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In the next election betting it’s now odds-on that the Tories will get a majority – politicalbetting

13

Comments

  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    moonshine said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Because they're not being nuts, only nutters on the internet are being nuts.

    Obama on a comedy show says that there are things that can't be explained (a truism, there are always things that can't be explained) - nutters run around like he just confirmed that Big Foot is hiding Nessie and ET.

    Things that can't be explained can include a many varied things: videos that are faked but nobody can debunk, or is going to be bothered to debunk - or illusions that can't be explained - or limited evidence that leaves a mystery that can't be answered - or the list goes on.

    Can't be explained doesn't mean God and doesn't mean aliens.
    Philip, you are hopelessly out of touch with the serious statements made on this to both tv and print media in recent weeks and months by a string of very senior people in the US. Go and do your research and come back.
    No I just don't swallow bullshit that conspiracy theorists on YouTube or jokes on comedy shows say.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,747

    moonshine said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Because they're not being nuts, only nutters on the internet are being nuts.

    Obama on a comedy show says that there are things that can't be explained (a truism, there are always things that can't be explained) - nutters run around like he just confirmed that Big Foot is hiding Nessie and ET.

    Things that can't be explained can include a many varied things: videos that are faked but nobody can debunk, or is going to be bothered to debunk - or illusions that can't be explained - or limited evidence that leaves a mystery that can't be answered - or the list goes on.

    Can't be explained doesn't mean God and doesn't mean aliens.
    Philip, you are hopelessly out of touch with the serious statements made on this to both tv and print media in recent weeks and months by a string of very senior people in the US. Go and do your research and come back.
    No I just don't swallow bullshit that conspiracy theorists on YouTube or jokes on comedy shows say.
    Leon is right about you and the bassoon.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,561
    Pulpstar said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Who was it said ‘the most compelling evidence that there is intelligent life in the universe is that it’s never tried to contact us?’
    Sounds like one of Reagan's quips ?
    Reagan said after a private screening of Close Encounters:

    “There are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true.”

    As confirmed by Spielberg, who was there.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,011
    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    Looks like the UK is set to get a Tesla gigafactory, I expect lots and lots of ministers to be relieved as it signals to the rest of the car industry that it's time to invest in the UK to stay competitive here. From what I understand it's going to be an absolutely giant one too, not just for domestic production but for exports to the EU and other territories.

    A Tesla factory not the Blyth attempt? any idea where in the UK?
    It would be a more sensible use of Teesside Airport than trying to entice airlines to fly there.
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 9,136
    edited May 2021
    moonshine said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Because they're not being nuts, only nutters on the internet are being nuts.

    Obama on a comedy show says that there are things that can't be explained (a truism, there are always things that can't be explained) - nutters run around like he just confirmed that Big Foot is hiding Nessie and ET.

    Things that can't be explained can include a many varied things: videos that are faked but nobody can debunk, or is going to be bothered to debunk - or illusions that can't be explained - or limited evidence that leaves a mystery that can't be answered - or the list goes on.

    Can't be explained doesn't mean God and doesn't mean aliens.
    Philip, you are hopelessly out of touch with the serious statements made on this to both tv and print media in recent weeks and months by a string of very senior people in the US. Go and do your research and come back.
    What's mainstream now is certainly honest official uncertainty. What was mainstream for decades before was pre-emptive, almost de rigeur ridicule.
  • OmniumOmnium Posts: 10,759
    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
  • rpjsrpjs Posts: 3,787

    On the off chance that any PBers beside MS are still interested in actual elections,

    NYT ($) Guest Essay - Progressives Won Chile’s Election. And They Won Big.

    Ariel Dorfman - Over the weekend, the people of Chile voted in a historic election to select the members of a body tasked with drafting a new Constitution to replace the one written in 1980 under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

    The final tally dealt a severe blow to the followers of General Pinochet, many of whom make up the center-right and right-wing coalition Chile Vamos, backed by the current president, Sebastián Piñera, which won just 37 of the 155 seats for the Constitutional Convention. . . .

    The victors were a group of parties of a new-left coalition, Apruebo Dignidad (I Approve Dignity), which elected 28 representatives, and numerous independent candidates who had been active in the ongoing protests calling for reforms in education, health and pensions, and an end to the neoliberal economic model that has dominated Chile for almost half a century. The independent, left and center-left candidates secured a combined 101 seats, more than two-thirds of the Constitutional Convention. . . .

    The October 2019 revolt terrified the ruling coalition of conservative politicians, and they reached an agreement with center-left parties holding a majority in Congress to call a referendum asking the nation whether it wanted a new Constitution. . . .

    To make certain that they would wield a veto over the proceedings, many of General Pinochet’s followers in the Senate and Congress wrote into the agreement that the final document produced by the Constitutional Convention would have to be approved by a two-thirds majority. . . .

    That calculation backfired spectacularly over the past weekend as Chile Vamos, despite an enormous financial advantage, lost badly to independent and opposition candidates, and was sidelined from decision-making when it comes to the new charter. The defeat is all the more striking because the coalition also lost most of the mayor’s and governor’s races . . .

    There are, however, some disquieting signals ahead. Only 43 percent of the population voted in this election, compared with the more than 50 percent who turned out last year and overwhelmingly approved the idea of creating a new Constitution.

    This absenteeism can be partly attributed to the pandemic (which also stopped me and my wife from traveling to Chile to cast our votes) and partly to the widespread apathy of vast sectors of the electorate, particularly among the poorest families. . . .

    The other problem is that though nearly 75 percent of the delegates embody a progressive agenda, they are fragmented and tend to squabble among themselves, making it difficult to reach a consensus on how far to carry out the reforms Chile requires.

    None of this detracts from the encouraging message and example that Chile sends out to the world at a time of rising authoritarianism . . .

    Coup in 3 ... 2 ... 1
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    Sandpit said:

    Foxy said:

    Omnium said:

    Foxy said:

    Nigelb said:

    A warning for crypto enthusiasts...

    https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-crash-coinbase-cryptocurrency-exchanges-51621437348
    ... Trading crypto isn’t anything like stocks. Liquidity is relatively thin, and there are big spreads between the bid and ask prices. Commissions are steep. And as this morning’s outages indicate, the exchanges may not be equipped to handle a surge in volatility and sell orders—preventing investors from getting their money out fast.

    Bitcoin has been in a selloff for months and the downturn may be only be accelerating. The latest bad tidings came from China, which reiterated a ban on cryptocurrencies for domestic financial transactions. India also plans to ban cryptocurrencies and fine anyone trading or holding digital assets, according to a report in Reuters...

    Cryptocurrencies are the biggest and best pyramid scheme in history surely?
    South Seas bubble was more important.
    As a percentage of global capital, inflation adjusted, which is the bigger?

    The total crypto market capitalisation was US $2 trillion a few months ago. Obviously smaller now.
    Bitcoin is off 30% in the last fortnight!

    They’re nothing more than digital tulips.
    But @contrarian was convinced that the Definitely not a Ponzi Scheme Coin was only at the foothills of its rise.
    A Ponzi scheme offers returns or insurance, such as the UK welfare state. Bitcoin offers nothing. Except a measure of confidentiality.

    No a Ponzi scheme supposedly offers returns, but without guaranteed returns or insurance.

    Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme. Buy into it because the value is going to go up, so you can make money when it does go up. The only reason it was going up was because there were enough gullible idiots before you who thought it was going up (like all Ponzi schemes, getting in and out early enough can be profitable) but if you're the gullible idiot still holding it when the music stops? Ouch.
    Don't buy it to make money. Let's say you squirrelled away a few quid of bitcoin every month for your life. You shuffle off this mortal coil. In your will you leave, say, a million quid of assets plus a bitcoin account and password confidentially given.

    The revenue stings your beneficiaries for death duties on the estate. They claim there's another million in the bitcoin account and they want the tax.

    If they don't have the details of the account, which they won't, your beneficiaries can tell them to go f8ck themselves.

