|
Post by freon on Aug 17, 2006 15:21:52 GMT -4
Has anyone ever checked out the CIA site on UFO's? foia.cia It has hundreds of (non-blacked out) actual documents of - briefings on UFOs, sightings all around the world, German saucer technoogies, even on a space message. Documents all the way back to 1949. Interesting reading.
|
|
|
Post by echnaton on Aug 17, 2006 18:02:20 GMT -4
Could you kindly put up a link to whatever you found to be interesting and perhaps tell us why you think it might be of interest to otheres?
|
|
|
Post by freon on Aug 17, 2006 20:21:08 GMT -4
www.foia.cia.gov/ufo.asp - One from 1952 Military - Unconventional crafts "Engineer claims 'saucer' plans are in the Soviet hands;sightings in Africa, Iran,Syria." caught my eye amongst others.
|
|
Eddie Hitler
Mercury
Edward "Eddie" Elizabeth Hitler (at right)
Posts: 23
|
Post by Eddie Hitler on Nov 2, 2006 9:33:58 GMT -4
UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object.
I saw a UFO the other day. Then I identifed it.
It was a helicopter.
Crazy...
|
|
|
Post by Kiwi on Nov 4, 2006 21:20:48 GMT -4
UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object. That is the weird thing -- some people seem to automatically connect the term with "alien spacecraft." Taking into account that some things aren't actually flying, everything in the sky could be called either a UFO or an IFO. I'm into astronomy so study the sky quite a lot and as a result have seen a few objects that I couldn't immediately identify, so I was looking at UFOs. However, they all eventually became IFOs, although one three-dimensional daylight object had me completely baffled for a few hours. After a big UFO flap years ago in New Zealand I heard a silly phone poll that a radio station ran. The question was, "Do you believe in UFOs." By definition, you have to believe in them.
|
|
reynoldbot
Jupiter
A paper-white mask of evil.
Posts: 790
|
Post by reynoldbot on Nov 5, 2006 6:16:28 GMT -4
I think they are fun to read about as long as you don't take what you are reading too seriously. As for the documents linked to, I'm sure the "real story" behind them is as interesting as the task was of typing all those documents.
But really, pointing out the "true" definition of UFO kind of makes you sound like a jerk. Yeah yeah we all know that UFO can mean any kind of flying object that has yet to be identified and includes lots of mundande everyday things. But the cultural interpretation of UFO has always been and always will be "alien spaceship" and you just have to get over it.
When people say "I saw a UFO!" I bet you immediately think of an alien spaceship (and then you probably think of how by definition UFO's can mean yadda yadda). They are synonymous; you cannot escape the connotation.
|
|
|
Post by gillianren on Nov 5, 2006 18:10:47 GMT -4
Connotation, sure. But they are not synonymous. In fact, they are antonymous, and you'll just have to learn to live with it.
|
|
|
Post by PhantomWolf on Nov 5, 2006 20:28:28 GMT -4
Which is why I try and use ETV rather than UFO if talking Alien Spacecraft
|
|
reynoldbot
Jupiter
A paper-white mask of evil.
Posts: 790
|
Post by reynoldbot on Nov 6, 2006 7:52:05 GMT -4
There you go again. Culturally the two terms are synonymous. Culturally! I mean really, can this thread get more condescending? The first thing you guys do when he posts the link is probe him for an opinion, so that when he provides one you can jump on it and tell him he's a sap for believing in flying saucers (don't deny this as being your game plan I can see it unfolding in the first reply). Then you go on by telling him that technically a UFO can mean any flying object that has yet to be identified (duh) and most are everyday phenomena that become identified blah blah as if nobody knew that UFO's don't strictly mean alien spaceships. I mean, why bother and bring it up other than to scold him (and for using a term that not only is "technically" accurate but also generally understood as meaning "alien spacecraft" in most contexts)?
