Types of UFO's

[angelo]

UFO REPORT

Place: Baton Rouge, LA
Time: 3:02 pm
Conditions: Partly cloudy, winds from north, 5-10 mph.

Red spherical object, approximately 2 feet in diameter, seen hovering about 100 feet over used car lot. When approached, object began to rise and travel south, until it's altitude made it impossible to see.

A Martian checking out the used car bargains!

 

[angelo]

Who remembers Chariots Of The Gods and follow ups like, Gold Of The Gods. Books aimed squarely at the gullible and made millions for the con men like Erich Von Daniken. Even today there are charlatans and kooks who make a living off the gullible.

 

[lpetrich]

Who remembers Chariots Of The Gods and follow ups like, Gold Of The Gods. Books aimed squarely at the gullible and made millions for the con men like Erich Von Daniken. Even today there are charlatans and kooks who make a living off the gullible.

Ah yes, Erich von Däniken's theories of ancient astronauts. They supposedly had bases on our planet and did breeding efforts and the like. But where is all their infrastructure? They would have to have left lots of junk behind. But all the high-tech junk that's ever been found on our planet is ours.

 

[angelo]

He was also jailed in his native Switzerland on fraud charges.

 

[lpetrich]

He was also jailed in his native Switzerland on fraud charges.

 Erich von Däniken

In November 1968 Däniken was arrested for fraud, after falsifying hotel records and credit references in order to take out loans[7] for $130,000 over a period of twelve years. He used the money for foreign travel to research his book.[5] Two years later,[7] Däniken was convicted for "repeated and sustained" embezzlement, fraud and forgery, with the court ruling that the writer had been living a "playboy" lifestyle.[12] He unsuccessfully entered a plea of nullity, on the grounds that his intentions were not malicious and that the credit institutions were at fault for failing adequately to research his references,[5][7][12] and on 13 February 1970 he was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment and was also fined 3,000 francs.[7][13] He served one year of this sentence before being released.[5][14]

His first book, Chariots of the Gods?, had been published by the time of his trial, and its sales allowed him to repay his debts and leave the hotel business. Däniken wrote his second book, Gods from Outer Space, while in prison.[5][12]

However, this bit of fraudulence had nothing to do with his ancient-astronaut theories. But there is some fraudulence connected with them: The Gold of the Gods is largely EvD's imagination. He eventually conceded it, and I recall him once claiming that he had been writing for effect.

I'd mentioned another big bit of fraudulence earlier: Reinhold Schmidt's cancer-curing crystals and his raising of funds to mine them.

 

[Saint_of_Me]

I have always been fascinated by UFOlogy. But am, alas, of the opinion that, although the Universe is almost certainly teeming with Intelligent Life, the distance are simply too vast to encourage the likelihood of visitation. (Over four light-years to the nearest star system--other than our Sun, of course.)

But one UFO sighting has always intrigued me the most. And it was seen be thousands. And to my knowledge no reasonable explanation has been offered. Oh, I heard the initial government about the "flares"--but I find this very unsatisfying.

I am talking of the Phoenix Lights. Which happened just an hour's drive south from where I live.

Have any of you guys ever heard of a good explanation for them??

 

[skepticalbip]

I have always been fascinated by UFOlogy. But am, alas, of the opinion that, although the Universe is almost certainly teeming with Intelligent Life, the distance are simply too vast to encourage the likelihood of visitation. (Over four light-years to the nearest star system--other than our Sun, of course.)

But one UFO sighting has always intrigued me the most. And it was seen be thousands. And to my knowledge no reasonable explanation has been offered. Oh, I heard the initial government about the "flares"--but I find this very unsatisfying.

I am talking of the Phoenix Lights. Which happened just an hour's drive south from where I live.

Have any of you guys ever heard of a good explanation for them??

I haven't. However, a fleet of alien spacecraft would seem to be the most unlikely explanation. But then I don't think there is a good explanation that would cover all the various, and sometimes contradictory, eye witness descriptions of the event, even the fleet of alien spacecraft explanation wouldn't. If it was some sort of military exercise then the military apparently doesn't take the public "concern" seriously enough to announce a repeat exercise in advance so everyone can go out and enjoy the light show knowing what it is.

Personally, I would like to think it could have been a group of pranksters in hot air balloons. It's dangerous ballooning at night but, hey, a good prank sometimes entails a little risk. As a prank, this would be one of the masterpieces.

