The other day I described a “60 Minutes” show arguing that there are UFOs (now “UAP”s, or “unidentified aerial phenomena) that cannot be explained easily by naturalistic processes. I hadn’t realized that I had posted about those identical videos over a year earlier, and poo-pooed them as being evidence for alien UFOs. In other words, this last week I was both forgetful and credulous.
Here’s a video of blinking triangles that the Navy initially identified as UAPs. I’m not sure whether they backed off it when they were shown to be the result of triangular lens iris shapes (“bokeh”), but it shows how these these “unmanned aerial systems at 700 feet” can very simple explanations.
Oh my Ceiling Cat, that is perfectly hilarious! What an embarrassment!
Many photographers make pictures this way with multiple light sources (e.g. Christmas lights) and paper cutout apertures.
Simple example: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/56202262?image=0
You wonder how many people intrigued by this stuff appreciate the distances involved. Justin E.H. Smith pointed out a few weeks ago that the distance to the nearest star system is on the order of a million times the distance to Mars. There may be intelligent beings elsewhere in the galaxy, but they aren’t going to get into vehicles and travel to Earth.
I read this article recently about the footage being released. It argues that these are simple unmanned aircraft. Seems more plausible and potentially scary.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40054/adversary-drones-are-spying-on-the-u-s-and-the-pentagon-acts-like-theyre-ufos?fbclid=IwAR31zF5kXA4evjfOSv4D9nqvjvLEWOUUDWp9l3t4jVhixIXmrmb0Q4fbvbE
Whew, maybe now I can stop worrying about alien abduction and the concomitant forced medical examination of one’s reproductive system.
What a relief! I’m not sure an alien colonoscopy is covered by my insurance. I’m pretty sure they are out-of-network providers.
As Neil deGrasse Tyson once said – I paraphrase from memory – the key word in UFO is ‘un-identified’.
I think we can safely predict that ALL of the UAPs under investigation are due to ordinary causes, including those not yet fully explained. Delicate electronics and weird optics will produce strange effects.
I think he pronounced “bokeh” pretty much correctly (as “bo-key”). I was taught it was like “bo-kay”, with a long ‘a’, but close enough. Most people say “bo-ka”, with a short ‘a’.
Neither the Navy nor the Pentagon seems able to solve a simple camera glitch, and not only that, they play the fear card by implying the “phenomena” is a possible national security threat. Sad.
Trump’s gone as well as his daily-shit-show-circus. Ratings are probably down, so the MSM is reporting on mysterious woo to gen up fear and uncertainty. That’s my theory, which is mine.
Mine, too. Desperate to keep ratings.
Great video. Why couldn’t 60 minutes do that analysis? Geesh!
Yes. Both 60 min and the military investigators totally failed to do this right. Some online searches of this old story starts to unravel it!
The dominant rule for news desks has been “if it bleeds, it leads” since – probably the 18th century. Obviously “60 Minutes”, Panorama (who have been digging up and shouting about another “bleed: lead” case) and the Press Agencies of the Pentagon and US Navy have fallen into the category.
As if they were ever in any other category.
If I were USian, and even as a non-USian, I would be shocked and scared by the level of incompetence shown by the military.
If you would consider who are the strongest supporters of the USian military how could you think otherwise? That reminds me of an idea I had on how to make the GOP hate guns. Make them electric.
And make the bullets lead-free….!
As I understand it, all the relevant material was released with appropriate statements – effectively “here you go – don’t know, don’t care”. There is nothing I saw (I practically ignored this) to show deep concern or that a great effort was made to learn the origin of the observations – that view, as I see it, was all built by the media, with Pregnant Pauses, etc.
I don’t even think this is incompetence – it is simply Fantasyland.
Does 60 Minutes realise that, if a UFO turned out to be a spaceship containing beings from an alien civilisation, it would have been explained easily by a naturalistic process?
Just another weather balloon dropping out of warp.
They still use OS/2 on weather balloons?
Actually, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised.
I’ve seen a couple UFOs, and both of them turned out to be Your Tax Dollars At Work. Does anybody remember the Flying Wing, or the VTOL? Those were kept tippy-top secret until the military decided they weren’t that effective — and then admitted to their existence in public. Before that admission, civilian witnesses swore they’d seen UFOs. We have no idea what kind of secret aircraft the military is playing with at places like Area 51 and similar empty spots on the map.