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Apollo 14 Moonwalker Claims Aliens Exist
An anonymous reader writes "Former NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell — a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission — has stunningly claimed aliens exist. And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions — but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades. Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'"
I think he just had a case of the space madness.
Blar.
Well, maybe we look strange to them, too. Ever think of that?
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Will he be on Coast to Coast AM soon?
Dr. Mitchell has been saying this about aliens for many years now. He's always had a bit of a pseudo-scientific bent. During his Apollo 14 flight to the moon, he secretly conducted ESP experiments with friends back on Earth.
Build a fence!
Have gnu, will travel.
I've seen Moonwalker and I would definitely agree with this notion.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
If its as well covered up as he says it is, why did they let him talk? They're obviously allowing him to go public so he'll appear as a crackpot and give credibility to the opposing view.
11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 Race
12112
Alzheimer's. No disrespect to someone who actually went to the Moon and all, but at 77, I better be seeing some solid proof of this. Otherwise... again, my respects and all but off to the old silly person's home with you. Sir.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
But it goes without saying that all the same old 'god paradoxes' come to play here.
Read my Very Short "Stories"
He's just mad that only Buzz gets any attention these days.
âoeHi, people on the moon. As you can see, the Sea of Tranquility here, thereâ(TM)s the mountains in the distance, thereâ(TM)s the earth! There, youâ(TM)re looking back up at yourselves there. Over to my right, I can see a fucking monster! Thereâ(TM)s a monster behind me! Ohhhh! Ohhh no, help! Ahhh! Get off my leg! Ohhhahhhhh!⦠Neeeahhhh!â Buzz Aldrin in a monster outfit: âoeOhhhhahhhh! Ohhhhahhhh!â Neil doing close-up with â" âoeHeâ(TM)s got me, Houston. The monsterâ(TM)s got me! He wants cash! Heâ(TM)s got my hand up behind my back. I think he knows jujitsu! He wants cash for the release of my life. Send a million to â" two million dollars, leave it in a bag by the Sea of Tranquility. I donâ(TM)t know, the North Shore! What the fuckinellâ¦â Oh, it would have worked, wouldnâ(TM)t it?
What was his source? He doesn't claim to have seen them himself, or anything according to TFA.
What's the value of information that you don't know?
'little people who look strange to us.'
Tom Cruise and the scientologists?
This space is not for rent.
back to Earth aboard Apollo 14, Mitchell had an epiphany while looking down on the earth from space. "The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes ... The knowledge came to me directly," here
Who would have thought that he'd go totally nuts one day.
Yet more proof that NASA skimped on the radiation shielding on those helmets.
It's statistically quite likely that alien life exists (especially for a broad enough definition of "life"). But the chances that it will be close enough to Earth to "visit us" or that it will look like "little men" is approximately zero.
Does anyone know if Dr. Edgar Mitchell has signed a book deal recently?
How the hell do you know which is the truth?
Or else when you're 77 it's time to give up the disco biscuits.
To cover-up this conspiracy, the government will soon inject him with a secret drug to give him dementia. Those diabolical bastards... who stole my teeth??
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
little people who look strange to us.
I for one welcome our new Danny DeVito overlords.
...black helicopter lands on Dr. Mitchell's lawn...
Seriously, I do.
In that case, I'll tell my wife that the new X-Files movie is a documentary.
radio interview
I for one welcome our new overlords and wish to extend a heart-felt greeting to Lord Xenu!
BTW, anyone who tries to prove me wrong that aliens haven't visited us is *CLEARLY* part of a government cover up. You may have fooled the world into thinking that Australia exists but you can't fool the world into thinking that aliens haven't visited us!
Clever and witty sig.
You can't take it from me now! I've had this ice-cream bar since I was a CHILD! People...always trying to take it from me! Why won't they LEAVE ME ALOOOOOONNNNE?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
And has he said whether or not he's one of them?
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
He's 77. Obviously, he's senile.
GFA/M/S d-- s: a--- C++++ UBL++$ P+ L+++ !E- W++ N+ !o K- w--- !O !M !V PS++ PE Y+ PGP+ t+++ 5- X+ R tv@ b++ DI++++ D+ G
And they are out there right now...
Mowing my lawn and trimming my hedge
Tom Cruise worships L. Ron Hubbard.
Jim Carey think vaccinations give you autism.
Just because you're famous doesn't mean you can't be a total crackpot. Its too bad this time its somebody more science-related.
How is Mitchell's education to the story? Do he take courses on the detection of space aliens?
Perhaps the point is that being smart doesn't stop you from being crazy.
Not just one government, mind you, but all of them - I doubt aliens care about our political boundaries.
And Microsoft is going to a free open source OS.
So while our web developers use mySQl, theirs use PostgreSQL!
What do you think would happen to all the monkeys we shot up into space? Should have known they would find their way home eventually.
Absolutely. Of course, if you're going to fall into the NASA conspiracy you want to be true, shouldn't you at least acknowledge the NASA consipracy you don't want to be true? Maybe?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Well of course there's life out there, and there's a high probability of intelligent life out there too. Whether or not green little men regularly visit us is another story. Yes, this guy does come across sounding like a nut.
Reminds me of Douglas Adams' HHGTG where Ford Prefect hitched a ride to earth with a teaser. What is a teaser, you ask? Well it's basically a rich kid with too much time on his hands so he visits under-developed planets and finds unsuspecting folks and dresses up in a green suit and makes beep beep noises at them. Then flies off, knowing no one will ever believe this poor person.
It's a pretty scary thought, to me, that aliens would have the maturity to travel light years and light years and decide to work only with governments. Consider, if they really did come for the benefit of all, the governments of the planet would be helpless to stop them from doing their bidding. So that means that they're using the existing "upper management" to their own will. What would be the possible use of that considering how badly everything is managed?
It simply doesn't make any real sense.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Why does it seem so many assume that this is something he have started believing now at this late age; and that is it connected to dementia?
Edgar Mitchell have been involved with fringe science for a long time, and have made statements proclamation his belief in UFOs for a long time. It is his belief; if he seen something to make him believe this I do not know. But to say that this is simply old age and senility is unkind and inaccurate.
The Long Now Foundation
I find it impossible to believe that the government is capable of keeping conspiracies secret. They couldn't keep 5 guys breaking into the DNC office a secret (Watergate), but somehow they can orchestrate an elaborate conspiracy involving thousands of people over the course of 6 decades and not a single shred of credible evidence has been leaked. I'm sorry but deathbed confessions don't count.
Kids, this is your brain on drugs.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
How can anyone seriously believe this guy? First he claims that we've walked on the moon and now he's saying that aliens exist.
During his Apollo 14 flight to the moon, he secretly conducted ESP experiments with friends back on Earth.
I'm not saying I disagree, but it's this kind of discrediting statement that needs a source of information to go along with it. So here's a friendly [citation needed].
Back in the good old days people who leaked a big conspiracy disappeared. Ever since the first Kennedy assassination, the Powers That Be have discovered that the best way to deal with leaks is to just have more and more leaks and bury the truth in a million similar sounding lies.
Suppose Mitchell's right and there really is a big alien contact conspiracy that's being covered up? We've all seen so many photos of streetlights coming from crazy/misguided people that the best policy from the conspiracy's point of view would be to let him yammer on and throw out a lot of phony alien contact crap. They don't have to discredit him, we'd all do that for them.
All they need to do is keep him from getting at any legit relics storage so he can't go public with an alien tricorder or something that people can verify as ET in origin and the world will just think he's a loon.
That's the trouble with real earth-shaking truth, it sounds almost indistinguishable from lunacy. You gotta wonder if there is a percentage of our locked-away crazies who are telling us the truth and we're just too thick to see it.
