Wednesday 4 July 2007

Anniversary of the UFO


This big BBC article celebrating 60 years of the UFO phenomenon falls down when it trots out the usual, "official" explanations for UFOs. Here they are with my retorts:

Sundogs: Refracted image of the sun - WHICH DON’T MOVE
Space debris: Burning satellites or rocket fragments - WHICH MOVE IN A STRAIGHT LINE
Meteors: Such as bolides or fireballs - AGAIN, A STRAIGHT LINE
Clouds: Lenticular or disc-like - OKAY BUT *SLOW* MOVING
Mirages: Hot or cold-air induced images - HMMMMMMM
Stars/planets: Such as Venus - WHICH DON’T MOVE!!!
Planes: Such as experimental aircraft - POSSIBLY, BUT AERODYNAMICS
Ball lightning: Unpredictable brilliant spheres - USUALLY FOUND NEAR THE GROUND
Weather balloons: Classic explanation - OKAY, A LOT OF UFOs ARE PROBABLY BALLOONS
Hallucination: Viewer under stress - I SEE BETTER WHEN I’m TRIPPING!
Mass hysteria: Early explanation - COME ON!
Earthlights: Caused by electromagnetic fields in seismic activity areas - WTF DOES THAT MEAN?


This cool article in Wired too is a bit more open minded, although there's the usual skeptical perspective from writer Darius Lockwood

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