Slashdot Mirror
News Of SETI Signal Just Bad Reporting
The Bad Astronomer writes "Rumors have been flying in recent days that the SETI project has received a strong signal from space, indicating the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Bad Astronomy breaks down the origins of this (false) claim, which mostly amounts to a heaping helping of shoddy journalism. 'I just talked to Dan Wertheimer, the astronomer quoted in the article. He told me that the original interview was about sending signals into space (so-called active SETI) as opposed to just listening for aliens. After the interview, he talked to the reporter about some of the astronomy he does, including looking at what are called radio transients: bursts of radio waves that are seen once and never repeat. These may come from one-off events like colliding neutron stars, exploding stars, and so on. Somehow, in the article the reporter mixed up the observation of the transient signals with detecting a signal from E.T.'"
I for one welcome our incompetent journalist overlords.
Some of what I say is fact, some is conjecture, the rest I'm just blowing out my ass...you guess.
It really was alien, but the aliens are already here, and they're covering it up so they can terraform our planet with global warming.
Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence.
That saying proves itself everyday. I know most people don't understand science, but if you are reporting on it at least pay attention long enough to accurately report what you were told by someone who does understand. Why do people think it's ok to be proud of their ignorance? Its one thing to own your weaknesses having tried and failed, but it seems like most non-technical people stopped trying.
Is that they aren't likely to let the facts get in the way of a good story.
It also pisses me off greatly when newsreaders append their own opinion to the end of a news story. You are a newsreader dammit. Just supply the facts and let people make up their own mind - that is if it is possible for you to supply the facts without your personal bias in the first place.
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
Here's the cached article: Has E.T. Made A Call? [Google]
oO0Oo
At the bottom of the blog post I put a link to the cached article, and I took a snapshot of it which is on my Flickr account. It's all linked on the blog.
*** Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer http://www.badastronomy.com
The problem with journalism is that journalists tend to report on so many different topics, they often don't really understand them. It's like if a programmer was given a totally different assignment every day. Even the best one couldn't do a good job because it would take weeks for them to understand how things work and all the terminology.
Ideally, instead of relatively few full time journalists, they should have many part time journalists who work full time in the industry they report on. The quality of the writing might suffer a bit, but it would be far more accurate.
Fortunately, we are seeing the rise of blogs where there are many people who know what they are talking about.
When I was 16 (I'm 23 now) I did a one year stint in a McDonalds. I don't know if it's the same now as it was then, but when I was working there the boxes that the meat came in were all stamped USDA Grade A Beef. The problem is that for potential lawsuit reasons, McDonalds cooks all it's burgers to well done. When I worked there, for my dinner I would make one medium rare. This will sound crazy, but when they are cooked right (at least back then...again, don't know if this applies now) it made for one of the best burgers I've had anywhere.
The beef is actually very high quality...it just gets cooked into oblivion (and cooked very quickly, at that...from walk-in refrigerator to ready-for-burger in about a minute and a half...not the best of ways to cook meat if taste is of any concern.)
Living With a Nerd
The web, as a reflection of the population as a whole, is chock full of wishful thinking about fantasies. The youtubes seemed to be clogged with "evidence" of UFOs, angels, monsters, ghosts, etc.
Frankly, it's a little disappointing to see a lack of critical thinking. I'm all for discovering amazing new things, in any topic. But defending the stories wholesale under the guise of "how can you deny all the evidence?" kinda paints a picture of cultist mentality. Somewhat scary and journalists are not immune. They just want something that sounds like a "scoop" and grab the eyeballs (and sell the ads).
SETI is a worthwhile endeavor to me, but of course they'd hold a press conference if something big didn't filter away.
Should the reporter get fired, he has a great future as a Slashdot editor.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.