Count on something less like Star Drek, Nth Contact and more like ID4, except for the part at the end where we survived (I doubt they would be running Windows on the mothership). I just don't see their presence staying secret for long.
As for Doctor Mitchell, I recommend adjusting the dosage on his meds.
Is it truly so remarkable a concept that there is alien life? And, would this man not be in a position to perhaps know the truth? Why do so many of you dismiss him so quickly? There have been so many "close encounters" and the like in the last several decades to certainly make me a believer.
...just went right down the toilet.
Oh well.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
I am so conflicted. In order to believe this support for one of my favorite conspiracy theories, I have to accept that this guy is credible. In order to accept he is credible, I have to ignore one of my other favorite conspiracy theories about the moon landing. Maybe this situation is presented to me as a test to see whether my brain is harvestable.
Wow! What a coincidence! He reveals this a day before the new X-Files movie is released! What are the odds?!?!
burrocrisy
and that would be what? Ruling by jackasses? Never has a slashdot misspelling been more apropos
... with NASA for years. There has been lots written about it. Some, like the secret Egyptian ritualistic cult is bunk. A lot, like the amount of images that NASA has edited or deliberately taken at lower resolutions than the equipment was designed for or at really poor angles.
And if you read though the Apollo transcripts, there are some really bizarre comments that only make sense if you take them in the setting of discovering alien ruins or debris on the moon.
And if you look at the history of the UFOs and alleged government cover-ups, you see that the few that have broken their silence on the matter have effectively been death bed confessions. Others that have done so have just disappeared (i.e. Bob Lazar).
What I find strange, if there is no real cover-up of UFOs, then why has the government spent so much time and effort trying to sweep it under the rug, so to speak. There are documents out there, that have been released through the FOIA process that show how much time and effort has gone into it and how high it goes (I have seen documents from Eisenhower, Truman, and Kennedy on the subject). If there are truly no such thing as UFO's, then why address the issue at all?
Don't rush me, Sonny. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.
Keep in mind that Apollo astronauts weren't selected because they were good scientists. They were chosen because they were good pilots.
well, finally this explains G.W. Bush... and Tom Cruise
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
You can listen to the actual interview here
You can keep the body thetans. All we want is our spacecraft, which look just like airplanes, returned back to us.
Chillingly, he claimed our technology is "not nearly as sophisticated" as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned "we would be been gone by now".
Oh dear god!
They found out about MS-WINDOWS!
And in other news, President George W. Bush stunningly claimed that weapons of mass destruction exist in Iraq. And he says WMDs have been found on several occasions -- but the discovery has been repeatedly covered up by the liberal-biased media for six years. President Bush, 62, said during a radio interview that sources at Homeland Security who had had seen the WMDs described them as 'big devices that look scary to us.'
How do all these aliens actually pull off the secrecy... amidst all these people that LUST for its exposure?
Don't tell me that "Take me to your leader." actually works!!!
Absolutely. Of course, if you're going to fall into the NASA conspiracy you want to be true, shouldn't you at least acknowledge the NASA consipracy you don't want to be true? Maybe?
Without lending credence to either conspiracy theory, one of the metrics you should use when judging the likelihood of a conspiracy being true is the number of individuals required to be complicit.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
This story comes up just as the new X-Files movie comes out. Coincidence? I think not.
Check out my lame java blog at www.javachopshop.com
Maybe they just don't get out much.
require extraordinary proof. Regrettably, there is none.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
One of the most common reasons for not revealing the existence of aliens, is because the top leaders of the world are afraid that the population of earth will panic. I don't think that is the case, I think most people would say something like "yes, I knew there really were aliens". The only ones I think would panic is the religious nut-jobs, although you would think that the would be used to have their view of the world shattered at least once every hundred year or so.
/ The Arrow
"How lovely you are. So lovely in my straightjacket..." - Nny
That's a misquote. What he said was "village people". He also noted that they were captured are on film in the documentary, "Pee Wee's Big Adventure".
--- What?
It seems far more likely to me that the government is covering up things they themselves do than the actions of aliens. Furthermore, why would an intelligent species meet with what I consider to be generally the most violent portion of supposedly civilized society, find reason to return, but not take stuff from us.
Unless all they want are our bees and ozone.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
I bet you voted for Reagan.
"by that I mean people who don't sit on slashdot all day wondering why everyone else isn't building robots" DECS
Interesting that "the" Government covered it up. Does this Imply the US Government? As if, aliens only land in the United States of America? Sounds doubtful if Aliens Exist, which I personally believe do myself. I don't think all countries and government's would cover it up. Funny how when people claim the government covers it up its always "the government", as in the US government and no others exist. Just wait until the little 2 foot green man with big eyeballs pulls out a 1 inch USB stick looking device and turns half of china to glass with it. Will "the" government cover that up too?
-- The box said Windows 2000 or better... so I installed Linux
So, am I the only one that finds it odd that someone like this would bust out with these sorts of claims the day before the new X-Files movie comes out?
</conspiracy_theorist></humor>
Don't mind him, it's just the unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine talking.
Hmmm and the new movie is coming out soon - actually tomorrow. Coincidence? I think not. Trustno1.
Maybe they ARE camouflaged...
If these people have anything to say about it:
http://www.wiolawapress.com/
http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/alien-agenda.html
http://www.sherryshriner.com/sherry/faction-three.htm
Also, a relative of mine told me that around 1969 or 70 or so at night she and a friend were on the porch talking. A light source came down, low/tree-top, over the street, quietly. It was NOT like any aircraft or hobby toys of the time. It seemed to be observing them, or just hanging around, then it abruptly left.
I wish *III** could see firsthand these kinds of things. If I could communicate with (and trust them, and if they'd oblige) I'd instantly declare myself liberated of mad politicians and general human depravity and wealth misalignment. If I could travel away from Earth on MY terms, then why should i (or ANY citizen of Earth) remain subject to human codified laws any longer? It's NOT so much that governments' (wealthy and powerful manipulators) fear panic, hysteria and lawlessness. They fear sudden worthlessness of their "stellar" portfolios should people have an "out". Even if we could travel, and an alien dropped us off with a lifetime of supplies and defensive weapons, you could bet your ass that if Earth governments could find resettled humans, then at the very LEAST the major governments (particularly the US) would
declare they are arriving for the protection of the resettled, then squat on them, then fortify the presence, and graft Earth's depravity on the new colonies.
Star Trek kinda sorta touched on these topics, as did other Sci-Fi, but I'd be among the FIRST to don a uniform of a colonist defending against Earth government take-over. And, I'd DIE, too, for THAT kind of cause. But, here on Earth, I'd die to save an old lady or toddler from being run over, but i'd feel hard-pressed to do the same for a magnate or for well-known politicians or some low-level functionaries who thrive on wealth, power, and such.
There's too much awe and wonder ahead to feel constrained by petty resource-manipulating elitists, not matter how much Earth they move and shake...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
This isn't anything new with him. Mitchell has been making this claim for years and I'm not sure why others are acting so surprised.
Interstellar distance.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Aliens... err... exposure... err... shameless plugging? I am prepared to be modded off-topic and a failure. :(
http://apollo14.net/
Buckle your ROFL belt, we're in for some LOLs.
Gordon Cooper (Mercury 9 & Gemini 5) has also made similar claims. I seem to recall hearing such claims also made by other astronauts, as well as engineers etc..
You just got troll'd!
The President today: "I checked with Commissioner Xith and he's never even heard of the human Dr Mitchell. Or David Icke."
As Michael Shermer has observed, "smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons." A humble reminder that you can have a degree in aeronautical engineering, a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics, and also walk on the fucking moon, and still have totally pseudoscientific, non-evidence-based views about the world just because you personally want them to be true.
i\hbar\dot{\psi}=\hat{H}\psi
I concur.
Kurt Vonnegut: "If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind."
