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When UFOs Arrive
www.popularmechanics.com ^ | February 2004 | BY JIM WILSON

Posted on 02/11/2004 9:41:52 AM PST by Momaw Nadon

The U.S. and other world governments already have detailed secret plans for first contact.

When UFOs land, a series of plans created to deal with nuclear emergencies and biological attacks will be activated.

Within the scientific community, the question is no longer whether extraterrestrial life exists, but if ET is smart enough to do long division. Scientists are of two minds regarding the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Skeptics acknowledge simple life-forms might be found on other planets, but insist that intelligent life is unique to Earth. Their belief is based on the assumption that Earth possesses unique physical attributes, including a magnetic field that deflects cosmic rays and a moon that absorbs asteroids. Together, these protective features make Earth a rare safe harbor--one that nurtured the evolution of primitive life-forms into intelligent beings. The opposing camp sees the prospect for discovering alien life in more mathematical terms. Its touchstone is the Drake Equation, which links the probability of discovering extraterrestrial intelligence to factors such as the size of the universe and the number of stars with earthlike planets. With the discovery of each new planet beyond Earth's solar system--there are now more than 100--the odds of encountering intelligent alien life increase. Governments and international organizations around the world have taken notice of the changing odds. No governmental official has gone on record claiming that UFOs are real, let alone a threat. Yet with little public fanfare, they have begun preparing for the single most important event in human history: first contact. That is, the moment earthlings discover incontrovertible proof that they are not alone.

Early Warning
Unless ET materializes from another dimension in the middle of the Super Bowl, humans most likely will have some advance warning of its arrival. How much time we get to straighten up for extraterrestrial company depends upon who spots ET first.

The privately funded SETI Institute uses radio telescopes owned by observatories around the world to sweep the sky for signals broadcast by advanced civilizations. If ET has read Emily Post, or her intergalactic equivalent, and calls ahead, we could have years, even decades, to prepare for first contact. Unfortunately, the current SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project can afford to look at only small swatches of the sky, so any extraterrestrial courtesy calls probably will be missed.

A more likely scenario is that the U.S. Air Force would spot ET's spacecraft as it traverses the void between the Earth and the moon. Using powerful radar and optical telescopes in Hawaii, Greenland, Florida and the Indian Ocean, the Air Force Space Command tracks satellites, monitors missile launches, and spots baseball- and larger-size bits of orbiting debris with the hope of preventing it from perforating a space shuttle or the International Space Station. If ET turns up on Space Command's radar, it would mean the alien visitors are only hours or minutes away.

A Proposed Welcoming Committee

The International Academy of Astronautics in Paris maintains a list of volunteers willing to help world governments if ET arrives. Most are astronomers. Here is the team that PM would prefer to see on the job. Shown counterclockwise from the center are: Sen. John Glenn, American Representative. As the first American to orbit the Earth and an elected political leader, the senator is the obvious choice to lead the American delegation. Frank Drake, Science Officer. Creator of the Drake Equation and a driving force behind the SETI project, Drake would represent the world's scientific community. Hal Puthoff, Powerplant Engineering. An expert on zero-point energy, a means of extracting limitless power from the quantum vacuum without violating the known laws of physics, Puthoff would understand how ET powers its craft.

Sheila E. Widnall, Weapons Systems. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who served as Secretary of the Air Force in the 1990s, Widnall would be able to assess ET's weapons. Ning Li, Propulsion Systems. A former NASA scientist, Li devised the theory that explains how the electromagnetic force that we use every day might also be harnessed to manipulate gravity. Perhaps ET uses similar technology. K. Eric Drexler, Structural Systems. A trailblazer in the now fast-growing field of nanotechnology--building materials atom by atom--Drexler pioneered the idea of smart materials, which ET would doubtlessly also use in its craft. Jane Goodall, Communications Officer. Having devoted her life to the study of chimpanzees, primatologist Goodall has proved her ability to communicate with intelligent nonhumans.