 

[lpetrich]

George Adamski's career:
▶ George Adamski ET Contact From The Planet Venus in 1952 1of7 - YouTube
▶ George Adamski ET Contact From The Planet Venus in 1952 2of7 - YouTube
▶ George Adamski ET Contact From The Planet Venus in 1952 3of7 - YouTube
▶ George Adamski ET Contact From The Planet Venus in 1952 4of7 - YouTube
▶ George Adamski ET Contact From The Planet Venus in 1952 5of7 - YouTube
▶ George Adamski ET Contact From The Planet Venus in 1952 6of7 - YouTube
▶ George Adamski ET Contact From The Planet Venus in 1952 7of7 - YouTube

About 10 minutes each.

It's worth noting that more recent contactees claim that their ET friends come from outside our Solar System, like the Pleiades star cluster.  Billy Meier:

"Billy" Eduard Albert Meier (born February 3, 1937) is a citizen of Switzerland who is the source of many controversial alleged UFO photographs which he presents in support of his claim that he is in contact with extraterrestrials. In addition, he has also presented other controversial material during the 1970s such as metal samples, sound recordings and film-footage. Meier reports regular contacts with extraterrestrials he calls the Plejaren. Meier claims that the Plejaren look similar in appearance to humans, that the Plejaren homeworld is called Erra, and that is located in a dimension which is a fraction of a second shifted from our own dimension, about 80 light years beyond the Pleiades, an open star cluster. The Plejaren were given the name Pleiadians by Meier up to 1995.

Although we've detected several hundred exoplanets, habitable Earthlike ones continue to be too difficult for us to detect. Also, the  Pleiades are about 136 pc / 444 ly away and are about 100 million years old. Even so, the cluster likely has some nonmember stars passing through it.


Carl Sagan from The Demon-Haunted World (Ch.6: Hallucinations):

Occasionally, I get a letter from someone who is in "contact" with extraterrestrials. I am invited to "ask them anything." And so over the years I've prepared a little list of questions. The extraterrestrials are very advanced, remember. So I ask things like, "Please provide a short proof of Fermat's Last Theorem." Or the Goldbach Conjecture. And then I have to explain what these are, because extraterrestrials will not call it Fermat's Last Theorem. So I write out the simple equation with the exponents. I never get an answer. On the other hand, if I ask something like "Should we be good?" I almost always get an answer. Anything vague, especially involving conventional moral judgments, these aliens are extremely happy to respond to. But on anything specific, where there is a chance to find out if they actually know anything beyond what most humans know, there is only silence. Something can be deduced from this differential ability to answer questions.

Like Solar-System exploration, this offers another check.

Unsolved Problems -- from Wolfram MathWorld
 List of unsolved problems in mathematics -- a big one
 Millennium Prize Problems -- 7 notable ones
Unsolved Problems in mathematics

I'd ask if there are an infinite number of Mersenne primes, and if there are more than 5 Fermat primes. Also about P vs. NP, an unsolved problem in computational complexity.

 

[angelo]

Why waste time on that kook? Matter of fact, most ufologists are out of their minds!

 

[lpetrich]

Why waste time on that kook? Matter of fact, most ufologists are out of their minds!

I wouldn't dismiss them outright. However, I find the contactees to be very entertaining. Here's more about Billy Meier:

Alleged UFO Contactee Billy Meier discusses his pictures of alleged Plejarens Asket and Nera. They look suspiciously like certain Earthlings whose pictures had already been widely distributed.

The page's background picture shows some curiously shiny flying saucers.

 

[lpetrich]

SETI Sent Evidence of ET Contact by They Fly Productions | They Fly Blog (May 5, 2015) -- a fan site for UFO contactee "Billy" Eduard Albert Meier.

Evidence of extraterrestrial contacts in Switzerland, said to be ongoing for 73 years, sent to scientists at SETI and recently formed NExSS Initiative

The NExSS Initiative, SETI Sent Evidence of ET Contact by They Fly Productions -- FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., May 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
If the Pleiadians / Plejaren can visit rural Switzerland, they can visit New York City. The United Nations building should be easy to find. If its plaza is too cramped for landing on, then there's a nice park a few blocks away, and three big airports somewhat farther away.

把 - Billy Mejers Contact.pdf -- Translation from German to English of BEAM's first encounter with Semjase (pronounced German fashion: Semyahzeh).

