So, I saw a UFO today!

[Royal Dragon]

As for your model of the galaxy, suppose the galaxy is teeming with life, and all one needs to do is aim in any direction to find a life supporting planet orbiting around a star?

Maybe your theoretical search is not too impossible.

[The Willow Sword]

Interesting Picture. I think we can all safely assume that this was an object not readily identified( Hence a UFO)

I would encourage the Ufo Peeps here and skeptics to read the works of "Zecharia Sitchin". Some VERY interesting theories and possible proof to back up the theories,to say the least.

Peace,TWS

[Shaolin Wookie]

Ok, then what was the huge giant charcoal colored rectangle thing I photographed flyning across the Chicago skyline, hmmm?

Optimus Prime?

[Shaolin Wookie]

Swamp gas?

[Shaolin Wookie]

Question is--did anyone else get a photograph of it? Chicago is a huge city. There's traffic copters all around, and the airport surely would have picked up something that massive on their radar, right?

I'm sorry. In these kinds of claims, it's going to take supplementary proof in order to corroborate the authenticity of that photograph.

Wait a second. Now that I think about it, I did see something about this on the news.

I'm gonna surf the net for a sec to see if I can find it.

Okay, I'm back. Search turned up positive.

I've found the necessary second to RD's photo.....look for it on my attachment.....

Truly amazing. I think I'm beginnning to believe, and now I feel like such a sucker for that last post.

[Shaolin Wookie]

As for your model of the galaxy, suppose the galaxy is teeming with life, and all one needs to do is aim in any direction to find a life supporting planet orbiting around a star?

Maybe your theoretical search is not too impossible.

Let's suppose that's so. Which direction do you choose, which star? They're so far away that you can't exactly just blast off and expect that because it's in front of you, that you're going to get there. You have to actually know its position beforehand to get there (in your lifetime, or an alien's lifetime). A thousandth of an inch to the left or right, too high or too low, and you'll wind up on the other side of the galaxy. And as for getting energy for propulsion in outer space--well, wtf???? You'd have to drift most of the way (we're talking decades, centuries, millennia of travel, dude). Would an alien species really be that interested in such a trek? We're assuming:

1. They know what our gravity and environment is like (b/c they're flying around in our atmosphere).

2. They know how to get here (b/c they've done it a million times).

3. They don't have problems on their own planet (war spending/defense budgets keep us from granting unlimited resources to NASA).


We can get to the moon (maybe, although that flag waving in low gravity seems to help conspiracy theory that we never did--and the fact that we haven't again on successive efforts [ie, technology is supposed to get better, not worse--and a peice of foam kept us out of space a couple of months ago ]), and we're now talking Mars. But we have to plot space probe trajectories years/decades in advance in order to make sure they'll reach their destination. The cost for these operations is gigantic. How do aliens get their funding? For every successful enterprise, we have to assume that there are at least a hundred failures....do they really have that much funding? This presupposes that they are united in their effort to find extraterrestrial life. For what? If they found us, and wished to verify that discovery, they'd make contact. As I stated earlier, intergalactic/interstellar communication is a real beeyotch, to use NASA terminology. So they wouldn't just recon, because the recon would be wasted.

Man, intergalactic/interstellar travel is far more complicated than you guys think.

[Radhnoti]

SW, just to be clear...UFO doesn't necessitate "little green men". It means you saw something and didn't know what it was.
It's a bit close-minded to assume EVERYONE that saw something they didn't recognize is lying or deluded. I saw something, RD saw something, millions of people have seen something...maybe it'll turn out to be experimental military aircraft.

[Shaolin Wookie]

I was debunking the alien theories posted repeatedly. As for "secret military aircraft"--they wouldn't be flying around Chicago where camera wielding MA's could take snapshots......or they wouldn't be very secret, would they?

Everyone knows what we're talking about.......

I'm just not speaking in ambiguities....

You don't have to agree with me. It's probably better you don't, for the sake of discussion.

Try to change my mind......

I think my photograph is just as genuine as his. Sorry RD .

[David Jamieson]

not everyone carries around a camera every second of every day and not everyion can whip one out in the 20 seconds of their encounter and take that perfect shot.

Deliberate composition more often than not will turn out a good shot of a ufo. IE: you stake out a place where they are known to appear and set up for your shoot.


shoulda woulda coulda.... despite those three things, there is an overwhelming pile of photographs and videos , sound recordings, eye witnesses, abductees, ex-mil folks who say they are real etc etc.

I always enjoy it when someone says there is not significant evidence of these vehicles or their occupants. Yes, quite a lot of it is hoax material, but even if only one of them is applicable, then clearly the idea is valid.

I can think of a few ufo stories and encounters that cannot be contradicted by even the hardiest of th hardy skeptics.

I wouldn't worry too much about the interdimensional beings, for the most part they are benign, and they really have always been there anyway. We just are unaware for teh most part because we are unable to percieve them.

[Royal Dragon]

not everyone carries around a camera every second of every day and not everyion can whip one out in the 20 seconds of their encounter and take that perfect shot.

Reply]
Very true. In my case I had an expensive Cannon Rebel XT digital SLR with me because of my Job. Even then, between being awestruck, and haveing to pull over out of traffic, get it out of it's case, and reset the exposure/ apature and shutter speed as well as the quality setting, the object had moved off and was now MILES form where it would have been to take a good close shot (due to it sheer speed it was moving).

The fact that I have a really clear picture of it, despite being so far away, haveing the wrong lense, and my general newness to owning a camera of this quality really says alot about Cannon didgital cameras.

