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Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

#381

Post by codingdave »

justinclift wrote: post #379

Personally, I wonder if there's anything interesting or interactive on the top. eg: Buttons? display? big red button? wifi password? :> None of the photos or video seems to have looked there yet. ;)

There is a hunk of metal with a wifi password on it elsewhere in the Utah Desert - south of Green River, there is a place called "Crystal Geyser" - a curiosity from an old drilling site where they ended up hitting a spot that became a man-made geyser that sprays mineral water up on a regular basis. (Or used to... people have been throwing rocks into it over the years so it is not so impressive anymore.)

In any case, there is a little monument there with a wifi password and a solar panel. If you sit next to it on a sunny day, there is enough power to run the wifi and a web server which will give you some basic historical and geological info on the place.

Re: Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

#382

Post by generalizations »

duskwuff wrote: post #349
_1100 wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t get into Deepness after reading Fire. Too different and my expectations for the scale he set up are too big...

You'd be even more frustrated by Children of the Sky . Not only is it limited in scope (to Tines' World), but it leaves a bunch of plot threads unresolved, presumably for a sequel. :/

I liked the other two, but I stopped reading Children for exactly the reason you described.

Re: Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

#383

Post by ckozlowski »

artificialLimbs wrote: post #230
matthewdgreen wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s amusing that the takeaway from this episode is “the intelligence agencies screwed up” and not “the intelligence agencies found no evidence, and then were directly pressured by their political masters to construct evidence to justify a desired military outcome.”

If the people at the agency had integrity, they would have immediately brought these concerns up the chain or public.

You might like this article then: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/magazine/colin-powell-ira...

Re: Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

#384

Post by kypro »

Loughla wrote: post #235
effingwewt wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Internet Historian did a wonderful series of videos about this. The investigative abilities of some people is just awe inspiring. https://youtu.be/_p4h3jwJob0

The phrase "weaponized autism" used to be a thing on 4chan when I cruised that back in the day. It honestly opened my eyes to a severely under-tapped resource in the job market. Individuals with autism tend to be able to focus on tasks more, and tend to see things in a way that lets them analyze systems and logical steps phenomenally well. In the social-sciences fields, they tend to be overlooked, because of either t…

As someone on the spectrum I really loved the phrase "weaponized autism". I've been telling people most my adult life that high functioning autism is kind of like having a weird super power, but that was the first time I ever saw so many people understand the unique abilities that some people on the spectrum have.

Re: Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

#385

Post by andy_ppp »

bgravinz wrote: post #173
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, it was people like this that once fingered the wrong person for the Boston Marathon bombing. It's all well and good as long as we remember not to put too much stock in it when it really matters.

Once an entire government worth of people led the US into war that cost millions of lives over fake reports of nukes. It would be interesting to compare the damage caused by open, crowd-sourced investigative efforts against the damage caused of closed "authoritative" investigative efforts.

I thought there was some convincing evidence of nuclear centrifuges being buried in the head scientists back garden by his genocidal sons?

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig...

I mean I quite like this summation by Christopher Hitchens about the Iraq war: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VABqrEiuP0I

Re: Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

#386

Post by djmips »

ufmace wrote: post #219
dvtrn wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But redditors doing internet sleuthing could be anyone; from detectives, to judges, to professional analysts, to trolls, to pr firms, to fraudsters and framers. Am I out of line to thinking that at least some of the types of people listed in your hypothetical group of sleuths have some sense of professional ethics to not recklessly speculate on a public web community in terms of a manhunt as was the case in Boston?

They probably do. Unfortunately, the mechanics of Reddit favor any random dope posting something that is exciting and sounds good over smart and careful people taking their time to make sure they get it right. And of course, "Hey guys I've got it, this is totally it!!!" goes up much faster than "I found something that might be interesting, let's check it out, but I'm not sure yet, so don't anybody go off half-cocked"…

LEeroy Jeeenkins.

Re: Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

#387

Post by robotnikman »

Loughla wrote: post #235
effingwewt wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Internet Historian did a wonderful series of videos about this. The investigative abilities of some people is just awe inspiring. https://youtu.be/_p4h3jwJob0

The phrase "weaponized autism" used to be a thing on 4chan when I cruised that back in the day. It honestly opened my eyes to a severely under-tapped resource in the job market. Individuals with autism tend to be able to focus on tasks more, and tend to see things in a way that lets them analyze systems and logical steps phenomenally well. In the social-sciences fields, they tend to be overlooked, because of either t…

I love the phrase "weaponized autism" as well, speaking as someone on the spectrum. A previous manager of mine once told me I am great with coming up with unique solutions to problems.

Like you said too, some of these people lack good interpersonal abilities. I know a friend who is also on the spectrum and is one of the smartest people I know, and excellent when it comes to math. However his lack of interpersonal and social skills has made it difficult for him to find meaningful employment.

Re: Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

#388

Post by cycomanic »

n0nc3 wrote: post #321
skissane wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is to say they didn't bring them up the chain, and the chain just ignored them? Try to bring issues to the public and they'll charge you with "espionage"/"mishandling classified information"/etc. Even if the charges don't succeed, you'll lose your career and the court case will ruin you.

Not just a court case though, an investigation or a "psych eval" are enough to ruin someone. Take a look at Russ Tice. Also, read Ronan Farrow's piece from the New Yorker last week. They targeted a straight-laced DOJ lawyer with >20 years of experience. These organizations are out of control and pose a very serious threat to our freedom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Tice https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/…

Thanks for posting this great article in the new yorker!

Re: Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

#389

Post by gameswithgo »

JoeDaDude wrote: post #127

This reminds me of other "land art" installations around the country. Presumably, these are done with the landowners permission: The Lightning Field: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lightning_Field Spiral Jetty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Jetty Negative Space: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Negative_(artwork) Amarillo Ramp: https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/amarillo-ramp

Prada Marfa

Re: Metal monolith found by helicopter crew in Utah desert

#390

Post by ac42 »

blonde_ocean wrote: post #105
trixie_ wrote: post #75

Wow this is getting a lot of PR. I've seen this article on the on so many news sites now. It's funny, but front page news? Seems of all the random things that go on, this was picked as special for some reason. Just interesting how some things you wouldn't expect rise to the top.

I mean, it’s pretty cool. There’s that fact. But my guess it’s probably being drive to top due to the parallels to 2001. I’d imagine there’s a large Kubrick fanbase on HN, if not just a 2001 fanbase.

Clarke.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

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