    Which would be useful if bitcoin held value, but it doesn't. Bitcoin is intrinsically worthless so all you've given them is about as useful as a million shares in Blockbuster.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VLxoc_Nzl0
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,860
    I see the English vaccine age is now 36
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,647



    Don't buy it to make money. Let's say you squirrelled away a few quid of bitcoin every month for your life. You shuffle off this mortal coil. In your will you leave, say, a million quid of assets plus a bitcoin account and password confidentially given.

    The revenue stings your beneficiaries for death duties on the estate. They claim there's another million in the bitcoin account and they want the tax.

    If they don't have the details of the account, which they won't, your beneficiaries can tell them to go f8ck themselves.

    Ah, not a Ponzi scheme, just a way to commit a crime?
    Isn't the key to a successful confidence trick is to get the marks money into a criminal venture? That way when you disappear with the loot they cannot report it.
  • contrariancontrarian Posts: 5,818



    Don't buy it to make money. Let's say you squirrelled away a few quid of bitcoin every month for your life. You shuffle off this mortal coil. In your will you leave, say, a million quid of assets plus a bitcoin account and password confidentially given.

    The revenue stings your beneficiaries for death duties on the estate. They claim there's another million in the bitcoin account and they want the tax.

    If they don't have the details of the account, which they won't, your beneficiaries can tell them to go f8ck themselves.

    Ah, not a Ponzi scheme, just a way to commit a crime?
    More correctly, a way to commit a crime and get away with it.

    You see, unlike the brinks mat boys, there's no way the revenue, could, or would ever recover the assets. Ever. Gone for good. For centuries if necessary. To be brought out by great granchildren long after the rozzers had forgotten about the whole thing.

    It would be up to the good conscience of the people of Britain to decide how much the revenue, in their judgement, DESERVED to be paid in death duties.

    It is, in other words, a massive shift in power away from governments and to ordinary people, and that is why governments really hate it. That's why the CCP hate it. It threatens to redraw the social contract between the government and the governed.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    Looks like the UK is set to get a Tesla gigafactory, I expect lots and lots of ministers to be relieved as it signals to the rest of the car industry that it's time to invest in the UK to stay competitive here. From what I understand it's going to be an absolutely giant one too, not just for domestic production but for exports to the EU and other territories.

    A Tesla factory not the Blyth attempt? any idea where in the UK?
    It would be a more sensible use of Teesside Airport than trying to entice airlines to fly there.
    Build the Gigafactory in Teesside and suddenly the Airport might be quite popular.
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518
    IanB2 said:

    I see the English vaccine age is now 36

    If the age is dropping fast but our vaccines per day is staying relatively subdued, could this be indicative of vaccine hesitancy in the lower age groups?
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,175



    Don't buy it to make money. Let's say you squirrelled away a few quid of bitcoin every month for your life. You shuffle off this mortal coil. In your will you leave, say, a million quid of assets plus a bitcoin account and password confidentially given.

    The revenue stings your beneficiaries for death duties on the estate. They claim there's another million in the bitcoin account and they want the tax.

    If they don't have the details of the account, which they won't, your beneficiaries can tell them to go f8ck themselves.

    Ah, not a Ponzi scheme, just a way to commit a crime?
    More correctly, a way to commit a crime and get away with it.

    You see, unlike the brinks mat boys, there's no way the revenue, could, or would ever recover the assets. Ever. Gone for good. For centuries if necessary. To be brought out by great granchildren long after the rozzers had forgotten about the whole thing.

    It would be up to the good conscience of the people of Britain to decide how much the revenue, in their judgement, DESERVED to be paid in death duties.

    It is, in other words, a massive shift in power away from governments and to ordinary people, and that is why governments really hate it. That's why the CCP hate it. It threatens to redraw the social contract between the government and the governed.
    These things are only a threat to traditional currencies if central banks continuously devalue their currencies.

    Oh, I see the problem.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826



    Don't buy it to make money. Let's say you squirrelled away a few quid of bitcoin every month for your life. You shuffle off this mortal coil. In your will you leave, say, a million quid of assets plus a bitcoin account and password confidentially given.

    The revenue stings your beneficiaries for death duties on the estate. They claim there's another million in the bitcoin account and they want the tax.

    If they don't have the details of the account, which they won't, your beneficiaries can tell them to go f8ck themselves.

    Ah, not a Ponzi scheme, just a way to commit a crime?
    More correctly, a way to commit a crime and get away with it.

    You see, unlike the brinks mat boys, there's no way the revenue, could, or would ever recover the assets. Ever. Gone for good. For centuries if necessary. To be brought out by great granchildren long after the rozzers had forgotten about the whole thing.

    It would be up to the good conscience of the people of Britain to decide how much the revenue, in their judgement, DESERVED to be paid in death duties.

    It is, in other words, a massive shift in power away from governments and to ordinary people, and that is why governments really hate it. That's why the CCP hate it. It threatens to redraw the social contract between the government and the governed.
    Except its not, since the coins are worthless. If a bitcoin was worth $1 and that was reliable then it would be as you say. But its not.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    Further surge testing and vaccinations will now be introduced in:

    Bedford
    Burnley
    Hounslow
    Kirklees
    Leicester
    and North Tyneside
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,175
    alex_ said:

    IanB2 said:

    I see the English vaccine age is now 36

    If the age is dropping fast but our vaccines per day is staying relatively subdued, could this be indicative of vaccine hesitancy in the lower age groups?
    We're into the "got young kids to deal with" group.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670



    Don't buy it to make money. Let's say you squirrelled away a few quid of bitcoin every month for your life. You shuffle off this mortal coil. In your will you leave, say, a million quid of assets plus a bitcoin account and password confidentially given.

    The revenue stings your beneficiaries for death duties on the estate. They claim there's another million in the bitcoin account and they want the tax.

    If they don't have the details of the account, which they won't, your beneficiaries can tell them to go f8ck themselves.

    Ah, not a Ponzi scheme, just a way to commit a crime?
    More correctly, a way to commit a crime and get away with it.

    You see, unlike the brinks mat boys, there's no way the revenue, could, or would ever recover the assets. Ever. Gone for good. For centuries if necessary. To be brought out by great granchildren long after the rozzers had forgotten about the whole thing.

    It would be up to the good conscience of the people of Britain to decide how much the revenue, in their judgement, DESERVED to be paid in death duties.

    It is, in other words, a massive shift in power away from governments and to ordinary people, and that is why governments really hate it. That's why the CCP hate it. It threatens to redraw the social contract between the government and the governed.
    The Bitcoin is only good for as long as the network exists.

    There is a direct linkage between the size of the network and how much a bitcoin can be worth when converted to a physical currency (because if a small network was supporting a high priced coin it would be profitable to spend moeny to attack the network).

    And, this is the crucial bit, the majority of Bitcoin network power is held in China.

    If you are worried about CCP hating bitcoin then you shouldn't have any money in Bitcojn as Bitcoin is entirely reliant of Chinese mining rigs.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,191



    Don't buy it to make money. Let's say you squirrelled away a few quid of bitcoin every month for your life. You shuffle off this mortal coil. In your will you leave, say, a million quid of assets plus a bitcoin account and password confidentially given.

    The revenue stings your beneficiaries for death duties on the estate. They claim there's another million in the bitcoin account and they want the tax.

    If they don't have the details of the account, which they won't, your beneficiaries can tell them to go f8ck themselves.

    Ah, not a Ponzi scheme, just a way to commit a crime?
    More correctly, a way to commit a crime and get away with it.

    You see, unlike the brinks mat boys, there's no way the revenue, could, or would ever recover the assets. Ever. Gone for good. For centuries if necessary. To be brought out by great granchildren long after the rozzers had forgotten about the whole thing.

    It would be up to the good conscience of the people of Britain to decide how much the revenue, in their judgement, DESERVED to be paid in death duties.