If you are going to read those reports, do some research and tell freon that they hardly reveal a government conspiracy or anything interesting like that, then that's fine. But you guys are basically just berating him for bringing up the topic (and especially the word UFO).
|
|
|
Post by Kiwi on Nov 6, 2006 9:45:26 GMT -4
You're coming from a totally different point of view to me. When I was young gay meant only happy, we had golliwogs among our toys, Buddy Holly was still alive when we heard him on the radio, and I watched Sputnik 1 pass overhead. I was a teenager when the Starfish Prime nuclear explosion was visible from my home here in New Zealand (in fact, from all over the country), and for the first few decades of my life UFO meant ONLY Unidentified Flying Object and nothing else. If people meant alien spacecraft, they said so, myself included. I'm not berating anyone -- just stating a fact. Get over it!
|
|
Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
|
Post by Jason on Nov 6, 2006 12:06:49 GMT -4
Reynoldbot is absolutely correct. Jumping on someone for assuming that "UFO" is synomynous with "alien spacecraft" - which it essentially is in common speech - is a pretty cheap shot.
|
|
Eddie Hitler
Mercury
Edward "Eddie" Elizabeth Hitler (at right)
Posts: 23
|
Post by Eddie Hitler on Nov 6, 2006 13:00:14 GMT -4
I saw another one today.
Then it flew past.
It was a sparrow...
Amazing...
|
|
Eddie Hitler
Mercury
Edward "Eddie" Elizabeth Hitler (at right)
Posts: 23
|
Post by Eddie Hitler on Nov 6, 2006 14:35:59 GMT -4
Has anyone ever seen the Pale Blue Dot? www.bigskyastroclub.org/pale_blue_dot.htmI have to say that it's pretty arrogant of us on earth to think that anyone would be interested. I doubt they can even see us. We've been radiating meaningful electronic signals for about 80 - 90 years now. Thats 80 - 90 light years of travel for any signal powerful enough to get that far or that's not lost in the background noise of interstellar radiation. The nearest star, apart from our own rather ordinary sun, is Alpha Centauri. It is similar in terms of power and age (6 billion years) to the Sun and is only 4.35 light years away. The second nearest is Barnard's Star, about 6 Light Years away. They are unremarkable, as is Sol. Why aliens would travel BILLION of miles from somewhere else to visit them is beyond me. G type stars are similar to our sun, with similar energy outputs and likelyhood of survivable conditions. There are also, 76 A type (Whiteish blue - very hot), 4 B type (blue white - very hot), 303 F type (yellowish), 510 G type (lovely at 93 million miles...!) and 1000 K type stars within 100 light years. Nearly 300 of those are within 50 light years. Only 61 of those are G type stars. Therefore the odds of one of them "replying" soon are pretty long. They can't really "see" us as such. There is little visible evidence of Man's existence on earth from the surface of the moon much less from the surface of a planet 90 light years away. If someone there is listening, then it'll take 90 years for a reply to reach us. So you'd better wait around until 2096 before a reply will arrive! Point is that we are not really noticeable. We evolved here. We've had the time to do so. We aren't so amazing in the grand scheme. Carl Sagan wrote, "Despite its 10,000-million-mile diameter, the solar system is dwarfed by the Milky Way galaxy to which it belongs. But the Milky Way, containing 100,000 million stars, is only a mote in the universe. There are thousands of millions of such galaxies, most with their own myriad stars having their own planetary systems. If only 1/10,000 of 1 per cent of these planets harbour a civilization - and this is a very conservative estimate - the universe must teem with more than 100 million million civilizations." Unfortunately, I am yet to be convinced that any one of them is close enough to even consider getting here.
|
|
reynoldbot
Jupiter
A paper-white mask of evil.
Posts: 790
|
Post by reynoldbot on Nov 7, 2006 2:55:51 GMT -4
You're coming from a totally different point of view to me. When I was young gay meant only happy, we had golliwogs among our toys, Buddy Holly was still alive when we heard him on the radio, and I watched Sputnik 1 pass overhead. I was a teenager when the Starfish Prime nuclear explosion was visible from my home here in New Zealand (in fact, from all over the country), and for the first few decades of my life UFO meant ONLY Unidentified Flying Object and nothing else. If people meant alien spacecraft, they said so, myself included. I'm not berating anyone -- just stating a fact. Get over it! So what you are saying is that you are completely unadaptable to the gradual change of culture? That's a pretty weak excuse. You had 40 years to get used to the change in cultural definition of UFO. Nevertheless, that doesn't explain why you felt compelled to spell out the technical definition of UFO to freon. I think your reponse is patronizing and insulting to his intelligence.
|
|
|
Post by RAF on Nov 7, 2006 12:36:50 GMT -4
Jumping on someone for assuming that "UFO" is synomynous with "alien spacecraft" - which it essentially is in common speech - is a pretty cheap shot. Really?? If the assumption is "alien spacecraft", then it has been "identified". I prefer Flying Saucer, that way there is absolutely no confusion as to what I mean.
|
|