Why did Madonna go to Malawi?
If ETs exist, the Star Trek scenario is far more likely than the ID4 scenario, since there are far easier to access resources in greater concentrations even just in the solar system than the earth. Maybe once all the asteroids, and mercury, and venus, and mars disappear, then we'll have to start worrying.
The "Earth stood still" scenario probably ranks a bit higher than the "Star Trek" one, and "Mars Attacks" even higher still (except for the endings, of course.)
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
For extra credit, check the etymology of the word bikini.
Unless they had the interstellar equivalent of a flat tire, why would they stop here? Certainly not to learn anything from us - about us, perhaps; but any race capable of overcoming the obstacle that is interstellar space would hardly be interested in our coal/oil/uranium fired technologies.
I don't know... ask an archaeologist if they would like to have a time machine to observe ancient civilizations directly. I would imagine that in a galaxy even fairly dense with sentient life, finding one right on the dawn of a industrial/atomic/information age would be a pretty rare thing and would be something hypothetical alien xenoarchaeologists would really want to observe.
Nerd Alert:
You know that the new X-Files movie has nothing to do with aliens? The X-Files started with each episode as a stand-alone story about a new crazy monster of the week. The new movie is a mystery story about a monster just like most of the episodes.
I did.
ccalam - acoustic versions of new songs.
If there were aliens visiting us, there would be hundreds of people seeing them, reporting UFO sightings, etc. No one would believe a government cover up.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
Slight difference.
In that case, I'll tell my wife that the new X-Files movie is a documentary.
I think you hit the nail right on the head there - my guess is it's related. :-)
o/~ Join us now and share the software
It's amazing to see all the super secret agency debunkers posting messages on slashdot to make this guy look like a fool........
This is true, and the fact that some people have such a hard time believing it and how willing they are to ridicule others for even considering it just shows how skilled the tactics of those who wanted to discredit this in the eyes of the public were.
There are astronauts, governors, generals, colonels, Joint Cheifs from the Eisenhower white house and over 400 other military and government witnesses who have prepared testimoney under oath for congress (which you can view and read the transcripts from) that attests to this via the Disclosure Project.
These are people with nothing to gain and everything to lose who have come out because they are tired of the secrecy and of the fact that these technologies have been misppropriated.
I suggest that if you are truly interested in this you check out the Disclosure Project at http://www.disclosureproject.org/
Get the executive summary or the DVD or watch the download of the Natl Press Club event or download this material via your favorite file sharing method - it's not the usual UFO blurry video overproduced crap. I don't know anyone who has seen this who still doesn't believe.
Yes, this is an "important" person. But, he is 77. Dementia?
Granted, there are a lot of unexplained events that suggest the possiblity of extraterrestrial visitation. And, that might warrent investigation of the phenomenom, and a government bent on covering it up, perhaps with the assistance of "aliens" with "advanced technology" night be able to do so easily. (A leak, with proof? No problem! Go back in time and "fix" it.)
But, science does not work that way.
It requires repeatable, peer-reviewed, observation of the purported effect, and strong correlation to the purported cause.
We may have been visited by extraterrestrials. It's a secuctive thought for any geek, but one VIP's say so does not make it so, to anyone with a scientific mind.
In Liberty, Rene
Creativity in science is RARE; furthermore, science is loaded with stories about great discoveries by people who were ridiculed for testing theories (often thoughtlessly) dismissed by others.
It is unscientific to criticize a scientist for personally performing their own experiments and not simply trusting the prevailing opinion (especially in a weak area like ESP which has elements of psychology; therefore, it tests the boundaries of science itself which is best suited for rigid subjects.)
A bad scientist is only one who can not properly do experiments or falsifies results. Possibly one could argue that it is bad practice to apply science to subjects where its effectiveness is minimal to non-existent (surely, you'd agree existing religions are one of the worse places for its application?)
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
There is good reason to believe that it was Harrison Ford.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Also, a relative of mine told me that around 1969 or 70 or so at night she and a friend were on the porch talking. A light source came down, low/tree-top, over the street, quietly. It was NOT like any aircraft or hobby toys of the time. It seemed to be observing them, or just hanging around, then it abruptly left.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning perhaps?
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
So, how did you get here?
I hitched a lift with a teaser.
A what?
A teaser. Spoiled rich kid with nothing better to do than to land on a planet no one's made contact with, in front of someone no one is going to believe, and strut up and down, making "beep beep" noises.
(With apologies to the late Douglas Adams, or rather thanks to him, and apologies to his rapacious publishing house.)
In Liberty, Rene
Dr.Mitchell's beliefs have been known about for years! He even participated in an ESP experiment (with Zener cards I think?) on the way to the moon.
My web domain.
A group of airline employees insist they are in earnest, and they are upset that neither their bosses nor the government will take them seriously.
A Paul Hellyer, former Canadian defence minister says be believes advanced technology from extraterrestrial civilizations offers the best hope to "save our planet" from the perils of climate change.
This isn't crackpottery. It's most probably an ongoing NASA hoax. Especially the smart techie and science people like to do that kind of stuff. And they *do* do that kind of stuff. It's also aparently a good way of venting some of the pressure when working on complex problems. My parents both worked for NASA, so did my grandpa. My dad worked on the Space Shuttle Radar systems as an electronics engineer and my grandpa as an electronics engineer with Grumman on the Lunar Lander. My mother protocolled some of the Apollo missions recorded radio transmission and she can remember NASA astronauts describing artificial structures on the back side of the moon during a mission. And no, she is not senile or a crackpot. She actually still one of the smartest, brightest and educated people I know. And she's closing in on 70.
Now other than this artificial structure thing actually being true, it is more probable that the astronauts and engineers have this little meme going on for a few decades now. Appling Rackhams Razor this is most probably the case. It would be interesting to know if it was Apollo 14 she protocolled. The timeframe (early 70ies) would fit.
I've got two options: "Truth" and "Traditional NASA Family Meme/Hoax". Most of my money and all my pocket cash is on option two. ... Allthough, you never know.
The NASA and contracter teams involved are probably pissing their pants laughing every time this kind of stuff makes it into the broad media.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
..teaches tentacle typing?
If you've ever worked with/for a government agency, it is absolutely absurd to think that a single government agency (let alone multiple government agencies) could pull of this kind of deception. People who buy into this shit are certifiable. IANAD, but it sounds like Dr Edgar Mitchell might be suffering from some form of dementia. Very sad indeed.
I remember hearing a radio interview with him back in 1995 where he said pretty much the same thing. He's been saying it a lot longer than that, too. And now finally, after all these years, he makes /. The culmination of years of crackpot radio shows like Art Bell leads to this.
I thought all the 'little people who look strange to us' were just Time Bandits. ;)
RFC2119
Once a culture starts playing with atomics, a certain amount of oversight is required. So far this has only required a light touch, and you are mostly responding well to responsible use of your technology advances. Keep up the good work.
I'll see your fake lunar landing and raise you one 9/11 conspiracy theory. Maybe UBL was an alien agent.
There can be no doubt that intelligent life exists on other planets.
Without doubt there is only faith.
It is also clear that our government could do nothing but request assistance if confronted by a society that has intergalactic travel capability.
It appears that the aliens either refused to help your government or they have a bizarre and ironic sense of humour.
Ten minutes per comment? Fuck off /.
Ender's Game and logic.
You meant Ockham's Razor.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Because that's what it comes down to. He claims to have been briefed on it, and claims to know of people who have actually seen it. So is he just senile and his brain is such mushed these days that he can't distinguish his life and career from the media and movies, or he's straight out lying for some odd reason.
Think about it. If you were a species intelligent enough to invent faster than light speed travel (or patient enough to put up with the alternative), would you want to meet:
1. The government, farmers, and the occasional astronaut.
2. Puppies and Super-models*.
So when Jessica Alba or Knut the Polar bear cub says they met an alien, *then* I'll start paying attention.