Countdown To Contact
The broad-brush outline for Earth's response to the first alien encounter is set out in an international agreement called the "Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence." Written by a committee of scientists organized by the SETI Institute, the declaration spells out what astronomers should do, and what they should avoid doing, immediately after first contact.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the agreement is that astronomers who sign on to the declaration agree to keep the news of an imminent contact under their hat until the astronomy community and authorities have been notified.

The declaration also establishes fairly specific guidelines regarding the protection of the radio frequencies that alien civilizations might use to communicate with Earth. As soon as a radio signal is confirmed as originating from an extraterrestrial source, the International Telecommunications Union would ask governments around the world to forbid use of that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is hoped that ET will have sufficiently studied human habits to understand that calling earthlings on the frequencies used for microwave ovens and garage door openers will be interpreted as a belligerent act.

Close Encounter
Around 1999 the first contact protocols were put to the test. For 12 hours, SETI astronomers marveled at the prospect that their golden moment had arrived. A signal that repeated in an organized pattern was detected beaming straight at the Earth from 1 million miles in space.

The first priority was to alert radio astronomers around the world to redirect their telescopes. The signal from the distant stationary object quickly faded as the relentless rotation of the Earth swept it out of the telescope's listening range. Douglas Vakoch, the SETI Institute's social scientist responsible for preparing Earth's reply to an extraterrestrial message, tells POPULAR MECHANICS what happened next: "At this point, all of our discussions were internal to our team. We didn't want to cry wolf. Then, in the midst of the process, we get a call from The New York Times." So much for the secrecy provision of the SETI protocol. Within hours, the story evaporated. The SETI team identified the mystery signal as a data transmission from SOHO, a sun-watching observatory on an almost-stationary orbit about 1 million miles from Earth.

Vakoch says he was not surprised that the story of the possible alien contact leaked so quickly. "These guidelines have no legal force. They have been drafted in the hope of getting broader discussion."

As far as the U.S. government is concerned, that discussion started and ended more than 40 years ago. Regardless of how the world's astronomy community might want to handle first contact, Uncle Sam has ideas of his own. And they rest on the assumption that ET is first and foremost an illegal alien.

Presumed Dangerous
The question of how humanity might react to its first contact with intelligent aliens was officially raised in the late 1950s by the then newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Curious as to how discoveries about the origin of the universe might affect society as a whole, NASA contracted with the Brookings Institution, a leading think tank, to research the question. Only a small part of its 100-page answer, which came to be known as "The Brookings Report," dealt with alien encounter. But it contained a stern warning. "Anthropological files contain many examples of societies, sure of their place in the universe, which have disintegrated when they had to associate with previously unfamiliar societies espousing different ideas and different life ways; others that survived such an experience usually did so by paying the price of changes in values and attitudes and behavior."

In 1972, as engineers prepared the first space mission that would travel outside of Earth's solar system, NASA decided to ignore warnings in the 1960 "Brookings Report" about the dangers inherent in contact with an advanced alien race. Instead, the space agency sent an invitation for extraterrestrials to visit Earth. A gold-anodized aluminum plaque engraved with a map showing the location of Earth was attached to the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. When it sent its last message, in January 2003, it was more than 7 billion miles along on a trip that will take it to the star Aldebaran.

State Of Emergency
If ET turns up at NASA's doorstep bearing that invitation, it is in for a surprise. Instead of getting a handshake from the head of NASA, it will be handcuffed by an FBI agent dressed in a Biosafety Level 4 suit. Instead of sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House, the alien will be whisked away to the Department of Agriculture's Animal Disease Center on Plum Island, off the coast of New York's Long Island. Here it will be poked and probed by doctors from the National Institutes of Health. A Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST) will tow away its spacecraft.

Unfriendly as this welcome may seem, it is the chain of events that most likely will follow the visitor's arrival. Unique as the appearance of an alien-piloted spacecraft may be, the event incorporates elements of three situations familiar to federal emergency response workers: a plane crash, the release of radioactive material, and the capture of an animal suspected of harboring a contagious disease. Responsibilities in these situations are spelled out in Presidential Executive Orders.