She has just come out of her "beamship" flying saucer. She looks like a Nordic Earthwoman with long blond hair, and she is wearing a textured gray bodysuit.

UFO Woman: You are a fearless human being.
Billy: I have learned to overcome fear and become objective.
UFO Woman: I know. We have been studying you for years.
Billy: That's nice...and why?
UFO Woman: Because through you we want to clarify some things.
Billy: Isn't anyone else suited for that purpose?
UFO Woman: Certainly. But we have selected you for you have been preoccupied with these problems for thousands of years during previous lifetimes and because you think and act decisively, honestly as well; and because you have already frequently carried out such a mission in your former lives, even though great mysteries surround this fact from what we gather.
Billy: Thanks for the "flowers" [colloq. German for compliments].
UFO Woman: Do not mention it, you have earned it on your own merit.
Billy: Fine, but who are you, really?
UFO Woman: Just call me "du" (informal German "you"), and I will do the same with you.
Billy: Thanks, but who are you?
UFO Woman: I am called Semjase and I come from the Pleiades.
Billy: From the Seven Stars (the Seven Sisters)?
Semjase: That is correct.

Semjase then explains that she has landed in a hidden spot and kept other people from within 500 meters of it. She then explains that she and her fellow Space People selected BEAM because he is honest and competent and willing -- she does not want to be associated with fakers and backward religions. She describes how her people have succeeded in doing faster-than-light interstellar travel, and how Earthling spaceflight is still very limited.

27. Many frauds and charlatans claim to be in contact with human beings from other planets in your solar system, indeed to have flown with or in their beamships.
28. This is nothing but a lie, for most of the planets they mention are so desolate that human life cannot exist there.

There are numerous inhabited planets in the Universe, planets inhabited by numerous kinds of organisms. Some sentient species are nasty and warlike -- and very troublesome. Then some more slams of backward Earthling religions. She then assures BEAM that she will return, and that he will someday get to ride in her spacecraft.

Both of them later happen, or so BEAM tells us.

That last quote seems like a swipe at the original UFO contactees, back in the early 1950's, notably George Adamski. The home page of that press release: TheyFly.com | The Billy Meier UFO Contacts: The only extraterrestrial contact case Why only Billy Meier?

 

[angelo]

Why only Mohammad?

 

[lpetrich]

Why only Mohammad?

What do you mean?

 

[angelo]

Always one lonely contactee. Allah chose an illiterate Mo, Yahweh chose Moses, Venusians chose Adamski, the angel Moron..........errr sorry.......Moroni chose Joseph Smith, a fraudster.

You'd think that these people who have such vast technology that to us earthlings it would seem magical, could in all reality contact each and every one us at once at tell us what they wish!

 

[Duke Leto]

Here you go:

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=UFOs_(EU2012)#UFO_Types

 

[fast]

As soon as it is possible to identify an object as an alien spacecraft, it is no longer appropriate to refer to it as a UFO.

By definition, UFOs are not identified; so if someone claims to know what one is, they are mistaken.

On the surface, that comes across as compelling logic, but the reference of the term remains what it is despite the meaning of the acronym. By your same logic, a UFO that has landed is neither a UFO nor one that has landed, as a UFO by definition must be flying.

A UFO that is subsequently identified is no longer an unidentified flying object, but it can be argued that it's still (or at least in some instances can be) a UFO despite it being an identified flying (or otherwise) object. That's because the meaning of the three worded term underlying the acronym is broader in scope than what the meaning of the sequence of the three one-worded terms are.

Part of what's at play here is the ambiguity of the term: the strict sense of the meaning of the three words and the broader scope of the three-worded term: U F O vs. UFO

An actual alien space craft may no longer be considered a U F O once identified, but it's still a UFO; however, a NASA test plane will neither be a U F O or UFO once it's discovered what it is.

We have to be careful with words. A space shuttle is still a space shuttle, even when not in space. A flying saucer is still a flying saucer, even when it's on the ground. Sure, it's not a flying saucer (adjective plus noun), but it is a 'flying saucer' (two-worded noun).

Terms that exceed a single word and become two-worded terms or three-worded terms often become nouns with a meaning that go beyond the pre-combined meanings that is slightly offbeat.

 

[lpetrich]

Here you go:

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=UFOs_(EU2012)#UFO_Types

UFOpaedia

This site is dedicated to X-COM, a computer strategy game series introduced in 1994 by MicroProse.

