On the Subject of UFOs

Poster from Agent Mulder's wall

There are a plenty of different views on the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). Most skeptics dismiss claims of sightings as gullible people mistaking explainable things for the unexplainable (The planet Venus, military aircraft, weather balloons, etc.) On the opposite side, there are a wide range of UFO believers. Some of the more cautious just say there's a small percentage of UFO reports that don't have sufficient explanations to dismiss them. They don't make a claim that what people are seeing is alien spacecraft. Others claim to have been abducted, and a few even claim to be communicating with E.T. via Telepathic messages.

So who's right and who's wrong? Astronomers (who tend to be more skeptical) study the sky every night so they can do a pretty good job of sorting out what's what in the sky. Something like 97% of reported UFOs have been explained as either naturally occurring phenomenon or man-made aircraft like the stealth bomber.

Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit

There are still a few unexplained sightings by credible eyewitnesses.

At approximately 4:30 p.m on Tuesday November 7, 2006, federal authorities at Chicago O'Hare International Airport received a report that a group of twelve airport employees were witnessing a metallic, saucer-shaped craft hovering over gate C-17.
According to eyewitness reports, the strange object was first spotted by a ramp employee who was "pushing back" United Airlines flight 446 which was departing Chicago for Charlotte, North Carolina. The ramp worker then apprised the flight crew of UA446 of the existence of the spinning, metallic object above their aircraft, and it is believed that both the pilot and co-pilot of this aircraft also witnessed the object at that time.
According to Jon Hilkevitch of the Chicago Tribune in an interview on Fox News' Glenn Beck program: "The disc was visible for approximately two minutes and was seen by close to a dozen United Airlines employees, ranging from pilots to supervisors, who heard chatter on the radio and raced out to view it." The UFO was then seen to suddenly accelerate straight up through the overcast skies. Witnesses reported that the object left behind an open hole of clear air in the cloud layer and that the mysterious hole disappeared or closed within a few minutes. So far, no conclusive photographic evidence of the UFO has surfaced although it was reported to Hilkevitch that one of the United Airlines pilots was in possession of a digital camera at the time of the sighting and may have photographed the event.

Source Wikipedia

Personally, I think we should be open to the possibility that some UFOs are real but also approach it with a healthy dose of skepticism. Some of the claims are just too far-fetched to be believed. A small number sightings are interesting enough to warrant further investigation.

Twitter

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NASA | Beyond Einstein: Part I

Spore Tribal Stage HD 1

This is working with the creature builder in spore. I don't considered it to be a serious game, but it can be fun. I'd like to get more into game development. I have lots of ideas and I'm good with C++ and OO design.

Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan on the Greenhouse Effect

TED: Save the Ocean, Refuse Plastics

The Plastic Pollution Coalition fights to reduce one of the most pervasive threats to ocean wildlife -- the plastic we throw in the oceans every day. Watch this TEDTalk from Capt. Charles Moore to learn more about the Pacific gyre, where discarded plastic goes to ... well, not to die but live on in a hideous afterlife, poisoning and killing fish, turtles and seabirds. It never degrades and never goes away.

Here are 10 ways we can reduce plastics use:

1) Bring your own grocery bags
2) Bring your own water bottle
3) Bring your own travel mug
4) Bring your own takeout/leftovers containers (stainless steel is great)
5) Bring your own utensils and straw (stainless steel or glass ones are great)
6) Shop the bulk bins and bring your own bags/containers
7) Buy "naked" produce instead of using plastic produce bags.
8) Switch to bar soap instead of liquid soap.
9) Buy large sizes of food (as much as you will consume before it goes bad) instead of single sizes. Less plastic that way.
10) Give up packaged convenience foods and frozen foods. They ALL come packaged in plastic

BP Oil Slick

Defeating the Guardian in MOO2

BioLogos

The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief from The Veritas Forum on Vimeo.

There is a Light

Happy New Year 2010

Happy New Year! I'm hopeful about the coming year. There is definitely a sense of "hope and change" going on both in society and in my personal life. From 2000-2009 there were times that I was hopeless and pessimistic. That's not the way it's going to be going forward. I'm making it my resolution to have a good life from now on.