    It is, in other words, a massive shift in power away from governments and to ordinary people, and that is why governments really hate it. That's why the CCP hate it. It threatens to redraw the social contract between the government and the governed.
    Except its not, since the coins are worthless. If a bitcoin was worth $1 and that was reliable then it would be as you say. But its not.
    Court case arrives for state trying to reclaim death duties on the estate of Contrarian's great grandchild

    HMRC - "Your honour these 200 bitcoins are intrinsically worthless"
    Contrarian's descendent's lawyer "The defense rests it's case"....
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    edited May 2021

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    Looks like the UK is set to get a Tesla gigafactory, I expect lots and lots of ministers to be relieved as it signals to the rest of the car industry that it's time to invest in the UK to stay competitive here. From what I understand it's going to be an absolutely giant one too, not just for domestic production but for exports to the EU and other territories.

    A Tesla factory not the Blyth attempt? any idea where in the UK?
    It would be a more sensible use of Teesside Airport than trying to entice airlines to fly there.
    Build the Gigafactory in Teesside and suddenly the Airport might be quite popular.
    I thought all the push so far has been towards any Gigafactory being at the new Gravity campus in Somerset?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,191
    Alistair said:



    Don't buy it to make money. Let's say you squirrelled away a few quid of bitcoin every month for your life. You shuffle off this mortal coil. In your will you leave, say, a million quid of assets plus a bitcoin account and password confidentially given.

    The revenue stings your beneficiaries for death duties on the estate. They claim there's another million in the bitcoin account and they want the tax.

    If they don't have the details of the account, which they won't, your beneficiaries can tell them to go f8ck themselves.

    Ah, not a Ponzi scheme, just a way to commit a crime?
    More correctly, a way to commit a crime and get away with it.

    You see, unlike the brinks mat boys, there's no way the revenue, could, or would ever recover the assets. Ever. Gone for good. For centuries if necessary. To be brought out by great granchildren long after the rozzers had forgotten about the whole thing.

    It would be up to the good conscience of the people of Britain to decide how much the revenue, in their judgement, DESERVED to be paid in death duties.

    It is, in other words, a massive shift in power away from governments and to ordinary people, and that is why governments really hate it. That's why the CCP hate it. It threatens to redraw the social contract between the government and the governed.
    The Bitcoin is only good for as long as the network exists.

    There is a direct linkage between the size of the network and how much a bitcoin can be worth when converted to a physical currency (because if a small network was supporting a high priced coin it would be profitable to spend moeny to attack the network).

    And, this is the crucial bit, the majority of Bitcoin network power is held in China.

    If you are worried about CCP hating bitcoin then you shouldn't have any money in Bitcojn as Bitcoin is entirely reliant of Chinese mining rigs.
    Yep, there are arguments against Bitcoin but Philip Thompson is talking nonsense.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,433

    Sandpit said:

    Death Rigby banging on about confusion and mixed messages....yawn.

    Just because *she* gets easily confused...
    No because Beth is right This is huge weakness that partisan PB Tories struggle to accept.
    I guess as always we can look at the one country Labour control.

    Wales.

    Drakeford has asked people in Wales not to go on holiday abroad in 2021, even though -- according to his Government -- they are allowed to.

    Drakeford added that he did not want to "make people feel guilty" about going abroad, but urged people to "think of their own safety and the safety of others".

    All crystal clear from Llafur in Wales -- no mixed messages there 😉

    Everything is allowed except it is also forbidden.
    As the Senedd elections showed the Welsh will do whatever Drakeford tells them to do because he is magnificent, they know divine brilliance when they see it.

    Keep reading my posts on Wales as you might learn something about Wales and her people.
    Curious. I remember you tipped Drakeford losing Cardiff West as a good bet and even wrote a header on it.

    https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2021/04/18/is-mark-drakeford-the-new-sir-winston-churchill/

    You even fooled Casino Royale to follow you into an obvious loser.

    You even wrote:

    "On that basis I make the 25/1 on the Tories stupendous value, if you’re lucky like me, Ladbrokes may even boost the odds to 28/1."

    And you didn't even realise why Ladbrokes -- after they stopped guffawing -- let you have better odds. 😀😀😀
    I made a profit on that bet by trading out.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559

    Pulpstar said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Who was it said ‘the most compelling evidence that there is intelligent life in the universe is that it’s never tried to contact us?’
    Sounds like one of Reagan's quips ?
    Reagan said after a private screening of Close Encounters:

    “There are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true.”

    As confirmed by Spielberg, who was there.
    As confirmed by Spielberg's publicist.

    Presidents love talking about this, so long as they really aren't saying anything that can really be pinned down. Such as Reagan in this anecdote, and Obama on TV recently.

    Perfect for an even half-way decent raconteur. And Ronnie was (and Barack still is) one of the best.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,802
    alex_ said:

    IanB2 said:

    I see the English vaccine age is now 36

    If the age is dropping fast but our vaccines per day is staying relatively subdued, could this be indicative of vaccine hesitancy in the lower age groups?
    Expectations of supply and getting appointments booked so there isn't a slowdown. In general the government is booking appointments about two weeks in advance to ensure the funnel always has people entering it. My guess is that appointments for the first week of June were opened up so moving down to 36 year olds helps fill up empty slots and ensure capacity utilisation is close to maximum.

    I expect 33+ to get the call early next week because expected supply in late May and early June is much higher than current supply. We could be doing two year cohorts in ~3 days rather ~7 at the moment. Getting people booked in is really important. Anyone who becomes eligible absolutely needs to get booked in ASAP.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    tlg86 said:



    Don't buy it to make money. Let's say you squirrelled away a few quid of bitcoin every month for your life. You shuffle off this mortal coil. In your will you leave, say, a million quid of assets plus a bitcoin account and password confidentially given.

    The revenue stings your beneficiaries for death duties on the estate. They claim there's another million in the bitcoin account and they want the tax.

    If they don't have the details of the account, which they won't, your beneficiaries can tell them to go f8ck themselves.

    Ah, not a Ponzi scheme, just a way to commit a crime?
    More correctly, a way to commit a crime and get away with it.

    You see, unlike the brinks mat boys, there's no way the revenue, could, or would ever recover the assets. Ever. Gone for good. For centuries if necessary. To be brought out by great granchildren long after the rozzers had forgotten about the whole thing.

    It would be up to the good conscience of the people of Britain to decide how much the revenue, in their judgement, DESERVED to be paid in death duties.

    It is, in other words, a massive shift in power away from governments and to ordinary people, and that is why governments really hate it. That's why the CCP hate it. It threatens to redraw the social contract between the government and the governed.
    These things are only a threat to traditional currencies if central banks continuously devalue their currencies.

    Oh, I see the problem.
    At 1:14am today 1 BTC = $43,602.04
    At 2:14pm today 1 BTC = $31.926.37

    It lost 27% of its value in a 13 hour period today. That's hyperinflation comparable to the most extreme ever recorded, Hungary in 1946 having 4.19 x 10^16% inflation.

    Nobody in their right mind would hold value in Bitcoin, which makes it intrinsically worthless. Its only value is mugging off a bigger fool who is prepared to hold it.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,433
    Would I raise any money if I did a half-naked piece to camera about my penis to raise money for men's rights?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,647

    Would I raise any money if I did a half-naked piece to camera about my penis to raise money for men's rights?

    The law of supply and demand is such that there is likely to be limited interest.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,454

    Would I raise any money if I did a half-naked piece to camera about my penis to raise money for men's rights?

    Only one way to find out
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Pulpstar said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Who was it said ‘the most compelling evidence that there is intelligent life in the universe is that it’s never tried to contact us?’
    Sounds like one of Reagan's quips ?
    Reagan said after a private screening of Close Encounters:

    “There are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true.”

    As confirmed by Spielberg, who was there.
    As confirmed by Spielberg's publicist.

    Presidents love talking about this, so long as they really aren't saying anything that can really be pinned down. Such as Reagan in this anecdote, and Obama on TV recently.