Unless it is spewing exhaust, the craft would be assumed to be nuclear powered. This determination would put NEST technicians in charge of securing the craft and moving it to a DOE facility, most likely in New Mexico, where it would be in close proximity to the Sandia and Los Alamos nuclear laboratories and the White Sands Missile Range. International agreements also put NEST on call if the craft lands out of the United States, as happened in 1978 when a Soviet satellite leaking nuclear fuel landed in the Canadian wilderness.

NEST, however, would operate in the background. In a nuclear emergency, the FBI is put in charge of public safety, public health and public information. Those, at least, are the plans. How things might actually turn out is anyone's guess.

Skeptics often ask why UFO sightings seem to take place only in remote locations instead of on busy city streets. Perhaps ET knows what earthlings have in mind when it lands.


TOPICS: UFO's
KEYWORDS: 40ftsatellite; ackack; airforce; alien; aliens; arrival; arrive; biosafetylevel4; brookingsreport; closeencounter; contact; contagious; dangerous; departmentofenergy; dod; doe; drakeequation; earth; emergency; et; etphonehome; executiveorders; extraterrestrial; fbi; federalemergency; firstcontact; flyingobject; flyingsaucer; government; hugh; illegal; illegalaliens; intelligence; international; invasion; klaatubaradanikto; losalamos; martiallaw; military; nasa; nationalsecurity; nest; nuclear; panic; plan; plans; plumisland; president; probingaliens; protocol; quarantine; quarantined; saucer; secrecy; secrecyprovision; secret; secretplans; series; seti; setiprotocol; sitchin; space; spacecraft; stateofemergency; technology; tinfoilhat; ufo; ufos; un; unidentified; visitor; visitors; welcomingcommittee; whitehouse; y; zechariasitchin
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To: Modernman
I don't want to get off topic, but . . .

I don't see "made in God's image" any kind of problem. There are dozens of ways to make something in someone's or something's image.
641 posted on 02/15/2004 3:11:26 AM PST by Quix (Choose this day whom U will serve: Shrillery & demonic goons or The King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
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To: Quix
The Saucers are not only EVIDENCE of God's Glory, they literally ARE God's Glory!

The "Glory of God" is in Hebrew, Kbod YHWH, the Glory of the Lord, in KJV, but "heavy vehicle of the Lord" is the literal translation. When man made a cart or wagon, it needed to be as light as possible, so it and a cargo could still be pulled by animals. But the gods' vehicles were terribly heavy, loaded down with V-8 engines, nuclear power plants and the like. Their heaviness is what marked them out as being of divine origin and manufacture.

"Merkavah" also is Vehicle, large vehicle. An Israeli tank has that name today. "Ma'aseh Merkavah" = works, machinery of the vehicle... also means something of bewildering complexity, incomprehensible.

"Kabod" no more means "Glory," than if one said a teenager's Corvette was his pride and glory. If young Jason suddenly arrives in his glory, that may be so, but it has four wheels, a motor, and is heavy.

Did Ezekiel see the Glory of God? Yes, in a way. But the Hebrew is "heavy vehicle of God," and his talking about it with all the commentary of the ages of thinkers added, is collectively again "Ma'aseh Merkavah," the "Lore of the Vehicle," or "Lore of the Chariot."

642 posted on 02/15/2004 3:11:41 AM PST by Chris Talk (What Earth now is, Mars once was. What Mars now is, Earth will become.)
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To: Momaw Nadon
Uncle Sam has ideas of his own. And they rest on the assumption that ET is first and foremost an illegal alien.

Et will be handed green card, job and interest free loan while registering to vote.

I have no reason to believe that extraterrestrials will be any more compassionate than humans, and throughout our history first contact between a technologically advanced civilization and one of lesser achievements has resulted in the near extermination of the primitive.

643 posted on 02/15/2004 3:19:22 AM PST by R. Scott (My cynicism rises with the proximity of the elections.)
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To: Cvengr
Not to disagree with you, quite, but could you give a Biblical passage where the b'nay Elohim, are identified with demons/ or as being demons/ demonic?