This thing was not a plane, it was not a blimp (WAY too big, and moved way too fast). It most closely resembled a big building that had been knocked down on it's side which had floated up and started flying around.


Shaolin Wookie, I assure you I did not photo shop the photo, other than to crop out the section of it that shows the object, and Zoom in like 1000% so we could see the object that was like 20-30 miles away at that point.

[Hau Tien]

Let's suppose that's so. Which direction do you choose, which star? They're so far away that you can't exactly just blast off and expect that because it's in front of you, that you're going to get there. You have to actually know its position beforehand to get there (in your lifetime, or an alien's lifetime). A thousandth of an inch to the left or right, too high or too low, and you'll wind up on the other side of the galaxy. And as for getting energy for propulsion in outer space--well, wtf???? You'd have to drift most of the way (we're talking decades, centuries, millennia of travel, dude). Would an alien species really be that interested in such a trek? We're assuming:

1. They know what our gravity and environment is like (b/c they're flying around in our atmosphere).

2. They know how to get here (b/c they've done it a million times).

3. They don't have problems on their own planet (war spending/defense budgets keep us from granting unlimited resources to NASA).


We can get to the moon (maybe, although that flag waving in low gravity seems to help conspiracy theory that we never did--and the fact that we haven't again on successive efforts [ie, technology is supposed to get better, not worse--and a peice of foam kept us out of space a couple of months ago ]), and we're now talking Mars. But we have to plot space probe trajectories years/decades in advance in order to make sure they'll reach their destination. The cost for these operations is gigantic. How do aliens get their funding? For every successful enterprise, we have to assume that there are at least a hundred failures....do they really have that much funding? This presupposes that they are united in their effort to find extraterrestrial life. For what? If they found us, and wished to verify that discovery, they'd make contact. As I stated earlier, intergalactic/interstellar communication is a real beeyotch, to use NASA terminology. So they wouldn't just recon, because the recon would be wasted.

Man, intergalactic/interstellar travel is far more complicated than you guys think.

Funding? To any civilization that has created molecular manufacturing (something which humanity is poised to do in the next 50 or so years), "funding" is simply a matter of the actual input materials and has nothing to do with socio/political economics.

The trouble with saying "that can't be done" in this day and age is that things are changing far too rapidly. We're rapidly approaching a so-called "technological singularity" and after that it is really impossible to guess what will be possible (hence the use of the term "singularity").

[Shaolin Wookie]

Come on.......

How much does it cost to create a terrestrial fleet? So much that many nations don't have them.

How often do we launch rockets? Not as often as you think. They're expensive as hell.

How much does a space probe----note, not even a space fleet-----cost? Ahem....lots.

How much does it cost to keep the anal probe workers' union happy? There's a lot of starships out there, with a lot of disgruntled operators just itchin' to go probing. That means factories of probes.

In order to have such a successful starfleet, an alien civilization would have to have that goal as their primary governmental function---especially if we're talking repeat trips.

Surely you don't think the space program runs on nickels and dimes here on earth........

Why would it be different elsewhere.

Jeezus.....this whole conversation is ridiculous. I'll let you guys take the stand again. I've lost interest in this subject.

Skunk ape, anyone?

[Hau Tien]

Come on.......

How much does it cost to create a terrestrial fleet? So much that many nations don't have them.

How often do we launch rockets? Not as often as you think. They're expensive as hell.

How much does a space probe----note, not even a space fleet-----cost? Ahem....lots.

How much does it cost to keep the anal probe workers' union happy? There's a lot of starships out there, with a lot of disgruntled operators just itchin' to go probing. That means factories of probes.

In order to have such a successful starfleet, an alien civilization would have to have that goal as their primary governmental function---especially if we're talking repeat trips.

Surely you don't think the space program runs on nickels and dimes here on earth........

Why would it be different elsewhere.

Jeezus.....this whole conversation is ridiculous. I'll let you guys take the stand again. I've lost interest in this subject.

Skunk ape, anyone?

You have to get out of the idea that it has to "cost" something to build a fleet. By the time a civilization is able to feasibly start visiting other planets, they would have already mastered something called molecular manufacturing. This involves building things from the "bottom up" (with atomic precision - using nanofactories) instead of from the "top down" (how we make most things now).

Now... don't get me wrong... I'm not arguing that there are aliens, etc. I have no idea if there is or not, nor do I even have a guess or opinion on that subject.

I'm just saying that emerging technology will render your ideas of "cost" a moot point. Once molecular manufacturing is mastered, the only cost to make something is the raw material you put into the "factory".

Once the idea of "cost" is no longer a driving factor (and products can be prototyped very rapidly), what then would hold back a civilization from branching out more effectively into space?

This, of course, is just one of the new technologies being worked on throughout various universities. The implications of such a thing are not limited to economic upheaval, but border on the cataclysmic in terms of self-replication or weapons development by the average person.

I recommend www.kurzweilai.net if you're interested in where technology is poised to take humanity There are some fantastic articles there on the so-called technological singularity.

[Shaolinlueb]

when i was at practice one day i took a moment to lie down cause i didnt have to teach. i saw two silver discs in the sky one ontop of each other. i thought it was a helicopter at first but i heard no noise. then the discs got smaller and like went in on itself. then all of a sudden it lit up like a small star and then eventually got smaller until there was nothing. i still think its a ufo.

[Royal Dragon]

I have seen other strange things, but I had a freind who was into astronomy who says it sounded like I was seeing a satalite. At least that time there was a plausible explanation...I have no idea what this was.