    Perfect for an even half-way decent raconteur. And Ronnie was (and Barack still is) one of the best.
    Obama has back-pedalled on his prior statements however. Here in 2015 he blanks every question



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYzRY2XpLBk&t=82s
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Pulpstar said:



    Don't buy it to make money. Let's say you squirrelled away a few quid of bitcoin every month for your life. You shuffle off this mortal coil. In your will you leave, say, a million quid of assets plus a bitcoin account and password confidentially given.

    The revenue stings your beneficiaries for death duties on the estate. They claim there's another million in the bitcoin account and they want the tax.

    If they don't have the details of the account, which they won't, your beneficiaries can tell them to go f8ck themselves.

    Ah, not a Ponzi scheme, just a way to commit a crime?
    More correctly, a way to commit a crime and get away with it.

    You see, unlike the brinks mat boys, there's no way the revenue, could, or would ever recover the assets. Ever. Gone for good. For centuries if necessary. To be brought out by great granchildren long after the rozzers had forgotten about the whole thing.

    It would be up to the good conscience of the people of Britain to decide how much the revenue, in their judgement, DESERVED to be paid in death duties.

    It is, in other words, a massive shift in power away from governments and to ordinary people, and that is why governments really hate it. That's why the CCP hate it. It threatens to redraw the social contract between the government and the governed.
    Except its not, since the coins are worthless. If a bitcoin was worth $1 and that was reliable then it would be as you say. But its not.
    Court case arrives for state trying to reclaim death duties on the estate of Contrarian's great grandchild

    HMRC - "Your honour these 200 bitcoins are intrinsically worthless"
    Contrarian's descendent's lawyer "The defense rests it's case"....
    You think that bitcoins will still exist by the time that contrarian's great grandchild does?

    Maybe if he's already a great grandparent and the inheritance is soon. If you mean 70, 80 years from now - nope. The scam will have run out of mugs it will have collapsed by then.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Leon said:

    Pulpstar said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Who was it said ‘the most compelling evidence that there is intelligent life in the universe is that it’s never tried to contact us?’
    Sounds like one of Reagan's quips ?
    Reagan said after a private screening of Close Encounters:

    “There are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true.”

    As confirmed by Spielberg, who was there.
    As confirmed by Spielberg's publicist.

    Presidents love talking about this, so long as they really aren't saying anything that can really be pinned down. Such as Reagan in this anecdote, and Obama on TV recently.

    Perfect for an even half-way decent raconteur. And Ronnie was (and Barack still is) one of the best.
    Obama has back-pedalled on his prior statements however. Here in 2015 he blanks every question



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYzRY2XpLBk&t=82s
    Almost as if in 2015 he was President and had serious shit to deal with, while in 2021 he's an ex President on a comedy show who can joke around.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990

    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.

    Assuming both were carbon based lifeforms
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Omnium said:

    Foxy said:



    Cryptocurrencies are the biggest and best pyramid scheme in history surely?

    South Seas bubble was more important.
    For the record, the South Sea Bubble was exceedingly profitable
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,433
    Foxy said:

    Would I raise any money if I did a half-naked piece to camera about my penis to raise money for men's rights?

    The law of supply and demand is such that there is likely to be limited interest.
    It's my penis. Mine. No-one else's.

    I can do what I like with it. I decide.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    Scott_xP said:

    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.

    Assuming both were carbon based lifeforms
    The alternative being?
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Shouldn't have listened to Leon, 2015 Obama:

    "The aliens won't let it happen, you'd reveal all their secrets"

    He was joking around then too. He's got a sense of humour.
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,717
    Charles said:

    Omnium said:

    Foxy said:



    Cryptocurrencies are the biggest and best pyramid scheme in history surely?

    South Seas bubble was more important.
    For the record, the South Sea Bubble was exceedingly profitable
    Quite nimble your forebears were they?

  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,433

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
    Great.

    The Klingon variant/s.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 4,931

    I have to say my job is very varied these days focussing on Scottish Independence and vaginas.

    I didn’t realise you had been appointed to the Scottish Government.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,454

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
    Like covid?

    Oh my god...
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990

    The alternative being?

    whatever evolved in the conditions on their planet(s)
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,153
    moonshine said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    1. There are plenty of unexplained things seen by military pilots over the last 50 years
    2. Obama made a joking comment on a TV show
    3. There have been a raft of videos from drones in the last couple of years that *may* show things

    These things may - or may not - be evidence of UFOs.

    In the old days, unexplained things were "god". Now, they're UFOs. In the future they may be specific alien races, and they may be some other part of science.

    It's great and exciting that we're talking about this stuff.

    But the only things we've seen that are genuinely highly supportive of alien intelligent life visiting us are those recent videos. And these videos are also the ones that are - to be blunt - the ones that are easiest to fake.

    I'd be incredibly excited if it turned out we weren't alone and were being visited by another intelligence. It would genuinely be the biggest, most exciting story in human history.

    But the evidence we have is not yet there.

    It's like attributing the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 to God's displeasure. Yes, something happened. Yes, God's displeasure is an explanation. But it is not the only explanation. And it may very well not be the correct one.
    So why are they all saying it Robert?
    No they aren't.

    All the voices that are amplified in the press are saying it, because it's a big story.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Pulpstar said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Who was it said ‘the most compelling evidence that there is intelligent life in the universe is that it’s never tried to contact us?’
    Sounds like one of Reagan's quips ?
    Reagan said after a private screening of Close Encounters:

    “There are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true.”

    As confirmed by Spielberg, who was there.
    As confirmed by Spielberg's publicist.

    Presidents love talking about this, so long as they really aren't saying anything that can really be pinned down. Such as Reagan in this anecdote, and Obama on TV recently.

    Perfect for an even half-way decent raconteur. And Ronnie was (and Barack still is) one of the best.
    Obama has back-pedalled on his prior statements however. Here in 2015 he blanks every question



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYzRY2XpLBk&t=82s
    Almost as if in 2015 he was President and had serious shit to deal with, while in 2021 he's an ex President on a comedy show who can joke around.
    Or, now he's retired, he can be more candid. He sounds quite serious as he talks about UFOs in the middle.

    I see the lockdowns skeptics think the UFOs are part of the conspiracy

    "This week's embrace by many chief lockdown supporters including @DrEricDing @MollyJongFast@DPJHodges& @chrislhayes plus mainstream media including @washingtonpost @CNN & @60Minutes of the narrative of UFOs and space aliens is, sadly, all too real. And sadly not surprising. 1/"

    https://twitter.com/MichaelPSenger/status/1395101670028111874?s=20
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Foxy said:

    Would I raise any money if I did a half-naked piece to camera about my penis to raise money for men's rights?

    The law of supply and demand is such that there is likely to be limited interest.
    It's my penis. Mine. No-one else's.

    I can do what I like with it. I decide.
    Does your wife agree?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,153

    Sandpit said:

    Foxy said:

    Omnium said:

    Foxy said:

    Nigelb said:

    A warning for crypto enthusiasts...

    https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-crash-coinbase-cryptocurrency-exchanges-51621437348
    ... Trading crypto isn’t anything like stocks. Liquidity is relatively thin, and there are big spreads between the bid and ask prices. Commissions are steep. And as this morning’s outages indicate, the exchanges may not be equipped to handle a surge in volatility and sell orders—preventing investors from getting their money out fast.

    Bitcoin has been in a selloff for months and the downturn may be only be accelerating. The latest bad tidings came from China, which reiterated a ban on cryptocurrencies for domestic financial transactions. India also plans to ban cryptocurrencies and fine anyone trading or holding digital assets, according to a report in Reuters...

    Cryptocurrencies are the biggest and best pyramid scheme in history surely?
    South Seas bubble was more important.
    As a percentage of global capital, inflation adjusted, which is the bigger?

    The total crypto market capitalisation was US $2 trillion a few months ago. Obviously smaller now.
    Bitcoin is off 30% in the last fortnight!

    They’re nothing more than digital tulips.
    But @contrarian was convinced that the Definitely not a Ponzi Scheme Coin was only at the foothills of its rise.
    A Ponzi scheme offers returns or insurance, such as the UK welfare state. Bitcoin offers nothing. Except a measure of confidentiality.

