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THEY WALK AMONG US

Having solved all earthling-related problems, the UN now looks to bring together humans and space creatures:

For the first time in 27 years, the United Nations General Assembly will be debating the issue of establishing diplomatic relations with advanced Extraterrestrial Civilizations that may now be visiting Earth.

Press releases announcing this went out on January 1, but they’ve since been ... exterminated. Possibly by angry moon aliens. More on this from Tom Heard.

UPDATE. Chip: “Genocide in Sudan will be addressed after we improve relations with Andromeda.”

UPDATE II. Tom Heard: “It appears that the press release was from a bunch of nutcase NGOs instead of the UN itself like the Google News Alert alluded to.”

Posted by Tim B. on 01/03/2006 at 03:11 AM
  1. Sweet merciful crap.

    Posted by Aaron - Freewill on 2006 01 03 at 04:22 AM • permalink

  2. At first I thought extraterrestial meant disposessed; a refugee

    The I read this;

    http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/529287855?ltl=1136278614

    These are intergalactic refugees!!

    Posted by rog2 on 2006 01 03 at 05:01 AM • permalink

  3. Its a Canadian thing;

    http://www.peaceinspace.com/ab_accomplish.shtml

    Posted by rog2 on 2006 01 03 at 05:06 AM • permalink

  4. It’s not the first of April, is it? ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 03 at 05:07 AM • permalink

  5. Two things come to mind ... WOFTAM and BAD SCIENCE ... let’s spend the money on terrestrial matters ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 03 at 05:21 AM • permalink

  6. Mark Steyn sums this sort of shit up oh so well in his latest for the New Criterion… fricken death wish

    Posted by Isumbras on 2006 01 03 at 05:30 AM • permalink

  7. Now Im confused, first it was “fire the orbital dissonators at aliens” now its “Make love not war”?
    Im sorry but I dont care how many great pervert crab or tenticle ninja highschool sweethearts you force (note I said force) me to watch Im keeping firing.

    Actually that may be entirely in keeping with standard UN proceedure. Declare peace and love and watch as one side gets 15 shades of shit beat out of it.

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2006 01 03 at 05:37 AM • permalink

  8. Tim ... can you or someone else provide better links/sources ... your links don’t provide me with anything to read and muse over ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 03 at 05:46 AM • permalink

  9. The united nations must be moved immediately from its present location in the war mongering US.
    perhaps Mecca or Mars might be an appropriate location.
    After watching 275 episodes of “Roswell”, i am convinced that these peace loving superior beings would be attacked without mercy by the evil Amerikkkans and should only dialogue with superior progressive libs in the event of such encounters of the third kind.
    Zork the Meekon.

    Posted by davo on 2006 01 03 at 05:49 AM • permalink

  10. This is the news release that was pulled.

    Posted by captain on 2006 01 03 at 06:11 AM • permalink

  11. Actually, it is quite brilliant.  You fill the positions in the new department with people you owe favors to.  No one actually expects results from something like this, so they can get away with things like saying “Well, we don’t have any actual results yet.  We are still waiting for them to return our call.”

    Posted by MikeTheLibrarian on 2006 01 03 at 06:35 AM • permalink

  12. #10 captain:
    Thanks ... but that doesn’t get me closer to Tim’s original piece ... I’m sceptical of most things ... I tend to like the writings of Robert L Park, Martin Gardner and James Randi, amongst others ... anyway, this post is either faulty, or I’m faulty and of course the science is faulty ... I get told I’m frequently faulty so being rudely rebutted isn’t a problem ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 03 at 06:40 AM • permalink

  13. The Forever UNwar.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2006 01 03 at 06:42 AM • permalink

  14. Unbelievable.

    The UN is beyond parody.

    Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2006 01 03 at 06:42 AM • permalink

  15. #8 Stevo?
    You want to be given an Emily homily?
    Staccato, impromtu, endemic anomaly.
    As nice as an emetic, forcibly, orally,
    About as much fun as a death in the family.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2006 01 03 at 06:51 AM • permalink

  16. Have the various scientific agencies ever stopped to consider the possible nature of the aliens they wish to contact? What if they are malevolent bug-eyed monsters who want to wipe us out?

    Just asking ...

    Posted by dee on 2006 01 03 at 06:53 AM • permalink

  17. #7 Frollickingmole, I’m with you.

    Those Galactic League of Planets bastards will have to pry my Dissonator control interface from my cold dead brain.

    Posted by monkeyfan on 2006 01 03 at 07:06 AM • permalink

  18. #15 blogstrop:
    Just point me to the source, that’s all ... Emily seemed to be a troll, I don’t know why she was tolerated for so long ... I missed most of that thread, thank god ... if the UN stuff is true, it is BAD science, to quote one of the authors I mentioned in an above post ... but I don’t want to criticise something that isn’t there ... if I’m found wrong by not being able to find the sources mentioned, I’ll cop it on the chin, OK ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 03 at 07:22 AM • permalink

  19. Ok, Stevo, here is the most complete quote I can find. 

    “U.N. General Assembly Now Has Resolution To Establish Diplomatic Relations With E.T.s
    PR Newswire ^ | January 1, 2006 | UN Press Release

    United Nations, NY (PRWEB) January 1, 2006—For the first time in almost 27 years, the United Nations General Assembly will be debating the issue of establishing diplomatic relations with advanced Extraterrestrial Civilizations that may now be visiting Earth. On December 16, 2005, a Resolution to establish a United Nations Decade of Contact was formally transmitted to the incoming President of the General Assembly, H.E. Jan Eliasson of Sweden by the Institute for Cooperation in Space (ICIS), a Non-Governmental Organization. President Eliasson was Sweden’s Ambassador to the United Nations from 2000 to 2005.

