, i.e. they can receive our data transmissions and figure out their encoding, but rather than reply using the same medium, they go stomp out ASCII in a corn field. Uh-huh...
Besides, shouldn't they be submitting a proposal to extend Unicode so future crop circles can use their character set?
My jaw dropped when I saw the alien face and disc. Remarkable! Very clever technology must have been employed in order to pull this off with such precision. The execution is flawless! I'm very impressed.
Certainly this is no ordinary rope-and-plank job, One wonders if the thing was perhaps a clandestine practical execution of a tech student's exam project?
The site of the artwork may be close enough for the DGPS beacon at the Bristol Channel to have helped the punters get the edges of the rectangle aligned so precisely, but presumably a laser sighting device similar to the ones used by land surveyors could have been sufficiently accurate.
Once the rectangle corners had been defined and the circle perimeter traced, it may have been fairly trivial for two operators, or teams, to traverse the sides of the rectangle in parallel with the Device running a straight line from side to side and flattening the crop row with variable force (or width) according a predetermined bitmap courtesy of photoshop and some clever artistry. I'd love to see the original bitmap and compare with the finished formation.
You can see a thin groove at the center of each scanline in the closeup ground photos, which seems to be a wheel track. The device design is unknown, so we don't know if it had 1,2 or even 4 wheels. A rope could have been its suspension from above, though you'd think that would have caused variations in pattern density with the rope at the edges being more taut.
It would need to be somewhat heavy in order to flatten the crop and have enough mechanical force to gradually engage and disengage the crop flattening part of the mechanism during the course of each row. Perhaps the device was guided on twin taut ropes from either side of the formation, or perhaps guided optically by lasers.
From the closeup pictures the pattern looks like it was applied in one direction alone, so perhaps returning the cart to the other side was a waste cycle instead of using bidirectional 'printing'.
Interestingly, the wheel groove of the spiral is between the spiral pattern bands, as opposed to centered in the middle, so a different machine may have been used here, perhaps operating concurrently with the alien portrait scanline 'printer'.
The question remains how the row alignment came to be so spot on both in terms of row spacing and 'horizontal hold' from row to row : The vertical details are quite precisely in sync from row to row, so the tech and methodology used is indisputably excellent.
I hope eventually the artists and hoaxers come forth and reimburse the farmer for his losses, and reveal their clever technology. I think that would make for an interesting read.
in the Sarah desert
Sarah, a stark beauty, hotter than you might believe, has always left a dry taste in my mouth due to her hostility toward men. Once fertile, now barren, she drifts aimlessly in the wind, never looking quite the same the next time you see her.
You, MonkeyBoyo, are a poet. But maybe I'm biased (see sig).