    Pseudononymity.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    Conservatives have selected their candidate for Batley and Spen... Tories have already been up campaigning https://twitter.com/andreajenkyns/status/1395104758797639686
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,957
    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    1. There are plenty of unexplained things seen by military pilots over the last 50 years
    2. Obama made a joking comment on a TV show
    3. There have been a raft of videos from drones in the last couple of years that *may* show things

    These things may - or may not - be evidence of UFOs.

    In the old days, unexplained things were "god". Now, they're UFOs. In the future they may be specific alien races, and they may be some other part of science.

    It's great and exciting that we're talking about this stuff.

    But the only things we've seen that are genuinely highly supportive of alien intelligent life visiting us are those recent videos. And these videos are also the ones that are - to be blunt - the ones that are easiest to fake.

    I'd be incredibly excited if it turned out we weren't alone and were being visited by another intelligence. It would genuinely be the biggest, most exciting story in human history.

    But the evidence we have is not yet there.

    It's like attributing the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 to God's displeasure. Yes, something happened. Yes, God's displeasure is an explanation. But it is not the only explanation. And it may very well not be the correct one.
    Logical, but a bit dull!

    This is a fascinating interview with the "Tic Tac" pilot:

    "But to see something that could go from a hover with no rotor wash, no wings, no discernible propulsion…and you can see that on the IR. There’s no plume coming out of it. It’s just sitting there in space. And then to back that up with the coverage of what the radar was seeing. We don’t have, at least in modern, reactive propulsion – you know, suckers and blowers…jet engines – we don’t have the ability to react that quick and counter drag. I mean, this thing moved through the atmosphere like it just…like it, there was no constraints on it. It just did whatever it wanted to do."

    His interviewer concludes:

    "And for you dear listener, I leave this open. I don’t know what to tell ya. Prior to this interview, I would have told you there is no such thing as UFOs or extraterrestrial activity here in our atmosphere. But after listening to Commander Fravor’s story – and I was even on the ship that day. I don’t remember why I didn’t get more involved with it – but after looking him in the eye and hearing his explanation as you just did, I don’t know what to think. So, I’ll leave it up to you. Could be from somewhere else. It could be from another government or maybe our own.”

    https://www.ufojoe.net/fravor-technology-not-developed-on-this-planet


    His clear hints about a "cover up" are quite startling
    Military drivers of anything are the last people to set store by. If you see an HMF convoy or even single vehicle give it a huge berth.

    I would hope that USAF pilots never get that tired but I do remember on exercise when training once I was pretty sleep deprived and was out overnight. As we were patrolling along a dirt track bounded by posts and barbed wire as I passed each post I saw a small squirrel type animal on it. Every one. Saw about twenty of them before I snapped myself out of it.

    People see funny shit sometimes.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,627
    Leon said:

    Pulpstar said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Who was it said ‘the most compelling evidence that there is intelligent life in the universe is that it’s never tried to contact us?’
    Sounds like one of Reagan's quips ?
    Reagan said after a private screening of Close Encounters:

    “There are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true.”

    As confirmed by Spielberg, who was there.
    As confirmed by Spielberg's publicist.

    Presidents love talking about this, so long as they really aren't saying anything that can really be pinned down. Such as Reagan in this anecdote, and Obama on TV recently.

    Perfect for an even half-way decent raconteur. And Ronnie was (and Barack still is) one of the best.
    Obama has back-pedalled on his prior statements however. Here in 2015 he blanks every question

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYzRY2XpLBk&t=82s
    Perhaps the real reason Trump was banned from social media was so that he couldn’t reveal the truth about the aliens.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118
    kinabalu said:

    Yep, a Con majority should be odds on. When shrewd as anything @isam comes along and tries to get a Grand on with you at evens, you can rest assured it's something about to go odds on.

    @quincel tipped it at 7/4! I agreed with him then it was amazing value. I thought the odds against a week or so was one of the best bets of all time. I said to my girlfriend we should have a chunk of the deposit for the house on it! Strangely enough when you look on oddschecker they only have the three options that aren’t Con Maj available, and I was too lazy to look at the bookies individual prices

    https://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/overall-majority

    So for all that, I haven’t backed it at all!
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,647

    Foxy said:

    Would I raise any money if I did a half-naked piece to camera about my penis to raise money for men's rights?

    The law of supply and demand is such that there is likely to be limited interest.
    It's my penis. Mine. No-one else's.

    I can do what I like with it. I decide.
    Go right ahead. I will be interested in how much you make.

    It could be quite an interesting performance of male fragility.

  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    geoffw said:

    Charles said:

    Omnium said:

    Foxy said:



    Cryptocurrencies are the biggest and best pyramid scheme in history surely?

    South Seas bubble was more important.
    For the record, the South Sea Bubble was exceedingly profitable
    Quite nimble your forebears were they?

    There’s a published academic paper on how nimble they were. We spent most of it in the second half of the 19th century but had enough to rebuild from the scraps.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    rcs1000 said:

    Pseudononymity.

    Was this you?

    $750,000,000 worth of #bitcoin was just moved off of exchanges in the last 10 minutes. Someone bought the dip. https://twitter.com/DocumentingBTC/status/1395099131371266052/photo/1
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
    Like covid?

    Oh my god...
    Very much unlike covid.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
    But they wouldn't be evolved to fight your body either; as you say, and vice versa. They wouldn't want to get involved with one another.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    Controlling borders. What a radical plan...

    Spanish foreign minister @AranchaGlezLaya confirms to #BBCNewscast some EU member states are worried by Indian variant so U.K. might not be added to list of safe countries. If that happens Spain would only allow in Brits who’d had both doses of the vaccine. More soon. https://twitter.com/adamfleming/status/1395109650400432132/photo/1
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    1. There are plenty of unexplained things seen by military pilots over the last 50 years
    2. Obama made a joking comment on a TV show
    3. There have been a raft of videos from drones in the last couple of years that *may* show things

    These things may - or may not - be evidence of UFOs.

    In the old days, unexplained things were "god". Now, they're UFOs. In the future they may be specific alien races, and they may be some other part of science.

    It's great and exciting that we're talking about this stuff.

    But the only things we've seen that are genuinely highly supportive of alien intelligent life visiting us are those recent videos. And these videos are also the ones that are - to be blunt - the ones that are easiest to fake.

    I'd be incredibly excited if it turned out we weren't alone and were being visited by another intelligence. It would genuinely be the biggest, most exciting story in human history.

    But the evidence we have is not yet there.

    It's like attributing the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 to God's displeasure. Yes, something happened. Yes, God's displeasure is an explanation. But it is not the only explanation. And it may very well not be the correct one.
    Logical, but a bit dull!

    This is a fascinating interview with the "Tic Tac" pilot:

    "But to see something that could go from a hover with no rotor wash, no wings, no discernible propulsion…and you can see that on the IR. There’s no plume coming out of it. It’s just sitting there in space. And then to back that up with the coverage of what the radar was seeing. We don’t have, at least in modern, reactive propulsion – you know, suckers and blowers…jet engines – we don’t have the ability to react that quick and counter drag. I mean, this thing moved through the atmosphere like it just…like it, there was no constraints on it. It just did whatever it wanted to do."

    His interviewer concludes:

    "And for you dear listener, I leave this open. I don’t know what to tell ya. Prior to this interview, I would have told you there is no such thing as UFOs or extraterrestrial activity here in our atmosphere. But after listening to Commander Fravor’s story – and I was even on the ship that day. I don’t remember why I didn’t get more involved with it – but after looking him in the eye and hearing his explanation as you just did, I don’t know what to think. So, I’ll leave it up to you. Could be from somewhere else. It could be from another government or maybe our own.”

    https://www.ufojoe.net/fravor-technology-not-developed-on-this-planet


    His clear hints about a "cover up" are quite startling
    Military drivers of anything are the last people to set store by. If you see an HMF convoy or even single vehicle give it a huge berth.

