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The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

nytimes.com

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Re: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

#51

Post by probably_wrong »

dwaltrip wrote: post #40

Where is the HD footage that actually shows features of the mysterious "unidentified objects"? Why is all the evidence grainy and obscured? The prospect that life from another star system traveled hundreds of trillions of kilometers, only to hide for the past few decades, peeking out briefly for low-quality photoshoots, is beyond absurd.

I once tried to take a picture of a deer, that I saw running away from me and hiding behind a tree. I knew perfectly well were it was, in which direction it would go, and had enough time to set my phone's camera properly. And yet, thanks to a slow auto-focus and low light, my pictures ended up a blurry, unrecognizable mess. Not even I would believe my story.

I gained a lot of respect that day for people who claim to have seen something and yet have no evidence other than blurry, shaky films. If I couldn't do it under perfect conditions, I don't expect a random guy to become all of a sudden a great photographer. In fact, if I wanted to get a picture of a plane right now, with the equipment I have at hand, it would be barely more than a small, dark spot.

I don't know whether UFOs are real (and, even if they are, if they really are aliens and not weird, unknown airplane prototypes). But the lack of HD footage would not be on my top list of reasons against it.

Re: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

#52

Post by pfisch »

codeonfire wrote: post #48

My guess is they send regular pilots up on training to see if they detect whatever latest stealth drone they are also testing. They obviously are not going to tell the pilots beforehand.

That does not adequately explain what happened over O’Hare airport https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_O%27Hare_International_...

or any of these other sightings really.

Re: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

#53

Post by chronic193 »

probably_wrong wrote: post #51
dwaltrip wrote: post #40

Where is the HD footage that actually shows features of the mysterious "unidentified objects"? Why is all the evidence grainy and obscured? The prospect that life from another star system traveled hundreds of trillions of kilometers, only to hide for the past few decades, peeking out briefly for low-quality photoshoots, is beyond absurd.

I once tried to take a picture of a deer, that I saw running away from me and hiding behind a tree. I knew perfectly well were it was, in which direction it would go, and had enough time to set my phone's camera properly. And yet, thanks to a slow auto-focus and low light, my pictures ended up a blurry, unrecognizable mess. Not even I would believe my story. I gained a lot of respect that day for people who claim to…

We have a god damn piece of metal on Mars and it can send back HD self-portraits. Seeing is believing.

Re: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

#54

Post by mratzloff »

gfodor wrote: post #50

It's been pretty clear for some time now for those who study the facts that there is a very good chance there are real objects in the sky that maneuver in ways that conventional aircraft are unable to and cannot be explained adequately as other observed phenomenon. The taboo around this subject due to the common hypothesis they are due to extraterrestrials is a shame because there's been plenty of documented evidence…

This article was co-written by the author of that book.

I also recommend that book for those who are curious about evidence-based, well-researched accounts. Written by a journalist. It leaves aside the question of extraterrestrial origin as unprovable and only attempts to answer the question, "Is this phenomena real?"

Re: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

#55

Post by chronic193 »

pfisch wrote: post #52
codeonfire wrote: post #48

My guess is they send regular pilots up on training to see if they detect whatever latest stealth drone they are also testing. They obviously are not going to tell the pilots beforehand.

That does not adequately explain what happened over O’Hare airport https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_O%27Hare_International_... or any of these other sightings really.

At least take an off the shelf computer vision algorithm, feed it through an adversarial network and generate some fake images.

I saw a UFO today. I have no pics. How can I report it? Yeah, sure.

Re: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

#56

Post by volgo »

IMO, the fishy part of the article is the cronyism involved in this program:

"The shadowy program — parts of it remain classified — began in 2007, and initially it was largely funded at the request of Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who was the Senate majority leader at the time and who has long had an interest in space phenomena. Most of the money went to an aerospace research company run by a billionaire entrepreneur and longtime friend of Mr. Reid’s, Robert Bigelow, who is currently working with NASA to produce expandable craft for humans to use in space."

So... Harry Reid's friend is absolutely convinced there are aliens, gets Reid to convince congress to fund the program, and all the money goes back to his own company? Not fishy at all.

Re: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

#57

Post by alfiedotwtf »

wolf550e wrote: post #41
crooked-v wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also "unexplained aerial phenomena" as the generic cover for materials recovered from the secret research programs of other countries.

But come on, if US intelligence agencies recovered metallurgy from Russian hypersonic missiles or something like that, why would they use UFO for cover? And why would they store it outside of AFRL? I think it's just a way to funnel taxpayer money, there is nothing real being investigated. Not extraterrestrial tech, not foreign tech, not even domestic tech.

"Most of the money went to an aerospace research company run by a billionaire and longtime friend of Mr Reid's"

This.

Re: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

#58

Post by frankquist »

gfodor wrote: post #50

It's been pretty clear for some time now for those who study the facts that there is a very good chance there are real objects in the sky that maneuver in ways that conventional aircraft are unable to and cannot be explained adequately as other observed phenomenon. The taboo around this subject due to the common hypothesis they are due to extraterrestrials is a shame because there's been plenty of documented evidence…

When I first read the program or its funding had ended, I, like you, also concluded that this was an indication that the Pentagon saw no reason to take it further. But then I jumped into the deep end: who knows the program('s funding) has been discontinued? It could live on in more secrecy, with the discontinuation of its more public form as a decoy.

Am I being tinfoil hatted here? It's what I would probably do if I were the Pentagon and found out the program has merit.

Re: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

#59

Post by valuearb »

gfodor wrote: post #50

It's been pretty clear for some time now for those who study the facts that there is a very good chance there are real objects in the sky that maneuver in ways that conventional aircraft are unable to and cannot be explained adequately as other observed phenomenon. The taboo around this subject due to the common hypothesis they are due to extraterrestrials is a shame because there's been plenty of documented evidence…

It’s pretty clear that people see UFOs all the time. The problem is when they are identified. My daughter sees one nearly every car ride, something in the sky that isn’t shaped like a plane, and certainly doesn’t move like one. Guess what? when we get closer it’s always an airliner, or a helicopter, or a balloon.

It’s easy to get mislead by the light, the perspective, the shadows, the distance, etc.

The really dumb part is the grandiose idea that aliens traveled immense distances to hide from us. The amount of energy needed to reach the a nearby star in any reasonable time is greater than the total of energy mankind has ever generated.

If they have the technology and power to travel here, they have nothing to fear from us. We are ants to them. They only question is whether they’d even deign to contact us at all?

Re: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. Program

#60

Post by valuearb »

neurotech1 wrote: post #26

Cmdr. Dave Fravor was one of the most squared away F/A-18 pilots in the Navy. He is not some conspiracy "nut" and if he says he saw something, I'd believe him. He is held in high regard by those who served with him. Cmdr. Fravor was featured in the PBS Carrier series [0][1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier_(documentary) [1] http://www.pbs.org/show/carrier/

Squared away people don’t have magic eyesight. It’s easy to get fooled.
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