Strictly, the Nefilim are not the half-offspring, but the descending gods themselves! Nefilim means "descenders, those who came down."

I am not LDS, but "Nephi," a Mormon prophet, is a name meaning literally "from above," etc.

Jesus claimed not to be of the same descent as his followers. You came from below, but I come from above, he said.

Noah himself had a "god" for a father, so the contamination was not a matter of ancestry, but of sin and character. By contrast, his mother is called Bat-enosh, literally just "daughter of the Earthling," "earthling-woman."

"Matoshelah" literally means "airplane man," "man of the aerial vehicle," so I suppose he spent many of his 969 years fooling around with ultralights in his garage, much to the consternation of his wife.
644 posted on 02/15/2004 3:21:28 AM PST by Chris Talk (What Earth now is, Mars once was. What Mars now is, Earth will become.)
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To: Bikers4Bush
Remember Rod Serling's “To serve man”?
645 posted on 02/15/2004 3:22:23 AM PST by R. Scott (My cynicism rises with the proximity of the elections.)
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To: Chris Talk
Oh BTW, that also appears in Hinduism, where the people made huge, heavy Juggernauts to represent the multi-ton vehicles of the gods, and then pulled them through the streets, crushing all and sundry.

Just as our ETs live on cattle parts and demand massive tribute in the form of slaughterhouse offal, similarly in the age of Taurus when the gods were REALLY going bullbleep, that is when bulls in the west, and cows in India, became sacred, for they were the food of the gods.
646 posted on 02/15/2004 3:26:14 AM PST by Chris Talk (What Earth now is, Mars once was. What Mars now is, Earth will become.)
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To: Modernman
Part of the problem is data collection.

Many Christians of other denominations are Charismatic/Pentecostal in beliefs and practices.

And, evidently millions of Romans in South America are still counted by the Roman church though the individuals have, in fact, began to wholesale worship and associate with Charismatic/Pentecostal groups--while in varying degrees and stages of leaving the Roman church finally and totally.

But as I understand it, the rate of growth is sooooooo rapid in several South American countries, that at least the probability of Charismatics, Pentecostals numbering as the largest Christian group statistically is NOT that far fetched nor that far off. This is all the more true counting those of their persuasion in China.

Demonstrating that statistically is something I have yet to manage to do and I'm not sure it's possible with the current data collection. I haven't found Barna's research again yet, which speaks in such terms. Will try to get back to you with it when I do. It's not a raging priority for me to track down.
647 posted on 02/15/2004 3:26:32 AM PST by Quix (Choose this day whom U will serve: Shrillery & demonic goons or The King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
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To: Modernman
I guess my "rails" are pretty broad. Hasn't gone off the rails,

to me.
648 posted on 02/15/2004 3:27:25 AM PST by Quix (Choose this day whom U will serve: Shrillery & demonic goons or The King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
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To: R. Scott
For two shall be in a bed, and one will be snatched up and the other left behind.

Two women will be grinding grain at the mill, and one will be snatched away, and the other will wonder where her friend is gone.

Luke 17
649 posted on 02/15/2004 3:28:18 AM PST by Chris Talk (What Earth now is, Mars once was. What Mars now is, Earth will become.)
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To: Quix
The people that live and work in the tunnels out West, dealing with UFO's are said to be largely either Mormons, lapsed Seventh day Adventists, or Orthodox Jews.

Secularists and liberals freaked out. Couldn't handle dealing with ETs on a daily basis.

Those who do this work are called Melchizedeks, literally "kings of righteousness," but the name is derived from the so-called Melchizedek priesthood, which in Mormonism is composed of all males over 18-19 in good standing in the Church...
650 posted on 02/15/2004 3:31:46 AM PST by Chris Talk (What Earth now is, Mars once was. What Mars now is, Earth will become.)
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To: biblewonk
I suppose it's not surprising . . .

that you'd format Scripture into such a mass of words as to make it unattractive to unreadable comfortably.