    I would hope that USAF pilots never get that tired but I do remember on exercise when training once I was pretty sleep deprived and was out overnight. As we were patrolling along a dirt track bounded by posts and barbed wire as I passed each post I saw a small squirrel type animal on it. Every one. Saw about twenty of them before I snapped myself out of it.

    People see funny shit sometimes.
    Did you read it? I suspect not

    There were multiple eye-witnesses who saw "it"- ten of them - at the same time. They watched if for quite a while. They were not "tired". The stuff they saw was clocked and recorded on radar and elsewhere

    Either he is a massive fantasist, and he doesn't come across as that, or he and othera saw something genuinely strange.

    Doesn't mean aliens, natch
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,433
    Charles said:

    Foxy said:

    Would I raise any money if I did a half-naked piece to camera about my penis to raise money for men's rights?

    The law of supply and demand is such that there is likely to be limited interest.
    It's my penis. Mine. No-one else's.

    I can do what I like with it. I decide.
    Does your wife agree?
    No comment.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,647
    edited May 2021

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
    Pathogens evolve to match hosts. Could I catch a computer virus?

    Smallpox destroyed many in the new world because the new hosts were identical, apart from lacking immunity.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Charles said:

    Foxy said:

    Would I raise any money if I did a half-naked piece to camera about my penis to raise money for men's rights?

    The law of supply and demand is such that there is likely to be limited interest.
    It's my penis. Mine. No-one else's.

    I can do what I like with it. I decide.
    Does your wife agree?
    No comment.
    The prosecution rests, m’lud
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,083

    Leon said:

    Pulpstar said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Who was it said ‘the most compelling evidence that there is intelligent life in the universe is that it’s never tried to contact us?’
    Sounds like one of Reagan's quips ?
    Reagan said after a private screening of Close Encounters:

    “There are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true.”

    As confirmed by Spielberg, who was there.
    As confirmed by Spielberg's publicist.

    Presidents love talking about this, so long as they really aren't saying anything that can really be pinned down. Such as Reagan in this anecdote, and Obama on TV recently.

    Perfect for an even half-way decent raconteur. And Ronnie was (and Barack still is) one of the best.
    Obama has back-pedalled on his prior statements however. Here in 2015 he blanks every question

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYzRY2XpLBk&t=82s
    Perhaps the real reason Trump was banned from social media was so that he couldn’t reveal the truth about the aliens.
    If only.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,663
    Scott_xP said:

    The alternative being?

    whatever evolved in the conditions on their planet(s)
    Same universal laws of phsyic, so I suspect it's carbon-based life or nothing. But even if some other basis (e.g. silicon) were to be true for Mr Alien, some of those silicon pathogens would spell trouble for us.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    IshmaelZ said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
    But they wouldn't be evolved to fight your body either; as you say, and vice versa. They wouldn't want to get involved with one another.
    That's actually a very good explanation as to why They might be Here, but They haven't made contact. They don't want to kill us as we killed native Americans with our viruses. Nor do they want to catch anything off us. As they are so smart and all, They will know all this

    I want to meet one, nonetheless
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Scott_xP said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Pseudononymity.

    Was this you?

    $750,000,000 worth of #bitcoin was just moved off of exchanges in the last 10 minutes. Someone bought the dip. https://twitter.com/DocumentingBTC/status/1395099131371266052/photo/1
    The whole thing is a scam to take money off the gullible. Not ran out of gullible fools yet.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    Leon said:

    I want to meet one, nonetheless

    For the probing?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,153

    Pulpstar said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Who was it said ‘the most compelling evidence that there is intelligent life in the universe is that it’s never tried to contact us?’
    Sounds like one of Reagan's quips ?
    Reagan said after a private screening of Close Encounters:

    “There are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true.”

    As confirmed by Spielberg, who was there.
    As confirmed by Spielberg WHO WAS TRYING TO HYPE A MOVIE.
  • TomsToms Posts: 2,478
    Benpointer said:

    "Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa. "

    If you haven't already done so, see "War of the Worlds" published in 1898 by H. G. Wells. The book, not the movie, nor the awful TV program, though the latter two may be fun 4 special effects.

  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Scott_xP said:

    The alternative being?

    whatever evolved in the conditions on their planet(s)
    Same universal laws of phsyic, so I suspect it's carbon-based life or nothing. But even if some other basis (e.g. silicon) were to be true for Mr Alien, some of those silicon pathogens would spell trouble for us.
    Rubbish. Pathogens are very highly specialised to the extent that even jumping from say one mammal to another is a highly unusual event. Why would something which evolved to parasitise the gloobs of the planet tharg be any kind of threat to humans? Are you plagued by say sea lampreys, or covered in barnacles?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    Serious question: what would people - especially outright skeptics - accept as convincing evidence of alien life visiting earth?

    The more I think about it, the more I am sure that almost anything would be dismissed. Any video can be faked. Whatever the president says might be a ploy. The CIA are trying to hoodwink us!

    Even if aliens TOTALLY destroyed Newent, Gloucestershire, in a single harmonised laser assault, many would reject the evidence
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,715
    James Melville Cherry blossom
    @JamesMelville
    ·
    16m
    Denmark Flag of Denmark will reopen almost completely on Friday and will phase out use of its domestic coronavirus passport and even face masks over the summer.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,454
    There's a bar in Newcastle called "Blackie Boy" that is being renamed, apparently to avoid the name being misconstrued as racist.

    The anti-woke brigade are in full froth
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547
    Foxy said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
    Pathogens evolve to match hosts. Could I catch a computer virus?

    Smallpox destroyed many in the new world because the new hosts were identical, apart from lacking immunity.
    That’s a very good point. I’d be very unlucky to catch a lobster virus and they are closer to me than you’d think an alien would be.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    Scott_xP said:

    Leon said:

    I want to meet one, nonetheless

    For the probing?
    Of course. Try Everything Twice has been my motto through life, and it has served me well. The second time is to Make Sure you don't like it. You never know
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,747
    rcs1000 said:

    Pulpstar said:

    ydoethur said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Who was it said ‘the most compelling evidence that there is intelligent life in the universe is that it’s never tried to contact us?’
    Sounds like one of Reagan's quips ?
    Reagan said after a private screening of Close Encounters:

    “There are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true.”

    As confirmed by Spielberg, who was there.
    As confirmed by Spielberg WHO WAS TRYING TO HYPE A MOVIE.
    This anecdote is likely a joke. The recent testimonies indicate that there’s been a break in the chain of command because of fear of ridicule if it gets reported up. It doesn’t need a big cover up or conspiracy to have been happening for ever but only now being revealed.
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518
    edited May 2021
    June 21st - this may seem like an obvious point, but if "the Indian variant" is the apparent threat to full lifting of restrictions on June 21st, then what is the relevance of foreign holidays (discouraging of). If the Indian variant is already here and causing alleged havoc, then what variant is restricting foreign holidays combatting?

    If on the other hand fear of importing variants, and will continue to be, the problem, then why is anyone allowed to travel at all? Given that variants can apparently arise anywhere?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    Oh god are we still on about little green men...how many days is it now? This is worse than GPT3 stuff.
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547

    There's a bar in Newcastle called "Blackie Boy" that is being renamed, apparently to avoid the name being misconstrued as racist.

    The anti-woke brigade are in full froth

    Not that I overly care, but isn’t that name usually more about coal? That being the case, isn’t that clear from the sign?
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Leon said:

    Serious question: what would people - especially outright skeptics - accept as convincing evidence of alien life visiting earth?

    The more I think about it, the more I am sure that almost anything would be dismissed. Any video can be faked. Whatever the president says might be a ploy. The CIA are trying to hoodwink us!

    Even if aliens TOTALLY destroyed Newent, Gloucestershire, in a single harmonised laser assault, many would reject the evidence

    How about some actual evidence?

    Not a former POTUS making a joke on a comedy show, like he did in 2015 when he was President and joked that aliens were real as per your prior clip. Some real evidence.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Foxy said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
    Pathogens evolve to match hosts. Could I catch a computer virus?