*Hot as she is, I imagine they'd try to duck Angelina Jolie - for fear of being adopted and paraded around Kenya in a diaper or something.
As others have noted, plenty of astronauts have views that don't seem consistent with their backgrounds. For example, Jim Irwin's (Apollo 15, 8th human on the Moon) post-NASA life was focused in large part on trying to find Noah's Ark. The fact is: 1) smart people aren't immune to having views inconsistent with basic logic or common sense; and 2) many astronauts are not trained as scientists.
Ed Mitchell was conducting para-normal experiments on his own on the way to the moon.
He has been an avid supporter of the supernatural and other concepts forever.
Now - that doesn't mean I think he's some complete nutbag or something - I just say that I can't accept his statements without bias, just like I couldn't accept a Priest discussing heaven and hell without bias. It doesn't matter what I believe, or what he does - it's just a matter of perspective.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Mitchell
-- I really need to bleed off some of this
Mod up!
That's interesting. We (i) learn something new every day!
But, please don't weaken my hopes for ETs out there to arrive to Earth, hehehe.... I need something more powerful and respectable to look up to...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
I resent the implication that Mccain was once a great man :P
This is the sig that says NI (again)
These cover-up stories and conspiracy theories are actually released by the military as a distraction. The objective is to get people with wild imaginations and too much time on their hands to think "Stealth bomber my ass, It's aliens. ALIENS I TELLS YA."
Dr Mitchell, along with with Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard, holds the record for the longest ever moon walk, at nine hours and 17 minutes following their 1971 mission.
Uh oh. I hope they've since improved the radiation shielding on those spacesuits.
Someone on slashdot recommended a good book which debunks these myths and tries to explain why people believe them. It also argues why science is important in our society and the risks of having people making decisions without truly understanding the issues at hand. Unfortunately, there are people in politics for example believing in UFOs, satanism, intelligent design, etc etc. There is nothing more healthy for a society than a good dose of skepticism. The book is called "The Demon-haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan.
I see them all the time - In Orlando, they seem to try to blend in to the local community by hanging out at hotels, and dressing as housekeeping staff - one knocked on my door at a most inopportune time when I was there three weeks ago. Their English could be better, but their Spanish is flawless.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
When Feynman talked about photons moving faster than c, I almost fell down the "how can that be?" hole he warned about at the beginning of the book.
I missed the bit about electrons traveling faster than c when I read QED. I thought he was just talking about photons. Looks like it's time for a re-read.
Completely offtopic. Did you ever get a sense as to how he explained attraction between electrons and protons? Reading his electron-electron diagrams, I got the sense that repulsion between electrons is momentum exchange as one electron coughs up a photon and the other absorbs it. That model doesn't explain why electrons are attracted to protons.
OK, but it seems to me that being "bipedal with two arms and skin" is a serious limitation.
OK, to make tools, maybe they need something akin to a hand/arm. Maybe a complex trunk/tentacle will do too (or a hand with tentacles instead of fingers), but let's say for the sake of arguement that a hand is necessary. OK, so why only two? Why does the only other intelligent race we meet have the same basic physiology as us, instead of having something more useful such as more limbs, or armored skin, etc?
"I doubt they would be running Windows on the mothership). "
All thr problems with ID4, and people keep talking about the one thing that was plausible as if it couldn't happen.
I think after 60 years of studying their technology we might have learned a thing or two.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Although improbable, there has to be a first civilization in our galaxy, and maybe we are the most advanced life form in our galaxy so far. Regarding the age of the universe, it is possible, because the matter of the solar system had to go through 2 or 3 supernovae before having enough high period elements, and it took the universe about 5 billion years alone to create us since our planet was created, which is more than a third of the age of the universe.
This leaves us with a number of possibilities:
- we are the first
- intelligent life is very rare or very fragile and volatile in our universe
- the guy is right and they are already here and among us (maybe they are criminals hiding on a primitive planet)
- interstellar distances are simply to big to be overcome, or no one wants to pay for the energy
- evil alien predators are already on their way to blow us out of the sky before we become serious competitors
- we live in a zoo and are just being watched
- everything is just a big illusion, and our reality is only virtual
p.
Without order, nothing can exist. Without chaos, nothing can be created.
Oh really now.
Does anyone here find this all that surprising?
The odds are other life does exist, get over it.
Not only that, I bet they are better than we are, absolutely laugh at our television broadcasts of our "top" scientists BY DECREE, telling us that the distances between blah blah blah and that is totally impossible to cross such distances....blah blah blah....
Really lets put this in perspective.
In less than 120 years, we went from Orville and Co, to the moon.
Our basic understanding of the very structure of the universe and the forces and materials of things go together is infantile at best.
I mean, we have no concept of what gravity is, although we know enough to describe it and how it acts on objects.
We have no clue about the various types of materials the universe is made out of or their properties. I mean dark energy, matter etc have practically just been discovered for example.
Now take a sentient being other than humans, and instead of 150 years to figure out how to travel in space, give them say an extra million years. Even, dare I say a BILLION years of time.
Point is, you no longer have just ET's, you have gods with a small g walking around up there.
If we can do this rate of advance in just 150 years, imagine what ET's could have done with a billion years.
What is possible would be pretty much fantasy to us.
If there are ET's and Earth is not a rare occurrence, they must be all over the place.
I bet we are just the ants in their backyards. :-)
-Hack
PS: I hope there is something better than humans out there. We suck.
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
Just saw the movie "In the Shadow of the Moon," and his comments about this experience struck me as very poetic and beautiful. It brought home the power of the experience in a way that the engineering speak did not. And I'm not a religious or even really spiritual guy. But I do experience a sense of wonder sometimes, and he invoked it.
There's a moving scene where they show the TLI burn from the perspective of the stage left behind in orbit (it had a camera mounted in it). It's just a single long shot with music and the radio traffic overlayed. Great movie.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
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Whomever tagged this Kucinich is my hero forever. Genius, that. I'm still laughing....
Odd story... Is there a movie coming out that is sort of based on the story...
VIRAL!
this story is sad. poor guy has obviously lost his marbles. unfortunately, 77 yrs old will do that, even to the most accomplished human (clearly, as is the case here)
there are about 1,000 ways from here to sunday that suggest there must be intelligent, communicating life out there somewhere. I'm talking about life just like us. why? Cause we dont care about intelligent viruses. we only care about life just. like. us.
ufo's and alien visitations however are a completely different topic. if you are asking me to belive in ufos, you are in effect asking me to believe in the most wide-ranging, far reaching successful conspiracy of all time.
its not just governments that are looking up at the sky.
its not just evil NSA or NASA, for that matter, that have radar, telescopes, etc.
asking me to believe in ufos is like asking me to believe in santa: no i can't prove that santa don't exist. i CAN however prove that not a single piece of scientific evidence exists that suggests a santa.
so, UFOs are silly, visitations are silly, but Drake equation suggests many many intelligent communicating species in Milky Way. Thousands, even under the most conservative assumptions.
http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html
Contemplate the marvel that is existence, and rejoice that you are able to do so.
I say something exists any evidence to show my hypothesis is wrong must be because of the government. When asked the government they say no, but because it is a cover up so they will be lying and any answer other then no proves there is a cover up, if they do say Yes then it is proof of the original hypothesis. However the more they did and not find proof of their hypothesis so the size of the cover up is greater the further they dig as more and more people must be part of the cover up to keep all the evidence hidden.
However Bill Clinton couldn't keep it secret that he had sexual relations with Monica Luinski. Is there something missing....
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
In America, the public censors you (often with slander and stereotypes.)
