Hmmm....If you follow the links you will discover these training sessions are EXPENSIVE. My favorite line is:

"Do not miss this extraordinary opportunity to spend a week with Dr. Greer and the CSETI Team as we make historic contact and establish the foundation for a lasting Universal Peace!"

A week with Dr. Greer costs $800 or $725 depending on if you want a "working group training kit" or the more important "ET contact book". BTW, the costs does not include lodging for the week (my guess is that you have to pay for food and other items as well meaning that Greer is pocketing the entire fee to simply flash lights in the sky).

I have a better offer. Go to your local planetarium and get to know the amateur astronomers. They will show you the universe for free! However, do not to be expecting to shine bright lights at the local dark sky site (assuming they have one)! Bring a red one.

Gmann, I know you're being facetious. The blue "ear worm" is clearly a part of the painting on the wall. You can see traces of a similar arc above, and the arc is "behind" the brown swirl. I think the reason they haven't mentioned those is that they could identify those features.

My God i can´t believe that those are the best that Greer can provide.

The worst $ 700 that you can spend in one night.

Actually, I wasn't. Although the picture is a collection of arcs and swirls, the blue aspect only seems to exist in that one place. I guess you have to see "the whole picture" to determine if the blue arc is part of it or not. I based my observation on the fact that it appears to have the same shade, although brighter, and approximately the same diameter as the orb. The only thing in the picture that seemed to match that shade of blue was the Pepsi can on the shelf. That part was my smart-alecky nature coming out. I can't really explain the orb, except that I see this same thing every day, in my sunglasses if the Sun is on the correct angle. Either both my sunglasses, and his shirt are haunted by the ghosts of the same LGM's, (although his are blue, mine are brown) or this is some kind of lens reflection. I tend toward lens reflection as an explanation. Besides;

[facetious mode] What kind of Alien in his right, or left mind would want to haunt a pair of $2.00 sunglasses, or a $10.00 t-shirt, after travelling hundreds of light years to get here in the first place? The "High Council" would disaprove. I call them the "High council" because if they do approve, they need help [/facetious mode]

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Those who repeat History are doomed to learn it.

The other end of the ear worm is sticking out of the top of his head. I'd say it was part of the painting.

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A Nerd can figure out how long it will take the original Enterprise traveling at warp 6.5 to travel from Regulus to Antares.
A Geek will think he can use that to pick up a girl in a bar.
A Dork knows he can't pick up the girl with it, but will hang around for hours anyway, just in case she asks.
She might. You never know.

Or, The damage may be worse that I originally thought

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Those who repeat History are doomed to learn it.

It usually is.

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Bring back Firefly!

"It is quite clear that Occam's razor does not sharpen in your pyramid." (Nicolas)

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." (Paul Simon)

Hmmm....If you follow the links you will discover these training sessions are EXPENSIVE.

Hence the saying, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

BINGO.

The size of the orb clinches it for me.

The cup is tipped, so I rotated it 3 degrees to make the lid
horizontal. I used the graphics selection tool to span what
appeared to be the width of the resulting image. 98 pixels.

I then used the selection tool to span what appeared to be the
width of the orb. I looked down at the number. 98 pixels.

I thought it might be within two or three. Heh!

Notice that the black straw is centered in the lid, and would
fit very nicely inside that center ring. Both are seven pixels
across.

So -- How was it done and why is it the same size? If it is
a double exposure, the two images were probably taken at the
same distance, which seems deliberate. If they weren't taken
at the same distance then the lens was zoomed in or out to
make the lid the same size, which seems even more deliberate.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

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http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"The other planets?
Well, they just happen to be there, but the point of rockets is to explore them!"
-- Kai Yeves

In my HEX editor I can see that the "orb" picture says "Exif", but I
don't have any software for reading Exif data. Could someone do
that and post it?

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"The other planets?
Well, they just happen to be there, but the point of rockets is to explore them!"
-- Kai Yeves

Except the black straw is not perpendicular to the lid, but at a slight angle. There isn't any indication of a shadow or distortion for the straw.

Is it possibly a water drop on the camera lens? Small enough and before it can distort by sagging under gravity and getting "drop"-shaped?

I'd be interested in seeing some water drop pictures to look for similarities. But not interested enough to go take some.

Okay the first time around I didn't check that photo out. The discussion got me curious, so I...well...checked it out.

Offhand, I would agree in that it looks to be the reflection of the camera flash. Yeah the straw is at a slight angle, but if you look close, the dark spot in the middle is also slightly off center.

I think the biggest mystery is what the heck is in that cup? I wonder how he explaines the 99% of photographs that DONT have orbs in them? Oh well.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

The other cup does have the straw perpendicular.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

No, no, no... The image of the lid isn't an accident of reflection.
It was either a separate exposure or Greer stuck a lid on his shirt
and the image was darkened and fuzzed in the computer. If it
was darkened, it was a very good job. There is no darkening of
Greer's shirt or bright edge around the orb. If it was superimposed
it could be a double exposure in the camera or a montage made
on the computer -- perhaps at the same time the blowup and title
were added. The characters "Exif" at the start of the file tells me
that it was made with a digital camera, so I thought the Exif data
might provide a hint about how the montage was made. The fact
that the lid is exactly the same size in both the main image and the
superimposed orb could mean that the orb was photographed right
after the main photo, with the camera at the same distance from
Greer. Or it could be that the size was manipulated in the
computer, or it could just be a coincidence.

Getting the orb the same size and not having a detectible
outline around it is technically impressive, requiring the same skills
as making the blowup with the fuzzy border around it.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"The other planets?
Well, they just happen to be there, but the point of rockets is to explore them!"
-- Kai Yeves

The list of cold drinks is right there on the back wall. Iced Mocha,
Iced Latte, Iced Coffee, Iced Tea, Italian Soda, Fruit Smoothie,
Blended Mocha, etc. I can't read the middle word of the second
entry, but it is the same word as near the bottom of the list: Either
"white" or "whole", so the lower one might be "Blended Whole Mocha".

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"The other planets?
Well, they just happen to be there, but the point of rockets is to explore them!"
-- Kai Yeves

yeah, but with those chunks it looks more like the "outhouse special"
Anyway, regardless of how weird this guys claims are, he does have a group of women around him. I don't tend to get that at insurance conventions. Maybe I'm following the wrong thought process....

Anyway back to the pictures, as far as I can tell, all of the ones listed on the link look to this un-trained observer like fairly common photography phenomenon. I could have my g/f check them out (she's a professional photographer by trade) but I think she'd care even less than I do :-P

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

Fazor, those chunks look like ice to me.

Jeff Root, where is your evidence this is a deliberate image manipulation? Yeah, it could be, but where's the evidence?

And the second to last letter is a "t", so I would say it's "Blended White Mocha".

Well I'll be, I do believe you are correct sir. That's what I get for relying on my memory of the image from yesterday to make my comment :-P

Back ontopic, I did notice some rather bright reflection from the flash in the sunglasses the lady to his right (our left) is holding. It could very well be some of that light bouncing back at the camera. I still think it looks very similar to the plastic drink toppers, however. I suppose I could try to replicate the shot when I get home, although I doubt anyone wants to spend any ammount of time looking at a picture of myself

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.