    Smallpox destroyed many in the new world because the new hosts were identical, apart from lacking immunity.
    That’s a very good point. I’d be very unlucky to catch a lobster virus and they are closer to me than you’d think an alien would be.
    Do you think you might catch a bat virus, possibly with an intermediate host?
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,802
    kle4 said:

    IanB2 said:

    I see the English vaccine age is now 36

    This 34 year old has just tested the booking site, and it is allowing me to progress. Nearest centre is 9 miles away, should be doable on the bike.
    That's great! My wife (29) keeps trying to book but to no avail. She's pretty annoyed because other European countries (well Switzerland) are now at 18+ walk in appointments but the UK has stuck pretty rigidly to the age group method.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    alex_ said:

    June 21st - this may seem like an obvious point, but if "the Indian variant" is the apparent threat to full lifting of restrictions on June 21st, then what is the relevance of foreign holidays (discouraging of). If the Indian variant is already here and causing alleged havoc, then what variant is restricting foreign holidays combatting?

    A. N. Other variant.

    An as yet unknown and worse variant than the Indian one, which frankly isn't that bad.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,454

    There's a bar in Newcastle called "Blackie Boy" that is being renamed, apparently to avoid the name being misconstrued as racist.

    The anti-woke brigade are in full froth

    Not that I overly care, but isn’t that name usually more about coal? That being the case, isn’t that clear from the sign?
    No idea mate. I always thought it was because it's the kind of bar you only go to when you can hardly see anymore.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Burnley 0 - 2 Liverpool

    If it stays like this is moves Liverpool up to 4th and drops Leicester down to 5th going into the final day of the season.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,083
    edited May 2021
    Toms said:

    Benpointer said:

    "Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa. "

    If you haven't already done so, see "War of the Worlds" published in 1898 by H. G. Wells. The book, not the movie, nor the awful TV program, though the latter two may be fun 4 special effects.

    What about 'The Massacre of Mankind', the sequel by Stephen Baxter? Never read it, but that there's a sequel maybe means the aliens were smarter the second time?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    edited May 2021
    Scott_xP said:

    Controlling borders. What a radical plan...

    Spanish foreign minister @AranchaGlezLaya confirms to #BBCNewscast some EU member states are worried by Indian variant so U.K. might not be added to list of safe countries. If that happens Spain would only allow in Brits who’d had both doses of the vaccine. More soon. https://twitter.com/adamfleming/status/1395109650400432132/photo/1

    Watch out Ayia Napa and Zante, the oldies are going to be coming to party like its 1969....
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Leon said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
    But they wouldn't be evolved to fight your body either; as you say, and vice versa. They wouldn't want to get involved with one another.
    That's actually a very good explanation as to why They might be Here, but They haven't made contact. They don't want to kill us as we killed native Americans with our viruses. Nor do they want to catch anything off us. As they are so smart and all, They will know all this

    I want to meet one, nonetheless
    Native Americans are genetically 99.9999% identical to us. Aliens 0.00000% if they even have genes in the first place, which they don't.
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547
    Charles said:

    Foxy said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    I believe completely that it could be aliens, but I assign that a very low probability (very low indeed). If we wait long enough I assign a very high probability to us finding intelligent life elsewhere. Long enough might be millions of years though.

    Overall I have no idea why the US might be doing this. All I can think of it is in order to change the political agenda with regards to what happens in space in the future. There's a tiny possibility that it might be that they've actually found something. Both of these reasons - small chance and tiny chance I think make sense as I've represented them. Clearly though they are, so far as I am concerned, possibilities rather than anything likely to be true.
    Fair enough. The mystery abides
    It does. What do you have to offer in terms of ideas?

    PS. Absolutely mad and unthought out ideas are fine in mine book. I'll not criticise.
    I find it almost impossible to believe it is aliens. But that could be my Normalcy Bias

    But I can see with my own eyes that a lot of clever, informed people think this is a real possibility, and the evidence is growing in plausibility, but far from convincing. But then I also wonder what we would find *convincing*. Advanced intelligent alien life on earth would be outside our normal world-view, and so profoundly unsettling to many, we might refuse to believe it, even if we had the "Philip Thompson Experience" and the genderfluid sex aliens raped us from behind with their intergalactic love-bassoons

    I just dunno. Fascinating story, and a welcome break from Covid, so thanks America



    Ok, so much like me then. Do ponder the political question as to why on earth this would be a thing for the US government - I haven't a clue, but there's something.

    Mr Alien, knocking on our door is something I would so love to see. I'd be stupidly blind terrified mind you. If we as a race aren't a bit crap in weird situations then I certainly will try to fill in the gap. Nonetheless I think its the thing I'd most like to see before I die.
    Meeting an alien would almost certainly be terminal for you... and them. They'd have trillions of alien pathogens about them that your body is not evolved to fight, and vice versa.
    Pathogens evolve to match hosts. Could I catch a computer virus?

    Smallpox destroyed many in the new world because the new hosts were identical, apart from lacking immunity.
    That’s a very good point. I’d be very unlucky to catch a lobster virus and they are closer to me than you’d think an alien would be.
    Do you think you might catch a bat virus, possibly with an intermediate host?
    Maybe, but I’m VERY close to a bat genetically.
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,705
    Leon said:

    Serious question: what would people - especially outright skeptics - accept as convincing evidence of alien life visiting earth?

    The more I think about it, the more I am sure that almost anything would be dismissed. Any video can be faked. Whatever the president says might be a ploy. The CIA are trying to hoodwink us!

    Even if aliens TOTALLY destroyed Newent, Gloucestershire, in a single harmonised laser assault, many would reject the evidence

    Sort of feels like something to worry about after the President says it.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,647

    There's a bar in Newcastle called "Blackie Boy" that is being renamed, apparently to avoid the name being misconstrued as racist.

    The anti-woke brigade are in full froth

    Not that I overly care, but isn’t that name usually more about coal? That being the case, isn’t that clear from the sign?
    Pubs called "The Black Boy" are generally named for chimneysweeps climbing boys aren't they?

    I can see it is easily misinterpreted though.
  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,454

    Burnley 0 - 2 Liverpool

    If it stays like this is moves Liverpool up to 4th and drops Leicester down to 5th going into the final day of the season.

    More importantly, Sunderland lost 2-0 to Lincoln and look like they're going to spend a 4th year in Division 3. Good times.
  • Time_to_LeaveTime_to_Leave Posts: 2,547

    There's a bar in Newcastle called "Blackie Boy" that is being renamed, apparently to avoid the name being misconstrued as racist.

    The anti-woke brigade are in full froth

    Not that I overly care, but isn’t that name usually more about coal? That being the case, isn’t that clear from the sign?
    No idea mate. I always thought it was because it's the kind of bar you only go to when you can hardly see anymore.
    You haven’t narrowed it down for me in the Bigg Market....
  • TomsToms Posts: 2,478
    Foxy said:
    "Pathogens evolve to match hosts. Could I catch a computer virus?"

    Maybe not, but (the obvious comment) it might drive one nuts.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,957
    Leon said:

    TOPPING said:

    Leon said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    1. There are plenty of unexplained things seen by military pilots over the last 50 years
    2. Obama made a joking comment on a TV show
    3. There have been a raft of videos from drones in the last couple of years that *may* show things

    These things may - or may not - be evidence of UFOs.

    In the old days, unexplained things were "god". Now, they're UFOs. In the future they may be specific alien races, and they may be some other part of science.

    It's great and exciting that we're talking about this stuff.

    But the only things we've seen that are genuinely highly supportive of alien intelligent life visiting us are those recent videos. And these videos are also the ones that are - to be blunt - the ones that are easiest to fake.

    I'd be incredibly excited if it turned out we weren't alone and were being visited by another intelligence. It would genuinely be the biggest, most exciting story in human history.

    But the evidence we have is not yet there.

    It's like attributing the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 to God's displeasure. Yes, something happened. Yes, God's displeasure is an explanation. But it is not the only explanation. And it may very well not be the correct one.
    Logical, but a bit dull!