The old people I've known who remained mentally active continued to have great minds. Sadly, many were not all that active before retirement and have degraded further in old age so I can see where the perception comes from-- if you watch lots of TV you can see what shape you'll be in later.
My 70 year old uncle is better shape than /. readers and still does carpentry. /. isn't often so rigid and close minded except when its some perceived threat to pop-science.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
You're absolutely right. It works the other way around too. If I saw a really hot female alien I'd want to probe her every hole too. And sci-fi is full of really hot alien chicks! If we get something like Spielberg's ET though, that's a different story. There's no hole there worth probing. But hey, his flat head and small height would probably make him perfect to hold the TV remote. No probing required.
It's not just for lifelong politicians anymore.
Fiat Homos et Pereat Theos
I hate to attempt to argue the point, but let me make a reasonably serious proposal:
The number of worlds predicted by the Draic equation is 10 (depending on the numbers used). Given the universe is huge, we could be the nearest neighbor on this side of the galaxy. It is not impossible that even a sufficiently advanced race lacks the ability (engergy?) for practical inter-galactic space travel.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
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Move to W. Virginia, and stop paying the bills. There is no law requiring you to pay any of that. You could get your news from the local paper (what? 55 cents?) People could (gasp...) write you a letter, and if you wanted to get intouch w/ someone around the world, you could walk to a pay phone.
I don't pay tele bills, I only use a cell phone. Seeing as we both use /. it looks like we need internet access but guess what? You could pick any one of those 3 and basically have the services that the other two provide.
Broadband
Cable internet, VOIP, and VOIP through VPN access to get it anywhere there is a computer w/ net.(2 of the 3 true)
Telephone, Broadband via dsl, and a 2.4 ghz phone w/ high mounted antenna (K so not a cell but you can get decent coverage, I got 1/2 mile w/o trying.)
And lastly
Cell phone, internet, camera, and EVDO broadband modem rolled into 1 device as small as a chocolate bar.
(But No coverage in W. Virginia)
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
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Give me a sniff of that moondust! It seems like a real kick!
(Jeff Goldblum played either Jim Carrey or Larry - either way, the cable guy)
As somebody who knows a leading moon landing critic:
As a government AND scientific organization, NASA has an assumption of guilt proof threshold. Its their job to prove everything scientifically and politically!
These academics get kicks on messing with established BELIEF.
MANY people have exploited the issue and by far MOST people misunderstand the exercise. Its good to get people to question such strongly held beliefs while not going overboard and throwing out the legitimate data.
The legitimate questions raised DO NOT SAY WE NEVER LANDED ON THE MOON.
FYI: Fox News did an experiment in gullibility long ago by creating a 'news' documentary on the moon landings heavily suggesting none of them happened. The results were so good they continued doing it on real issues-- like Iraq...
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
In a statement, a spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe.
Of course NASA isn't involved in that. INS division 6 handles extra-terrestrial contact.
Anyways, am I the only one that found it odd that in each sentence he specifically state that NASA wasn't involved? He didn't say that the US government doesn't track or cover up such things. This leaves it open to any other group or department. The spokesperson did not flat out say NASA has not encountered any evidence of extra-terrestrial life forms visiting Earth. The closest thing he said is "we do not share his opinions on the issue." If I was wearing my tin-foil hat, I would say it is odd that in every other sentence he was very precise in stating that 'NASA' does not handle a particular activity or procedure, but in the last statement he is not as precise and says, "...we do not share his opinions on this issue." The word "we" could refer to different groups or sub-departments. What opinions are they referring to? If they are referring to the belief that they have visited several times, I would have to say that several is not a quantitative term and what I see as several, others would view as "many" or "a few." That is a difference in opinion. Oh well... maybe I should just take off my tinfoil hat now.
I am disappointed in the way people who know nothing about the subject can be so quick to dismiss the possibility we are not alone . Skeptics are smart asses who are afraid to be wrong. This is the biggest thing in history , it is happening right around us and our myopic view of the world is making us blind. How arrogant to think we are alone. People used to know the world was flat. People used to know we cant go to the moon. We really know nothing. The truth is we are not alone and we never have been.
Candle in a bag balloon?
Marvin knew: "Think of a number, any number..."
Oh come on, if aliens really existed, how could the government keep it secret? Surely someone would get the word out that they exist. Oh, wait .....
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Unfortunately, all the UFO buffs who would be delighted to hear this information are also the same people who believe that the moonwalks were a sham, so they won't believe a word he says.
Clearly, that makes him more credible to conspiracy nuts. After all, he was in not one government conspiracy to hide the truth, but two! It clearly shows how interlinked the plans of the secret masters to hide the true face of the world from the greyfaces is.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
... and more believable than the Patent Office going against software patents.
Its puff...puff....give NOT puff...puff...puff...puff...puff...puff...puff...puff...puff...puff...puff...puff...puff...puff... If you managed the rotation correctly you wouldn't be comin' up with this shizzite!
Besides the fact that the demolitions were completely obvious,
Only to people who haven't bothered to seriously examine films of real demolitions and compare their features with film of the 9/11 events.
and the presence of molten steel for weeks afterward completely indicates incendiaries,
1. There was no molten steel for weeks afterwards. This is a lie spread by the 9/11 conspiracy theory movement. The fire was hot enough to melt aluminum, and also hot enough to severely weaken exposed structural steel, but it was not hot enough to actually melt steel.
2. If there was molten metal of any type, how would that prove incendiaries? Incendiaries are small devices which ignite fires in other material. Even if we assume that fires on 9/11 were started by incendiaries, the incendiaries themselves would not be responsible for the heat required to melt any molten metal found in the ruins; rather, the burning of fuel ignited by incendiaries would be responsible for that, meaning that the metal would be molten regardless of the origin of the fire. But we do not need incendiaries to explain why fires started on 9/11 because GIANT AIRLINERS CRASHED INTO WTC 1 AND WTC 2, DUMBASS.
the put-options and stock market chicanery are well well documented,
And have been shown to be ordinary stock market transactions, not chicanery. Once more, you believe lies spread by the troothers. The entire 9/11 'truth' movement is a farce.
and the owner of the buildings was even quoted directly, "I was talking to the fire Marshall, and I said, 'We've had such a terrible loss of life, maybe the best idea is just to pull it.' So that's what we did, we made the decision to pull."
You are repeating a conspirawacko-edited version of the quote designed to make it sound more suspicious. Please see this link for an accurate transcription of the quote:
http://wtc7lies.googlepages.com/larrysilverstein's%22pullit%22quote
"I remember getting a call from the fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, 'We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it.' And they made that decision to pull and then we watched the building collapse."
Note that 'THEY' (as in the fire department) made the decision. Not Larry Silverstein. And in this context 'pull' clearly means 'pull out', as in get firefighting personnel out, stop all efforts to fight the fire, and just let the building collapse, rather than kill more firemen in a lost cause.
Pull being a well known demolition term meaning "Bring the building down",
More conspiracy loon BS. See:
http://wtc7lies.googlepages.com/is%22pullusedbydemolitionsprostomean%22demol
and then watching video of the WTC7 coming down... combined with the fact that news sources including the BBC somehow knew it was going to collapse ahead of time..
Yet another carbon copy conspiracy loon lie. Seriously, every last one of these supposedly damning points has been debunked years ago, yet you assholes keep repeating them again and again and again. I've seen them brought up and shot down dozens of times at the JREF message boards (www.randi.org, but the message boards seem to be down at the moment). If you want the answer to this one, search the JREF forums once they're up, or browse the wtc7lies site (I'm sure he's covered it somewhere in there, he demolishes all the standard WTC 7 talking points).
At the very least there is clearly complicity and fore-knowledge and a cover up regarding WTC7.
No, there isn't.
