When my twin brother and I were in middle school, he went through a period when he was scared to death of aliens, ufo's, etc. (He read Communion... )
Anyway, one morning he came tearing in my room claiming he had probably been abducted by aliens the night before. He said there were littel "V" shaped foot prints all over the carpet and that during the night his box fan had been knocked over....by the aliens...
Well, I went into his room to investigate and make fun of him, and I found that his fan fell over, because the little plastic inserts(to keep it from falling over) weren't on the fan (which was new, by the way). I then noticed that while I was setting the fan back up, the bottom of the fan was leaving the "V" shapes on the floor.
My brother went through many phases... he once thought that his tongue was too big for his mouth... so as you can see, he was pretty paranoid.
A few years ago, I had the privelage to watch "Signs" with him at the movies... it was fun!
This just goes to show what your own fears, beliefs, etc and how you interpret what you see will make you see a "UFO", etc. when you can't initially interpret what you are seeing/experiencing.

__________________
"If we ask for something more than simplicity, it is silly then to complain that the something more is not simple." C.S. Lewis

According to this news story, I must see them all the time.

http://www.woio.com/Global/category....7&nav=0rd1
The one titled Man says he has video proof of something strange in skies above

I especially like the part about them being alien because they are coming in from over lake Erie. (Darn those Canadians)

Then there's the theory that UFOs are just giant, invisible macrobacteria... #-o

Well, if you view this . . . notion . . . as a serious scientific theory, which the originator evidently does . . . :roll: :roll: :roll: ](*,) ](*,) ](*,)
But as a lighthearted sort of science fiction idea, I have to admit I kind of like it. What's more, I came up with it first, darn it! I had this neat story idea, where . . .

Nevermind. I suppose my point is that every time I click on one of those links, which I've found a few of around here, I begin to realize that common sense isn't, and the ability to tell fact from fiction is not as widespread as I like to think, and a lot of people seem to base their theories not on, "What do I observe?" but, "Hey, wouldn't it be reelly kewl if . . ."

Which I do too, to some extent, but these guys are just . . .

Izunya

__________________
Mal: Define "interesting!"
Wash: Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die?

- from Serenity

Izunya, re your signature, are you aware that Lotus had an application called "HAL" in the middle 1980s?

Re UFOs, I've seen one thing in the sky, during 45+ years of observing, that I couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for. Details here.

__________________
A person's name, or a mark representing it, as signed personally or by deputy, as in subscribing a letter or other document.

I have not---this guy has:
"I don't laugh anymore at people when they say they've seen UFO's, I've seen one myself."---Jimmy Carter---January 22, 1999
http://www.majesticdocuments.com/index.php

Here's the straight dope on Jimmy Carter's UFO sighting.

"... Skeptical UFO buffs, such as Robert Sheaffer, struggled to explain Jimmy Carter's sighting away, by stating that Carter had viewed the planet Venus...Others stepped forward quickly to challenge the accuracy of Shaeffer's claim. Sheaffer's response to these challenges ended up taking his Venus explanation from the shaky to the bizarre...The witnesses declared that the object disappeared after 10 minutes or at 7:25 p.m. Venus, on the evening in question, was visible in the clear sky till 9:20 p.m..."
http://www.presidentialufo.com/jimmy.htm

From the link sarongsong posted...

emphasis mine...

I hate to get "nitpicky" here but Carter's own words are a bit confusing. When I think of an "object", I think of something that is physically solid. Something that is "luminous but not solid", doesn't seem to "fit the bill".

Wow sarongsong ... majesticdocuments.com and presidentialufo.com! Why even invoke The Straight Dope when up against such pinnacles of objectivity? :wink:

Actually Schaeffer didn't struggle to explain it at all. The simple fact is that Venus was in the same place as this UFO was. Carter could see his "UFO" again this evening if he wants. Regarding the way Carter describes it .. in that article the BA wrote last year (I think it was in S & T) he touched on misrepresentations of Venus that has a lot in common with what Carter describes.

Had no idea. I picked it off a page of "computer haiku." Unattributed; I found some of these in several places, so I assume they've been floating around the web for a while. Other gems:

No keyboard present
Hit F1 to continue
Zen engineering?

The Tao that is seen
Is not the true Tao, until
You bring fresh toner.

And, of course, one of the all-time favorites:

Windows NT crashed.
I am the blue screen of death.
No one hears your screams.

They're at funny2.com and a few other places.

Izunya

__________________
Mal: Define "interesting!"
Wash: Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die?

- from Serenity

"...In view of the federal law (cited earlier) empowering NASA's administrator to impound, without a hearing, anyone who touches a UFO or its occupants, it would be inadvisable to make personal contact unless you are willing to submit to NASA's quarantine requirements, should the law be invoked..."
Chapter 13: ENEMY ATTACK AND UFO POTENTIAL
Fire Officer's Guide to Disaster Control (c)1992, 641 pages, ISBN 0-912212-26-8
(edited to correct ISBN #)

Not trying to beat this horse to death, but...
Once again from the Carter UFO link that sarongsong posted...

Not knowing the size of the UFO, how was it possible for him to determine it's distance?

And..?

Fire officer's guide to disaster control is a real book???

UNBELIEVABLE!

The "sources" listed are particularly funny. After I saw Whitney Streiber and Frank Edwards I had to stop as I was laughing way too much.

But really...is that suppose to be a "serious" book??

I do think the fire department has an SOP regarding this but I don't see it's relevancy here. The UFO circuit makes a big deal about it because they imply that if such SOPs exist it must mean that it has happened and/or will happen in the future. Their flaw is that emergency response agencies plan ahead for hypothetical situations and an SOP is not proof any more than Pittsburgh's Emergency Response Plan for NBC warfare is proof that a WMD attack has or will happen here. Actually my analogy is not perfect as we know that WMDs exist whereas with ET we don't. I think as unlikely as a flying saucer crash is, it's prudent to know what to do if such a thing was to actually occur.

I agree with Archer, I think this is about a hypothetical situation but it's actually not a bad idea to have a protocol in place. If an ET probe of some type ever does crash land, the last thing I'd think one would want is for people to starting messing around with it!

__________________
An open mind is like an open window...without a good screen you'll get all sorts of weird bugs!

There are definite protocols for approaching UFO's, and those who can and who can't:

Cans: Good looking blondes with bobbed hair and poodle skirts,
ministers, young children, good looking pilots, small dogs, scientists or teachers who are concerned about world peace.

Cannots: Teenagers out necking, crusting looking farmers, vicious dogs, anyone in a military uniform, coaches, business men looking to make a buck, anyone living in a trailor park.

So if you see a UFO land, figure out which category you fit in, before approaching.

__________________
jwj

It's ok not to know. We should try harder to find out.

You forgot Politicans and Lawyers. I guess, though, that would fall under business men trying to make a buck.

Trouble is, people have been accustomed to Venus as the Morning and Evening Star since they were children. I doubt that a logical thinking person is, all of a sudden, going to believe Venus to be a UFO?

I can easily picture a partcularly bright Venus behind some thin clouds. Clouds just thick enough to diffuse the light coming from Venus, and make it appear larger. (If memory serves.)

I might easily mistake that for a "UFO", at least initially.

Venus has generated it's share of UFO reports through the years. What makes this likely to have been Venus is t