    This is a fascinating interview with the "Tic Tac" pilot:

    "But to see something that could go from a hover with no rotor wash, no wings, no discernible propulsion…and you can see that on the IR. There’s no plume coming out of it. It’s just sitting there in space. And then to back that up with the coverage of what the radar was seeing. We don’t have, at least in modern, reactive propulsion – you know, suckers and blowers…jet engines – we don’t have the ability to react that quick and counter drag. I mean, this thing moved through the atmosphere like it just…like it, there was no constraints on it. It just did whatever it wanted to do."

    His interviewer concludes:

    "And for you dear listener, I leave this open. I don’t know what to tell ya. Prior to this interview, I would have told you there is no such thing as UFOs or extraterrestrial activity here in our atmosphere. But after listening to Commander Fravor’s story – and I was even on the ship that day. I don’t remember why I didn’t get more involved with it – but after looking him in the eye and hearing his explanation as you just did, I don’t know what to think. So, I’ll leave it up to you. Could be from somewhere else. It could be from another government or maybe our own.”

    https://www.ufojoe.net/fravor-technology-not-developed-on-this-planet


    His clear hints about a "cover up" are quite startling
    Military drivers of anything are the last people to set store by. If you see an HMF convoy or even single vehicle give it a huge berth.

    I would hope that USAF pilots never get that tired but I do remember on exercise when training once I was pretty sleep deprived and was out overnight. As we were patrolling along a dirt track bounded by posts and barbed wire as I passed each post I saw a small squirrel type animal on it. Every one. Saw about twenty of them before I snapped myself out of it.

    People see funny shit sometimes.
    Did you read it? I suspect not

    There were multiple eye-witnesses who saw "it"- ten of them - at the same time. They watched if for quite a while. They were not "tired". The stuff they saw was clocked and recorded on radar and elsewhere

    Either he is a massive fantasist, and he doesn't come across as that, or he and othera saw something genuinely strange.

    Doesn't mean aliens, natch
    Specifically, it means not aliens.
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,705
    edited May 2021

    Oh god are we still on about little green men...how many days is it now? This is worse than GPT3 stuff.

    Every time I see that I keep thinking of a classic Geoff Crammond Formula 1 sim game I spent too much time on.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Serious question: what would people - especially outright skeptics - accept as convincing evidence of alien life visiting earth?

    The more I think about it, the more I am sure that almost anything would be dismissed. Any video can be faked. Whatever the president says might be a ploy. The CIA are trying to hoodwink us!

    Even if aliens TOTALLY destroyed Newent, Gloucestershire, in a single harmonised laser assault, many would reject the evidence

    How about some actual evidence?

    Not a former POTUS making a joke on a comedy show, like he did in 2015 when he was President and joked that aliens were real as per your prior clip. Some real evidence.
    That's my question (and it is sincere, I am curious)

    What would constitute evidence?

    I found a brilliant hoax video of a UFO in Malaysia. It has just the right mix of authentic graininess and Fuck Me SFX. They should have added an audio of people sobbing and screaming, rather than chatting excitedly

    So look at this. If something like this was punted out there, and no one could debunk it, would it convince you?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sG_RydGBmY

    Worth watching to the end, whether you are UFO positive or not
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,991
    edited May 2021
    alex_ said:

    June 21st - this may seem like an obvious point, but if "the Indian variant" is the apparent threat to full lifting of restrictions on June 21st, then what is the relevance of foreign holidays (discouraging of). If the Indian variant is already here and causing alleged havoc, then what variant is restricting foreign holidays combatting?

    If on the other hand fear of importing variants, and will continue to be, the problem, then why is anyone allowed to travel at all? Given that variants can apparently arise anywhere?

    Last year loads of people brought back a Spanish variant along with STIs and an increased risk of skin cancer after falling asleep in the sun after too many cervezas.
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518

    Scott_xP said:

    Controlling borders. What a radical plan...

    Spanish foreign minister @AranchaGlezLaya confirms to #BBCNewscast some EU member states are worried by Indian variant so U.K. might not be added to list of safe countries. If that happens Spain would only allow in Brits who’d had both doses of the vaccine. More soon. https://twitter.com/adamfleming/status/1395109650400432132/photo/1

    Watch out Ayia Napa and Zante, the oldies are going to be coming to party like its 1969....
    Some part of me wonders if the real reason the UK seem to be spreading such alarm about the "Indian" variant, is because they want the EU to ban Brits from going abroad, and take the decision out of the hands of UK ministers...
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,747
    rcs1000 said:

    moonshine said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    FPT

    Leon said:

    Omnium said:

    ping said:

    Chameleon said:

    FWIW there does seem to be a real push from elements of the US to say that there are things out there doing stuff that we can't explain (from a former US President down), and moreover this has noticeably increased in intensity over the past 12 months.

    The question is why.

    Is it some sort of push to increase defence spending?

    Unlikely - there's no pushback to do so even without this.

    So why?

    Comedy value.
    Probably.

    However if the US had discovered (say) a radio signal or some other strong indicator of ET then I imagine they'd be really concerned as to how it might play. In that circumstance perhaps they'd roll out some weak (old and non genuine) stuff just to test the water. I have any such thing as a very low probability indeed, but it sort of fits the pattern, and one day (although perhaps not for many thousands of years) something will be found.

    Slightly more likely is that they want to spend more on space, and having some sort of unspecified threat allows some militarisation which would be completely unacceptable if the threat was only here on Earth.

    Anyway the ET aspect is most likely zero, nut there is just perhaps a politcal aspect.
    You don't even begin to explain why the Yankee political, military and journalistic establishment is behaving like this. I do not believe for a moment they would hype up an extra-terrestrial "threat" so as to "get more money for militarised space research". That's lunatic behaviour. These people, including Obama, are not lunatics
    I'm not explaining because I think all of this is very unlikely.
    With all due respect, that is limitlessly pathetic

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

    That applies to both sides. Because any explanation for all this is gonna be crazy. How and why are all these highly-informed Americans acting so nuts, why push the narrative that it could be actual ALIENS?
    Due respect noted. Abuse disregarded. I suggested a plausible idea which as I made very clear I think is very unlikely. It is plausible though.

    Nobody is actually doing anything at all about this stuff because it is very likely fantasy. It's not impossible though and in the wildly unlikely event that there is something then we might tease out the possibilities.
    Sorry for the snappiness, but it is frustrating when you just don't address the question. If you don't believe it can possibly be aliens (and I totally get that, I find it very hard to believe myself) then you do have to explain why the US authorities are behaving as if they have evidence that this "could" be aliens

    Why would they even go down that road?
    1. There are plenty of unexplained things seen by military pilots over the last 50 years
    2. Obama made a joking comment on a TV show
    3. There have been a raft of videos from drones in the last couple of years that *may* show things

    These things may - or may not - be evidence of UFOs.

    In the old days, unexplained things were "god". Now, they're UFOs. In the future they may be specific alien races, and they may be some other part of science.

    It's great and exciting that we're talking about this stuff.

    But the only things we've seen that are genuinely highly supportive of alien intelligent life visiting us are those recent videos. And these videos are also the ones that are - to be blunt - the ones that are easiest to fake.

    I'd be incredibly excited if it turned out we weren't alone and were being visited by another intelligence. It would genuinely be the biggest, most exciting story in human history.

    But the evidence we have is not yet there.

    It's like attributing the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 to God's displeasure. Yes, something happened. Yes, God's displeasure is an explanation. But it is not the only explanation. And it may very well not be the correct one.
    So why are they all saying it Robert?
    No they aren't.

    All the voices that are amplified in the press are saying it, because it's a big story.
    Yes without the press being a hype machine, we wouldn’t have heard of Harry Reid. Or Marco Rubio. Or James Woolsey or John Brennan. Or John Ratcliffe. Or Christopher Mellon. Who have all been fairly explicit.

    Let me ask any other way? Why do you think the Senate Intelligence Committee inserted this clause into the covid relief bill? With its members spending recent months ensuring the process remains very high up the news agenda?
This discussion has been closed.