It doesn't really stand to reason that the other rather incre
Apollo 14 was manned by some oddballs. One guy smuggled a personal golf-club head, hooked it to a digging tool, and hit the first golf ball on the moon; and the second guy claims alien cover-ups. The moon *does* make you luny, at least at 14's spot.
Table-ized A.I.
...the astronaut is just astro-turfing - X-files movie is out tomorrow.
Dr Mitchell must be lying, because I know my government would never lie to me.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Also, a relative of mine told me that around 1969 or 70 or so at night she and a friend were on the porch talking. A light source came down, low/tree-top, over the street, quietly. It was NOT like any aircraft or hobby toys of the time. It seemed to be observing them, or just hanging around, then it abruptly left.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning perhaps?
Nah. More like White Lightning
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Aw, it looks like I hurt the sensitive senile crowd where it hurts. I'm sorry if I have offended those of you who are full of ignorance and hate. It looks like your 8 year run of fear mongering is coming to an end. My bad.
I think his views have been a bit wacky all along. good news if he really must have walked on the moon or he'd surly be talking about that one.
Excerpt from wikipdia on him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Mitchell
Mitchell's interests include consciousness and paranormal phenomena. During the Apollo 14 flight he conducted private ESP experiments with his friends on Earth.[3] In early 1973, he founded the nonprofit Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) to conduct and sponsor research into areas that mainstream science has ignored, including consciousness research and psychic events.
Mitchell says that a teenage remote healer who lives in Vancouver and uses the pseudonym Adam Dreamhealer, helped heal him of kidney cancer at a distance. Mitchell said that while he never had a biopsy (the definitive test for cancer), "I had a sonogram and MRI that was consistent with renal carcinoma." Adam worked (distantly) on Mitchell from December of 2003 until June of 2004, when the "irregularity was gone and we haven't seen it since."[4]
Mitchell has publicly expressed his opinions that he is "90 per cent sure that many of the thousands of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, recorded since the 1940s, belong to visitors from other planets"[5] and that UFOs have been the "subject of disinformation in order to deflect attention and to create confusion so the truth doesn't come out."[6] In 2004 he told the St. Petersburg Times that a "cabal of insiders" inside the US Government were studying recovered alien bodies, and that this group had stopped briefing US Presidents after John F. Kennedy.[7] He has said, that "We all know that UFOs are real, now the question is, where they come from."[8]
On July 23, 2008 Edgar Mitchell was interviewed on Kerrang Radio. Mitchell claimed the Roswell crash was real and that Aliens have contacted humans several times but that governments have hidden the truth for 60 years stating, "'I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real." In reply, a spokesman for NASA stated, "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue."[9] [10]
Edgar Mitchell is one of the astronauts featured in the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon.
As well as academic papers,[11] Mitchell has written two books: Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science (ISBN 0-399-11342-8) and The Way of the Explorer (ISBN 1-57270-019-X). In The Way of the Explorer, Mitchell proposed a dyadic model of reality.[12]
I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso
A coverup? A massive worldwide coverup? C'mon. Is there anyone really believing that governments are capable of it? Do you remember stories about Word documents with metadata that revealed more than intented? Governments aren't capable of covering much simpler things, let alone UFOs.
You know what is confusing me about these aliens? Why do they always contact governments when they come to Earth so they can cover it up?
Unless you're planning on overtly taking over with military force, then it would probably be irresponsible to reveal yourself openly. Just think of the social chaos that might cause. That part is at least consistent.
I can only applaud our governments, they are doing an excellent job. If they are capable of covering up moon hoaxes, 9/11 plans and aliens crash landing, I'd just wish they were able to do their job just as fine with, say, the war in Iraq?
Ah, you don't think properly like a conspiracy theorist.
First, you must assume the conspiracy. Then, you must fit all the data into the model instead of refitting the model to fit the data.
Thus, us not doing well in Iraq can only mean that either the conspiracy wants us to fail in Iraq for some larger reason, the conspiracy is uninterested in Iraq, there are competing conspiracies, the conspiracy's goals in Iraq are unrelated to political or military success (such as capturing a specific site), etc. Never should you think that data can actually contradict the existence of a conspiracy -- just your understanding of its shadowy goals.
Remember, conspiracy is the plural form of confirmation bias.
This is what always gets me about these people, they talk as if the government is a body of competent people. Last time I checked, they aren't! Private corporations could run most countries better.
When is the last time you really paid attention to the news? (Or to how large companies are run, frankly? Bureaucracy is bureaucracy regardless of where the paychecks come from.)
Just think of the US government's hybrid private-public model as all of the profit skimming of a private corporation with all of the competition of an oligopoly, all funded by a captive market that has to pay up or go to prison and whose votes are filtered through men and women beholden to the large partner corporations for the money to get themselves elected thanks to our campaign financing system.
We need less of that. At least, less non-competitive private firms acting as growths off of the body public, performing the same functions government would except that they have built-in skimming off the top to go to executives and shareholders -- kind of a perverse, reverse income tax.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Why did Madonna go to Malawi?
To get to the other side?
Don't worry - you're a Democrat. Just choose whichever reality is most convenient for you at the moment time and go with it.
So, how goes that search for WMDs, or was that never the point, really?
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
I realize you were being funny, but there's a difference. ... and also believe that he has completely screwed it up many ways. We don't see him as infallible, and most don't see it as a way of guiding moral choices or of how to live our life.
Most geeks (even star wars geeks!) that I know are grateful that Lucas gave us that world
(Jedi religion as an exception. ;))
We just spotted a man yet to be deneuralized.
why would they stop here?
To study stupidity! Our societies offer undeniable evidence for the existence of stupidity in this universe. Evidence becomes even stronger when you discover that there exist people who vote for whoever politician looks charmer on a hypnotising TV screen.
Now if somebody could explain me why university went through Big Bang, all these stars and galaxies, all these chemical elements, and all these planets and life forms, for eventually creating stupidity? Sounds like the universe, or at least the Earth, is trying to commit suicide by creating a stupid species of monkeys capable of massive nuclear war.
Around 1989 back in Yakutia (Russian North, near the arctic circle) I was coming back from school in the winter, probably around 4PM, it was dark (polar night). I and 2 more friends saw a ball like that. It was impossible to say how high above the buildings it was hanging. It was gliding slowly as we walked. There was no moon that night and the Sun was below the horizon. There were few stars, visibility was low, but I remember very well that we observed the ball of light for half an hour before it disappeared. I don't have an explanation for it, maybe it was a ball of lightning, but there was no thunderstorm or any storm at all.
You can't handle the truth.
The new X Files movie was just released today in Australia.. TFA is on an aussie news site .. is the good doctor on the payroll or is it just a happy coincidence?? ;)
Attribute the vast majority of UFO "sightings" to known physical phenomena, some to secret experimental aircraft, some to psychological problems in witnesses, some to cosmic rays causing optical effects in peoples' brains and retinas, some to opthalmic "floaters" in peoples' eyes, some to psyops, some to people helping create "UFO excitement" prior to the release of new wannabe blockbuster scifi movies, and you've explained 99.99999% of all sightings.
Why oil price increase equals economic trouble (Score: Interesti
"Once a culture starts playing with atomics, a certain amount of oversight is required."
I'd be more concerned about the cultures with magnetic compasses and triangular sails than I would about the ones with gunpowder.
Also, a relative of mine told me that around 1969 or 70 or so at night she and a friend were on the porch talking. A light source came down, low/tree-top, over the street, quietly. It was NOT like any aircraft or hobby toys of the time. It seemed to be observing them, or just hanging around, then it abruptly left.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning perhaps?
Nah. More like White Lightning
No no no... more like Blue Lightning
WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS
We've mixed together chemical soups and watched life erupt out of it.
If you're referring to Stanley Miller's amino acid experiment, life didn't erupt, amino acids did. Life is several steps removed from that step.