And your "as if . . . "

at the end is about as . . . mystifying and illogical, imho.
651 posted on 02/15/2004 3:33:46 AM PST by Quix (Choose this day whom U will serve: Shrillery & demonic goons or The King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
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To: Quix
If I were ANY kind of a wonk, I would never admit it.
652 posted on 02/15/2004 3:34:55 AM PST by Chris Talk (What Earth now is, Mars once was. What Mars now is, Earth will become.)
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To: realpatriot71
No synthesis involved at all.

I'm a very strictly orthodox fundamentalist Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian in full support of the Apostles Creed etc.

The Bible is quite SUFFICIENT in it's description of reality for me to follow it to eternal abode with God based on Salvation through Christ's Blood etc--an eternal abode more overtly and eternally true than my current mortal state would imply.

Alien realities--WHATEVER they turn out to be--HAVE NOT AND WILL NOT threaten my Salvation nor my understanding of God Almighty and THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS at all.
653 posted on 02/15/2004 3:39:21 AM PST by Quix (Choose this day whom U will serve: Shrillery & demonic goons or The King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
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To: stuartcr
I have worked in libraries 6-7 or so years of my life. The university library job required managing and presenting everything from the extreme left wing to the extreme right wing politically.

And, I've read massively most of my life.

Even people with IQ's of 100 can learn to discrimminate based on factors like quality of sources; quality of presentation; quality of specific descriptors etc. etc.

Not only so, I have relatives and other trusted folk in my network who have had first hand experience with the topic in their government jobs.

I no longer have the luxury to pretend a long list of things are not true.
654 posted on 02/15/2004 3:42:06 AM PST by Quix (Choose this day whom U will serve: Shrillery & demonic goons or The King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
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To: stuartcr
I missed this one somehow.

I can be pretty convoluted in my writing, alright.

But usually, people fault me for being tooooo abundantly, redundantly, too precisely clear.

Your cryptic line I read more as stubbornly NON-COMMUNICATIVE rather than an earnest effort to communicate--clearly or otherwise.
655 posted on 02/15/2004 3:43:47 AM PST by Quix (Choose this day whom U will serve: Shrillery & demonic goons or The King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
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To: Momaw Nadon
How ridiculous! There is NO evidence to back up this idiotic fear. It reminds me of evolution ... those people WISH to believe their theories are true even though NO evidence is there to support their theory.

I do wonder ... will this be used as the reason why believers are removed from the earth before the tribulation?
656 posted on 02/15/2004 3:45:49 AM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: Modernman
However, trying to cram UFO'ism into the Bible seems to be impossible.

HOGWASH.

The Bible is quite expansive in a list of ways. However, it does not pretend to be a galactic Encyclopaedia Britannica at all.

It presents plenty for us to live an honorable, God fearing life presently and sufficiently maps how we can establish sufficient relationship with God to live with Him eternally. End of story, End of purpose in a lot of respects.

And, . . . . there are HINTS of all manner of things in The Bible. It's wise, however, to avoid building theological castles on hints . . . expecially about complexities as complex as reality--especially galactic reliaty.

657 posted on 02/15/2004 3:47:06 AM PST by Quix (Choose this day whom U will serve: Shrillery & demonic goons or The King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
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To: realpatriot71
So, St Paul was lying when he said he would that all believers spoke in tongues.

And I'm supposed to respect your Biblical assertions?
658 posted on 02/15/2004 3:48:56 AM PST by Quix (Choose this day whom U will serve: Shrillery & demonic goons or The King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
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To: Quix
I don't know about speaking, but many posters on here WRITE in tongues.
659 posted on 02/15/2004 3:50:40 AM PST by Chris Talk (What Earth now is, Mars once was. What Mars now is, Earth will become.)
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To: biblewonk
That is never the case in these wierd charismatic churches.

"never"

HOGWASH.

One would think that a fundamental Christian would be more given to telling the truth.

660 posted on 02/15/2004 3:50:53 AM PST by Quix (Choose this day whom U will serve: Shrillery & demonic goons or The King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
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