I say that there is as yet no scientific evidence to support extra terrestrial visits to our planet. Have you any scientific evidence to contradict me? No.

If you do some research on the subject of how hard it would be for any alien lifeform to reach us then you may feel differently. A good place to start is this very forum, where there are lots of threads covering this topic and points such as the many hundreds / thousands / millions of light years that extraterrestrials would have to travel, the vehicle needed for the task, the tiny issue of how they'd have to survive the massive amount of time taken to get here, and how they'd have enough fuel to survive for so long, the question of how the heck would they know we're here and finally, the most important question of why in heaven's name would they want to visit a very ordianary insignificant part of the universe.

These are all points that you should discuss sensibly and politely if you want to be taken seriously on this forum. If however your preferred method is to spout codswallop then I for one will have no time for you Remoat.

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Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

Define "Half-astronomer". I am a whole amateur astronomer (at least physically). I think you have taken my skepticism as something that is "knee-jerk". Maybe so. However, I would rather be immediately skeptical of wild claims than so "open-minded" that I believe anything and everything people say without a bit of evidence to back it up.

...i want to suggest a new website for the UFO-challenged:...

remoat, why don't you go right ahead and do that?

You can collect whoever wants to apply knee-jerk denial to UFOs, and whoever is part of the monolithic government you seem to believe exists, and the monolithic astronomy community you seem to believe exists. Then you can wave your hands about the big coverup and whatever other generalities you wish to pass of as hard facts and argue with all the strawmen with which you've populated your discussion group.

Just don't expect the regulars here to show up. They're more interested in critical examinations of UFOs and other phenomena. Not reflexive denial, not conspiring to suppress the truth, not about calling all UFO sightings swamp gas, not about automatically calling those who think they saw something crazy or lying or whatnot.

You sound frustrated that the regulars aren't buying into your generic conspiracy theory and simplistic views of the government and science communities. Really, though skeptics like that (I generally stay out of the UFO topics) are the UFO enthusiast's best friends, because they help winnow out the chaff. It's not their fault if there's no wheat left at the end.

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"Slapping a guy on the head is just as funny now as it was eighty years ago."

Okay we had a major electrical storm last night. It seemed lightning was striking EVERYTHING. Some were followed by the loud "POP" of exploding tree branches, some were so close you could here the "brzzzzt" of the electric current. (okay sorry for the backstory, you may just read it as "It was a dark and stormy night" if you wish).

Anyway afterward, for about an hour there was a loud humming, like a very very large generator or motor. Never figured out what it was. Today my coworker (well, boss really) said at the same time she heard a very loud "helicopter" noise for almost an hour like it was just hovering. She lives about a mile and a half to two miles from me. Conclusion: whatever it was, we were hearing the same sound.

I cannot even begin to imagine what it was, so therefore it must be a UFO. All the evidence points to it: unnaturally violent storm. Unknown sound. Okay that's the end of the "evidence" but lets see you "mainstreamers" explaine this one!

...okay so I'm being sarcastic. And I'm not trying to do it to be mean. But this is the same kind of argument. Lack of explanation is not proof of aliens, it's proof that we need more information before we know what it actually is.

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

Theory of Zombie Relativity:
1) Everyone Else is a Zombie relative to You
2) Whether or not it matters is related to the inverse square of the distance between their teeth and your brain
(Quoted from Demigrog)

Well, it's unidentified, certainly!

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

And now I can say that a credible source backs up my UFO claims.

Oh, I've found out what it was, btw. It was the power company's large machine used to "wind up" all the downed power lines. I would have never guessed that in a million years, although my top two choices were either A) something to do with the power company (had no idea what) or B) County crews clearing downed trees (which would have been my top choice).

Now I know, and knowing is half the battle. GO JOE!

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

Theory of Zombie Relativity:
1) Everyone Else is a Zombie relative to You
2) Whether or not it matters is related to the inverse square of the distance between their teeth and your brain
(Quoted from Demigrog)

I think Fazor has made the first confirmed observation of an Unidentified Frying Object.

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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)

One of my other favourite websites/forums (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz {some content may offend}) has a feature the locals call "bling" or "reputation". There's a "+/-" symbol on every post, like that exclamation/report symbol on this forum.

If you especially like or dislike a post, you click that icon, choose + ("bling") or - ("red rep'd"), write a comment and submit.

These add up to green (or red!) squares that appear next to your name in your posts.

Please consider yourself "blinged".

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Measure once. Cut twice. Power tools are fun.

Darn it, if I realised it was that simple, I would have done this years ago!!

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"I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day." - Douglas Adams

remout,

No reason to be insulting just because someone that works for the man point out the falacies, (and provides evidence) that your statement of how people are that work for the man, was totaly off base.

I'm, sure there are many goverment folks and scientists that would love to see a 'Real' alien spaceship land, or atleast documented by enough methods to validate it. Especialy Nasa as they could use that as an imputus to get a better budget!

The problem is this hasn't happened yet, and most people are not going to abandon common sense logic for a few poor quality photographs.

If you want to change peoples minds, try presenting evidence, instead of insults.

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"There is no problem that cannot be solved by a suitable application of high explosives" - US Army Demolitions School

http://worldsofothersuns.home.comcast.net/