The universe doesn't tend towards entropy. It tends towards life.We are walking, talking evidence of this fact.
Don't know where you learned physics but you're wrong, at least about our neck of the universe. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere including life, you see entropic processes at work. Life only exists because some organism has discovered a way to expedite the movement of energy from a high state to a lower state. For example, Lenski's e coli evolved to metabolize citrate. Prior to that life form coming along, citrate was relatively stable. This particular bug figured out a way to extract energy from the citrate bonds thereby increasing the overall level of entropy in the universe. We're another example. We've figured out how to split the atom and burn oil which more than pays for the energy costs it takes for us to exist.
My guess is that Fox paid him a bunch of dough for this to come out as news just before the release of the X Files.
We may not recognize what comes next; but then again, I doubt we'll ever meet it!
Wasn't LSD Popular around Apollo 14?
Looks like it was popular in it, too.
The man acted bravely and with honor in his mission to the moon. None of his Apollo compatriots have claimed otherwise.
Most geeks I know or have read on Slashdot agree that Lucas turned completely evil and greedy when he did the prequels, and think he basically ruined Star Wars.
Many geeks also agree that The Empire Strikes Back was easily the best SW movie of all, and the main reason for that was because Lucas DIDN'T write it. Lucas is an imaginative guy, and great with special effects, alien worlds and beings, etc., but he completely sucks at writing a decent story or especially dialog.
What possible stimulus could be so powerfull as to cause these diverse groups that hate each other to agree on a coverup? Whatever it is must be truly terrifying. That aliens exist can not be the whole story.
Everyone seems to be focusing on the existance of UFO aliens and a coverup, but few seem to have thought about what it would mean if there were aliens associated with a secret so powerfull that could cause the world's governments to actually agree on something!
Assume the existance of the aliens and coverup, and do some deductive reasoning like the great Sherlock. What results do you get?
Is it possible that aliens are smart enough to build interstellar craft, but are unable to do simple Malthusian arithmetic?
If human beings had interstellar craft and were unopposed, how long until human beings filled up the galaxy? Do you really think the space aliens are unable to do this calculation?
Do the aliens view us as Redwood trees or as med-fly? Put yourself in the alien's place and how would you view us? The possibilities are truly alarming and no one seems to be thinking about them!
On the otherhand, we are all dead if we do not figure a way out of this solar system. (Read a newspaper.) If the aliens did it, it is not impossible. All human resources should be devoted to working on this problem.
I think there's an upper boundary to technology, called the Laws of Physics, which may be refined, clarified, but won't be broken outright.
True but we don't know all the Laws of Physics yet so how can we say categorically that something is impossible? If you look at String Theory then they have models which just about break every concept we hold dear: that it is not to say that any of these bizarre models are correct but if you can come up with a theory which allows you to break things like Lorentz and unitarity in a manner not yet contradicted by experiment I don't think that you can be too certain what may eventually be possible!
The only thing the government is covering up is the stress they put astronauts under. We all remember Lisa Nowak who put on diapers and pepper sprayed that astronauts girlfriend. I suggest all astronauts be evaluted for post tramatic stress disored after leaving NASA.
Let's also assume that they have different physics and that FTL travel is possible and routine.
First, by definition, they cannot have different physics from us without living in a different Universe. They may have a better understanding of physics though.
Secondly there are unfrotunately very good arguments to point out that intelligent life and FTL travel are, together, extremely unlikely. If you think about how long it has taken us to get from caves to spaceships (say 10k years) this is tiny compared to the length of time that life has been around on Earth (4 billion) or even multi cellular life (~500 million IIRC). Now Earth is by no means an old planet - the Universe has been around for some 13.8 billion years compared to 4.5 billion of Earth. So any other intelligent life form out there is likely to be millions of years more evolved than we are (they cannot be millions of years less evolved because otherwise we would not regard them as intelligent being so relatively young!). So if, given a million year or so head start, they have not been able to visit us so far then either interstellar travel is incredibly hard or intelligent life is fantastically rare. The two more or less balance: the easier interstellar travel is the rarer intelligent life will probably be and vice versa.
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary prof"
...
All he has is his stature. Not bad, but gets you nowhere. Other than that we can may as well phylosophise intixicated
G
I always knew there was something fishy about you based on your other posts.
'little people who look strange to us.' Sure they are little, look peculiar, speak funny. But we must acknowledge that their technology and civilisation is many millenia ahead of ours. And - I love their cuisine, especially the sushi!
I really do.
In fact, the documents state that I myself an am alien. Any non-US citizen can get these documents - just apply for a visa to visit the US.
Maybe the aliens will do better than we've done.
As for us, we'll make great pets!
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
Until I actually see evidence for ET, I am not believing. If you actually believe Mitchell, than I place you among those who believe in god. Believing in either would require that you do so with no evidence supporting the claims.
Good point, but you are wasting your time arguing with the dolts on here who think that the personal computer is the ultimate intellectual advancement in the known universe, and that anything they didn't learn in engineering school can't be true.
I do see a real investment opportunity here, though. Colonel Flanders Kentucky Crow Sauce, with 13 herbs and spices guaranteed to hide the taste of the crow these idiots are going to have to eat if Mitchell turns out to be even close to the truth. I can't wait. Too bad Sagan isn't still alive. I'd give a fortune to see the look on his face.
Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus.
It's remotely possibly that the government has information about alien visits, possibly even artifacts / bodies (that would likely have suicided when they saw the savages closing in) but that's a far cry from Contact. Consider:
- If aliens were hostile, we'd all know about it.
- If they weren't (i.e., the "enlightened" sort) they wouldn't have anything to do with any current Earth government. Aside from the Prime Directive (or whatever you call it), most governments represent the absolute worst of humanity and as such wouldn't have much to say to a civilized race.
David Duchovny's theory (which he expounded on on "The Tonight Show" recently) makes more sense than any of the other UFOlogist theories I've heard --
They put their undesirables -- sexual deviants and dentists -- onto a spaceship to wander aimlessly in the galaxy.
They ended up here.
The truth is out there ... Really out there.
So, what do the alien undesirables do when they get their paws on any of the local wildlife?
Drill their teeth and probe their .. er, orifices.
The truth is out there ... Really out there.
Until we are openly visited. Then they were the informed, gutsy, honest, open, brave people with integrity who wanted the truth to be known. This guy adds himself to many who are trying to get the truth out. I won't name any here because this will just start the same old crank debate. But we know who they are. As in faith - silence is best with this matter also.
I might buy the sock to hanger conversion, with trivial alien intervention or a little black sock module in the dryer, but I just don't see how they can possibly get back up on the closet rod after the transformation. BTW, I'm an unwavering post-transformationalist, so don't even start the argument that they migrate to the closet rods as pre-hanger, sock pupae. The fossil evidence doesn't bear that out.
Invenio via vel creo
project disclosure always says the same thing for years - that full disclosure is right around the corner...over and over again.
that he believes in aliens is not news!
that it is in the news is what makes it news...
big things in the REAL world are unfolding, so it's best that you look at UFOs, JFK, .. and i'm waiting for a big elvis story to complete the trio of redirection...
war anyone? economic shocks on the way? oh look! aliens!!!
Oh, it's quite simple, really. You compute the differential of the volume of the result of the theorem with respect to its assumptions, and integrate in the direction that maximizes the volume. Voila, an expanded theorem. It's hard to see why so many people just don't seem to get math.
Don't you love the way governments create rumours of alien cover up conspiracies in order to divert attention from the real issues like Britain and the USA deliberately trying to run down the earth's resources so that they can divide it between them and crush democracy (and China) forever. Just kidding. (Or am I? ;-)
"I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for, er... food." Col. Jack O'Neil, SG-1
The OP was referring to Countries, not cities.