This wiki contains a wealth of information including strategy, tactical tips, plus an in-depth look at how the game functions. If you love X-COM and want to contribute, please see the Community Portal. All rookies welcome!

Disclaimer: To be absolutely clear, this site is dedicated to a series of computer games and not to general conspiracy theories regarding UFOs and aliens.

Also, I've seen alternatives to "unidentified flying object" like "unconventional flying object" and "unconventional aerial object" (UAO).

Captain Edward Ruppelt coined "UFO" in 1952 or so as an alternative to "flying saucer" -- "flying saucer" sounds goofy, and many of the reported sightings were not of disk-shaped objects.

 

[lpetrich]

Always one lonely contactee. Allah chose an illiterate Mo, Yahweh chose Moses, Venusians chose Adamski, the angel Moron..........errr sorry.......Moroni chose Joseph Smith, a fraudster.

Yes, there does seem to be that sort of quality about it.

You'd think that these people who have such vast technology that to us earthlings it would seem magical, could in all reality contact each and every one us at once at tell us what they wish!

Or failing that, to land in some place like Central Park in New York City. Somewhere where they can be seen by numerous Earthlings.

New York City is arguably the closest city that humanity has to a capital city, because of the United Nations headquarters being there.

 

[lpetrich]

How to Make the Most of a Flying Saucer Experience

And he offers practical advice—for readers about to embark on their own flying saucer experience.

Read this book and be ready—for your ride in a UFO.

Among the tidbits in it is

Can I smoke aboard the saucer?

Sure—if you don’t mind being tractor-beamed back to Earth, immediately and unceremoniously. Neither the Space People nor the Space Aliens tolerate smoking aboard their ships. Firkon and his friends are committed to a healthful, holistic lifestyle; while the Aliens—with their insurance scam—are careful to enforce a federal regulation that bans smoking in medical facilities. So don’t even think about smoking on a saucer. (And remember, they can read your mind.) If you must smoke, go outside—you can survive in Space for up to a minute.

There does seem to be an exception. From George Adamski's Inside the Spaceships:

(Inside a luxuriously-furnished lounge area in a large spaceship)

Beside the chairs were low glass or crystal-topped tables with interesting decorative centerpieces. But I saw nothing the least like an ash tray. I suppose I knew instinctively that these people were not addicted to the nicotine habit and I left my cigarettes in my pocket. Once, however, through sheer force of habit, I reached for them. Observing this, the little lady from Venus smiled and said, “You may smoke if you like. I will get you a receptacle for your ashes. You see, only Earth people indulge in that odd habit!”

I thanked her and returned the package to my pocket without taking a cigarette.

Here is my advice:

First, learn how to be a good observer. Learn how to avoid jumping to conclusions. I remember an astronomy class where we looked at Venus through a small telescope. Someone said that he was seeing clouds, and I said it was featureless. The teacher preferred my answer.

Recognize that you don't get distances or linear sizes directly. You only get angular sizes, and you infer linear sizes or distances with some hypothesis about the other.

If you get abducted, there isn't much that you can do other than try to memorize as much as you can of what happened. If you have a smartphone, try to covertly take pictures if you can, but they might take that away from you also.

If you get contacted by friendly UFOnauts, your life will be easier. At least you have a chance to reason with them. I'd say "Please reveal yourselves to more Earth people than me. There is a good place for doing so. Central Park in New York City. I can help you find it if you need help in that. Please don't be camera-shy and please don't interfere with our electronic devices. Let everybody who sees you spread the word about you with these devices. If it's just me reporting you, then everybody will think that it's me making it up, that I'm mentally ill or that I'm trying to tease them or something."

Then I'll describe how Jean-Baptiste Biot convinced his colleagues of the reality of extraterrestrial rocks. People all over the town of L'Aigle saw it, and some rocks showed up that were not typical of the area. He wrote a report in a nice, pleasantly-readable style, and it became very popular because of that. So please do for us Earth people what the L'Aigle meteorite did.

 

[Duke Leto]

UFOpaedia

This site is dedicated to X-COM, a computer strategy game series introduced in 1994 by MicroProse.

This wiki contains a wealth of information including strategy, tactical tips, plus an in-depth look at how the game functions. If you love X-COM and want to contribute, please see the Community Portal. All rookies welcome!

Disclaimer: To be absolutely clear, this site is dedicated to a series of computer games and not to general conspiracy theories regarding UFOs and aliens.

It was a joke, man.