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CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

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Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#191

Post by cableshaft »

sanoli wrote: post #87
sanoli wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably a lot of this going. Comes to mind right now the way the Navy had about two seal teams in the beginning, and then decided to name the next one 'Team 6', to make it look like they had more. I've read about other examples, but can't remember right now.

Not the same thing but similar, a programmer wrote once how he made his software delay the answer to some user action to make it look like the program was hard at work. The process was actually very fast, almost instantaneous, so he added some message like " working - x seconds left ". Maybe it was on HN some years ago...

I did that with my strategy game Proximity. It takes a fraction of a fraction of a second for it to calculate what move to make next, but if it places it immediately, it feels aggressive and intimidating.

Just imagine if you were playing chess against an opponent and as soon as you made your carefully planned movement the other player immediately made his move and it was your turn again right away. It feels pretty aggressive, doesn't it?

So I gave players the impression of the computer taking time to think by instituting a random delay (within a given range which I tested until it felt right) before it acted, and I think it felt a lot more natural and less aggressive because of that.

If people are curious about the game, it's easy to find and you can play it online.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#192

Post by vidyesh »

Aqueous wrote: post #3

They declassified them in 1978. So these documents have been publicly available for a mere 37 years. Figures - what else are they hiding that they aren't hiding?

Correct me if I am wrong.

I don't think all declassified documents are publicly available. They sure will be produced if requested upon but I doubt all of them are just available to download as soon as they get declassified.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#193

Post by samstave »

lsadam0 wrote: post #51
samstave wrote: post #48

My first UFO story: I was ~13 years old in The Civil Ait Patrol, this occurred in Truckee, Ca at the Truckee Airport. We were doing standard marching exercises and our troop leader was a former SR-71 mechanic/maint person... It was a full moon - and as our gatherings typically started after 5PM - it got dark fairly quickly. We were marching and then looking to the mountain line in the horizon, we saw a light come up…

Kinda sounds like the long rumored TR-3B ( http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/tr-3b/ ). I love UFO mythology, and that around the TR-3B is wild, to say the least.

Im pretty sure that is it.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#194

Post by primo44 »

cableshaft wrote: post #191
sanoli wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the same thing but similar, a programmer wrote once how he made his software delay the answer to some user action to make it look like the program was hard at work. The process was actually very fast, almost instantaneous, so he added some message like " working - x seconds left ". Maybe it was on HN some years ago...

I did that with my strategy game Proximity. It takes a fraction of a fraction of a second for it to calculate what move to make next, but if it places it immediately, it feels aggressive and intimidating. Just imagine if you were playing chess against an opponent and as soon as you made your carefully planned movement the other player immediately made his move and it was your turn again right away. It feels pretty ag…

I suspected that this was the case with Proximity, but the delay still served its purpose for me. I haven't played it in a while, so maybe I'll give it a whirl again. Thanks for putting together such a fun little game!

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#195

Post by lfowles »

talmand wrote: post #180
sanoli wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the same thing but similar, a programmer wrote once how he made his software delay the answer to some user action to make it look like the program was hard at work. The process was actually very fast, almost instantaneous, so he added some message like " working - x seconds left ". Maybe it was on HN some years ago...

I did this myself just a few weeks ago. The complaints was that search results would often come back fast enough that the user may not understand anything was done if the results happen to be the same.

I wish I could find where I read this, but this used to be an issue with LED brake lights on cars, they would come on so fast that people had longer reaction times because they knew something had changed but couldn't put their finger on it instantly.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#196

Post by bill343 »

antidamage wrote: post #62
jimrandomh wrote: post #22

I'm surprised they're continuing the misdirection so many years later. "Unidentified flying object" means an aircraft, usually a military one (because civilian aircraft are easier to identify). A UFO over US soil would usually be a USAF plane, but the CIA ran (runs?) a reporting hotline because they might occasionally be foreign spy planes instead. But of course, the Soviets were very interested (or the US believed t…

I doubt the CIA were gaming Google in the 60s. It's also beyond ridiculous to think that a superpower like the USSR couldn't completely evaluate any material that came their way. The fake aircraft seems more reasonable though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamov_Ka-50#Development > The first two Ka-50 prototypes had false windows painted on them.[19] The "windows" evidently worked, as the first western reports of the…

》It's also beyond ridiculous to think that a superpower like the USSR couldn't completely evaluate any material that came their way.

The USSR was not much of a superpower in the technology side. They got ALL of their technology from western corporations in technology transfers and sales from 1917 to today. They constantly got "last years model" of weapons and tech. This is documented in a three volume scholarly work called "Western Technology and Soviet Economic Development 1917 - 1930, 1930-1945, 1945-1965". Also I find it funny this is released the same week the X-Files returns to Fox. Talk about the CIA / Entertainment nexus.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#197

Post by bill343 »

mikkom wrote: post #126
antidamage wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt the CIA were gaming Google in the 60s. It's also beyond ridiculous to think that a superpower like the USSR couldn't completely evaluate any material that came their way. The fake aircraft seems more reasonable though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamov_Ka-50#Development > The first two Ka-50 prototypes had false windows painted on them.[19] The "windows" evidently worked, as the first western reports of the…

> I doubt the CIA were gaming Google in the 60s Not Google but they were gaming ufo people. Thee was a good documentary about this called "Mirage Men" http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/14/men-in-black-ufo...

Mirage Men is great.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#199

Post by kale »

eponeponepon wrote: post #160
BogusIKnow wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once wrote a paper at university about the psychology of version numbers.

Was it published? I'd be very interested to read it.

I would too! Do you happen to work for Microsoft now? Either in Xbox or Windows division?

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#200

Post by robwilliams »

mcv wrote: post #164
jedberg wrote: post #14

You have to hand it to the CIA for taking advantage of the XFiles reboot to boost their social media a bit. Especially on 37 year old documents!

It's fun and maybe slightly disconcerting to see the CIA handle its job with humour.

This was likely the work of the web master or a PR person; I doubt a CIA agent wrote it.
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