Maybe they can't talk to us, maybe they now that we would react agreesively, and try to kill them. Maybe they use a form of communication unknown to us, something that we can't understand and use. I only hope they don't want to kill us :P
Minti: What's that huge shuriken in your back?! Kin: It's the instrument of my victory.
I can't help thinking that a former austronat may be just trying to help NASA to get more funding.
Speaking about aliens may just bring enough media attention and get people worried enough to get space missions back on the politician radar.
Don't forget that NASA funding has been slashed dramatically and for a couple of years after the shuttle is retired we'll need russian rockets to reach the ISS, until the ARES rockets are ready.
Everyone knows that the moon landings were faked. Clearly this announcement of so-called 'aliens' is just another part of the same government consipiracy. Come _on_ people!
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
If he is lying, at least his lie isn't killing thousands of innocent people and bankrupting a whole nation. Let's remember also that, lately, the government has defaulted to lying on just about all matters anymore. I'll go this way and believe this guy since the government denies it. They have a hell of a long way to go to earning We The Peoples trust back.
If you watch "Star Trek" you'd agree that the War in Iraq would be looked down upon in history (as would be the rest of the late 20th and early 21st centuries) as it would violate an important law, Prime Directive. Hee hee...
Nazi death camp were not kept hidden for 60 years.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Agreed. --For the most part, anyway. Some secrets are quite, 'keepable'.
I'm sure there are plenty of secret military technologies and operations which are worked on in compartmentalized form, with all kinds of stunningly paranoid security systems and locked doors in place. --Not the least effective system of which being the non-disclosure forms the government makes workers sign through which it is understood that to reveal secrets is considered treason and is severely punishable. Yes, it's entirely possible to keep the lid mostly down. But you're right, stuff still manages to leak out around the edges; that's the nature of information. --But then a curious thing happens; the leaks are dealt with by the most awesome security system of all. The public simply ignores it. Take this current example, for instance. An astronaut, a man who would have been in a position to know, claiming that aliens exist. That's a pretty big leak, but what will come of it? Nothing. Why? Because it could be a deliberate red herring, it could be insanity, it could be true, or it could be partly true. Confusion is the best medicine in such a case at this, and for the most part, people just keep their noses to the ground; they don't want to look silly by giving it too much thought. We've been very well trained. We fear ridicule to ridiculous levels. Tin-foil, anyone?
Governments can keep and manage information just fine, and what they cannot keep, people obediently look away from.
And so it goes.
-FL
Oh the big silly ...
Those are Leprechauns.
You know what they say about opinions. They're all fabulous!
"[...] described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'"
Well I'm fucking sold.
we are just waiting for you people to reach a level of intellectual integrity that so far only seems to be achieved on internet message boards ... a few more million years of evolution should get it right if you do not accidentaly blow yourself up cos the man at the button had a really fucked up day ...
yes, you humans ARE funny ;-)
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
The thing is. . . Once one accepts the possibility of aliens, then all of those other subjects you mentioned gain validity. They're all connected. Essentially they all find their foundation on the notion that there are some states of being which do not revolve exclusively around the idea of material existence. This idea is easily dismissed, (it is certainly discouraged by academia), and the field has been laden with so many mountains of horrid nonsense that any sane person is easily put off.
However, once one decides to actually study the field honestly and consistently, it is rather quickly learned that there IS something to the idea. Quite a lot, actually.
But many never, never look, preferring to rest their belief structures upon ideas safe from the terrible danger of being laughed at. Awareness doesn't come cheap; it never has, but I prefer to base my beliefs not just on what I am told it is acceptable to think about. I'd rather look and think for myself. Basically, the moment I sense that I might be socially punished for exploring an idea, it revs me up. It certainly doesn't mean that everything I look into is valid. Indeed, much of it is twisted half-truth garbage created by egos and wishful thinking, but I wouldn't know that without looking. And I also wouldn't know that some of it, some very powerful bits of it, are entirely real. --And I'll be damned if I'm going to be bullied by intellectual cowards into believing only that which I am told is okay to believe; that which is officially sanctioned. I find that thought offensive in the extreme, and I cannot understand why more people don't bristle at the idea. Being socially manipulated by the fear of ridicule is for the birds.
The fascinating thing I've found is that such knowledge comes with its own automatic safeguards. When it comes to the non-physical, you absolutely HAVE to decide for yourself not to be scared and not to be closed. In the arena of the mind, scientific reductionism doesn't work the same way it does in the material realm; proof is very difficult to force upon those who choose to close their perceptions to it, and further, one of the things one eventually learns is that forcing people to go against their choices is a fundamental violation which carries penalties. The full spectrum of reality is only for the courageous.
-FL
Hey! What's all this chatter about it being a distraction to real world problems??
Is that how we welcome our alien overlords these days?
I dont disagree with the alien existence, but disagree with them actually landing on the moon. Speculator watch 2 documentaries called "A funny thing that happened on the way to the moon" and "Astronauts gone wild". For people looking for a mind teaser - how come nobody attempted another moon landing since 1972? Cheers fellows
but they'd be specialised ones for the disabled
That's assuming they treat disabilities in the way we do. For all we know they might *eat* their disabled :-)
effecting to the meaning of 'aliens dont exist/cant visit earth you moron, everyone knows it'.
....
...
can you see the irony when all those sarcastic, smartass, know-it-all comments are put in a plain language such as that one ? it seems like a high school jerk trying to outsmart a classmate doesnt it ? well it does.
sometimes i cant believe slashdot.
we are discussing particle accelerators, zero energy fields, parallel universes, wormholes, dark matter/energy, boundaries of universe and what probably *may* exist beyond, schrodinger's cat, and so on at slashdot
and yet, there are still a smartmouth opinion that can assuredly say 'aliens cant visit earth' (im even leaving aside the ones that say aliens cant exist). thats after discussing all those surreal looking scientific subjects too !
105 year ago, there were still people who were saying 'if god wanted man to fly, he would have given him wings. its impossible to fly like birds'. 500 years ago people were crapping in the streets. we have made the stride from poking each other's butts with metal needles (swords) to particle accelerators in just 300 years, and yet some of you are STILL witless as to believe some other intelligence somewhere in the universe may not be able to have invented some technology to make viable interstellar travel possible
"but then why dont they openly contact us" -- well, our civilization is a baby in diapers yet, and even we are isolating some amazon tribes from modern civilization to 'preserve their culture and lifestyle', and not letting any form of contact with them. is there any among you that is stupid enough to think, another intelligent species in the universe would not be able to have thought of the same thing ?
well, if there are, that can probably due to either of those 2 reasons :
- lack of vision
- self centered, arrogant view of life, albeit in a global scale
Read radical news here
You are betting on the assumption that these aliens have no interests of their own to defend. For all you know when they offer to drop you on your very own rock you are becoming the pawn of their interstellar politics -- "Hands off Planet Dune! We just claimed it for our interstellar zoo, as protected by Section A3.D3R.U342@@ of interstellar code. I DARE you to drop gravitron bombs! The Spice must flow!"
This comment is my opinion and does not represent an official position of Donald Trump or others I do not work for
Already a book. I suppose you could use it as a script.
http://www.amazon.com/Illegal-Aliens-Nick-Pollotta/dp/1933274131/ref=sr_1_1/104-0896581-2510320?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217019633&sr=1-1
Silly. Hilarious.
-- The above may have once been believed by me, but any truth or application you find is your own problem.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Here is a picture from nasaimages.org taken by Eddie on the moon. Pretty hi-res. Can anyone spot any alien footprints?
haha! :)
-- The box said Windows 2000 or better... so I installed Linux
So, let me get this straight - you find it ridiculously implausible that we could come up with a very good titanium alloy on our own, but it's completely believable that aliens evolved to look like us, or could even have DNA in common with us?
Back into the Debunkulator with you!!
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."