UFO Research: Findings vs. Facts

SPACE.com ^ | u Jun 22, 7:00 AM ET | Leonard David

[BenLurkin]

Okay.

When and where FRiend?

[Las Vegas Dave]

Pinging, per Quix's request.....

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

A late great aunt of mine saw two flying saucers and a burn circle. I'll believe her over you any day.

[proudofthesouth]

Count me as one who has seen one. What I saw WASN'T from Earth.

[proudofthesouth]

I never thought that there was any doubt in my mind that they didn't exist. But when I saw one up close, I remember saying to myself repeatedly "My God, they really DO exist!"

[Sam Cree]

Thanks for the ping.

[Lawgvr1955]

Thanx Dave. Always like the updates.

[Solamente]

You can be sure that those who make a living off their sighting or what have you have squandered their credibility.

I sent my report to MUFON, Stanton Friedman, and a very few others before posting it on FR. My 1200 foot long dark grey cylinder in 1965, the length based on a Hagstrom Street map, is apparently more in the order of 1700 feet long, due to modern satellite images and maps of the area.

Either way, I don't give a fiddler's fugh who believes it or not; but it did change the way I believe in everything that was being spoon-fed to me as a 10 year old at that time and to this day.

[Frank_Discussion]

Sometimes there is hard evidence. Contrast that to Astronomy, and limit the data source to just stars, what physical evidence do you have other than light spectra? Not much. This not to say that astronomy is bunk, it certainly isn't, but if that science can be supported by optics and radar, but not chunks of stars of bits of extrasolar planets, it isn't unreasonable to consider the reality of UFO's. Ufology has photographic data, spectra, soil evidence, physical adjuncts manifested in materials and sometimes people after encounters, and of course the anecdotal evidence - it really isn't a narrow base of evidence on which the study rests.

That said, not all of us who study such stuff fall for everything that is included in the pop culture spectra. Crop Circles? I don't know what they are. Abductions? Another area of inquiry that holds more physical data than people realize, but not *necessarily* a ufological phenomena. Face on Mars? It is intriguing, but is in no way logical linked with UFOs in my mind. Hoagland is a functional moron.

There are constants in the Ufology, the things repeat themselves. Whatever they may be.

"All word pictures, stories, flapping of gums."

Until we have the ability to directly measure a phenomenon that is difficult to anticipate, it is hard to have much else. There were efforts that met with some success outside of Austin, Project Starlight International, I think was the outfit. They gathered more than pics and tales.

[Frank_Discussion]

Danke, LVD and Quix

[Solamente]

Before you decide to make a jerk out of yourself, please go to Post 60 first.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1123484/posts

[Solamente]

I beg your pardon; it's post # 61.

[norton]

"As UFO debunker Robert Sheaffer's web site proclaims, he's "skeptical to the max."

I love sitting in on serious scientific debate.

(Alt 1) I love it when you talk 'Science'.

(Alt 2) Too cool dude, glad we're normal.

(Alt 3) Pass the bong - I'm starting to see lights...

[BenLurkin]

I appreciate the correction about the post number.

Are you going to apologize for calling me a jerk?

Or at least explain WHY you called me a jerk?

[BenLurkin]

How have I contradicted your late great aunt?

[ncountylee]

My father, a WWII fighter pilot, went to his grave convinced that the strange ships that he saw were not secret German aircraft.

[BenLurkin]

Well seeing is believing I suppose -- but I sure haven't seen it.

And I'd still like to be the first person to question those who come forward as witnesses. They need to be interviewed while the memory are fresh -- and before the person becomes committed to their own interpretation of their memories.

[Quix]

Amazing how those "realities" can clash . . . though often . . . when direct observation confronts assumptions, the assumptions tend to crash and burn.

Thanks.

[Quix]

but it did change the way I believe in everything that was being spoon-fed to me as a 10 year old at that time and to this day.

- - - - -

Would you be willing to elaborate? Publicly or otherwise?

[Solamente]

You're a Doubting Thomas. You might as well throw your Bible out the window too, unless Jesus Himself comes up through the toilet to bite you on your ass.

Yeah, I apologize, for being the first to admit being annoyed by your smug piety. I should have waited for everyone else to weigh in. My bad.