    Almost to the day twenty-seven years ago, on December 18, 1978, the United Nations General Assembly voted to approve decision 33/426, inviting U.N. Member States “to take appropriate steps to coordinate on a national level scientific research and investigation into extraterrestrial life, including unidentified flying objects, and to inform the Secretary-General of the observations, research and evaluation of such activities.” Then U.S. President Jimmy Carter then supported the U.N. General Assembly’s decision. Carter himself had a close Encounter of the First Kind with a UFO (Night Light) in October 1969, in the company of 10 members of the Leary, Georgia Lion’s Club while he was running for Governor of Georgia. Four years later, while Governor of Georgia, Carter filed a public UFO sighting report, dated September 18, 1973.

    United Nations Decade of Contact Former Canadian Minister of Defence, Hon. Paul Hellyer has requested that the Canadian Parliament hold hearings on the issue of relations with Extraterrestrial civilizations.”

    There is more to the article, but it has vanished from the website.  Here is the page listing its former existance though.

    Posted by MikeTheLibrarian on 2006 01 03 at 07:40 AM • permalink

  20. #16- What if they are malevolent bug-eyed monsters who want to wipe us out?

    But why would they want to wipe us out?  We need to find the root cause, urgently. I blame hip-hop, poisoning the intergalactic airwaves.

    Posted by slammer on 2006 01 03 at 07:43 AM • permalink

  21. Didn’t the US govt have the good sense to cut SETI funding years ago?

    Posted by slammer on 2006 01 03 at 07:47 AM • permalink

  22. Got it!  It was in a Google cache page.  Here is the link to the whole article.

    Posted by MikeTheLibrarian on 2006 01 03 at 07:54 AM • permalink

  23. Tim, I tried to fix the link to “...exterminated” but I think there might be more missing from the url.

    Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 01 03 at 07:58 AM • permalink

  24. Andrea, it looks like it is just gone from that website.  All of their internal links that are supposed to lead to article #prweb326765 about the U.N. and the E.T.s just lead back to their homepage.

    Posted by MikeTheLibrarian on 2006 01 03 at 08:01 AM • permalink

  25. #20- #16- What if they are malevolent bug-eyed monsters who want to wipe us out?

    But why would they want to wipe us out?

    They will want to wipe us out because they can’t take the chance that we might not want to wipe them out. For some sobering reflections on the likely results of a cost-benefit analysis of interstellar contact go here and scroll about halfway through (or search on the string /The Killing Star by Charles Pelligrino and George Zebrowski/.)

    Posted by SteveGW on 2006 01 03 at 08:01 AM • permalink

  26. #19 MikeThe Librarian:
    Thanks.  But can you find a direct sourced article mentioned in your post?  I still can’t.  I’ve only had two VBs so I’m still pretty bloody lucid.  Have another four to go.  Again, I’m not a troll if you’ve watched my occasional posts over the last few years ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 03 at 08:07 AM • permalink

  27. ... but the extraterrestrials may like us, with a bit of salad on the side ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2006 01 03 at 08:09 AM • permalink

  28. Reminds me of a bit from Futureama
    Human female newsreader “So gorak, hows the family”
    Bug eyed alien co-host “Numerous and beligerent”

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2006 01 03 at 08:11 AM • permalink

  29. OK ... I’ll leave it here ... the scientific method is pretty good ... SETI science is somewhat questionable, but political science is usually flawed ...

    Good night ... it’s getting late ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 03 at 08:33 AM • permalink

  30. You’ll see. You’ll all see. As soon as we get back Elvis- everyone will praise the UN for their forward-thinking…

    Posted by anthony27 on 2006 01 03 at 08:54 AM • permalink

  31. The chances of anything coming from Mars
    are a million to one they said,
    the chances of anything coming from Mars-
    are a million to one
    But still -they come..(war of the worlds).
    Ay boy,Kofi——IT WAS JUST A RADIO PROGRAMME son…no extra terrestrials under the bed…
    Is he really honestly worried that the Americans are going to attack the aliens and put them off side? Seriously?

    Posted by crash on 2006 01 03 at 08:55 AM • permalink

  32. The U.N. wants to establish diplomatic relations with “people” like Howard Dean and Margo Kingston?

    Posted by Joe Peden on 2006 01 03 at 08:59 AM • permalink

  33. I was reading the announcement on the UN’s site when… something strange happened.

    These lights started flashing outside, and the clock in my microwave oven went crazy.  I turned around to look behind me, but nothing was there, and when I looked back at my screen, my browser was refreshing the article—all by itself!  Then, instead of the original article, I was looking at an old news story about Jimmy Carter’s Nobel Peace Prize!!

    Weird, no?

    Posted by zeppenwolf on 2006 01 03 at 10:00 AM • permalink

  34. I wonder if Dennis Kucinich would be available for the Ambassador job?

    Posted by ErnieG on 2006 01 03 at 10:01 AM • permalink

  35. Just let Kofi set one foot inside Margolia…

    Posted by crash on 2006 01 03 at 10:02 AM • permalink

  36. o/t 12 Greenpeace activists detained by police in India for attempting to stop scrapping of French “toxic” aircraft carrier “Clemenceau”,in India.

    Posted by crash on 2006 01 03 at 10:08 AM • permalink

  37. The PRweb release has been removed, so it’s pretty hard to supply anybody with it at its original location.

    But another site did copy and post it:
    http://community.thuglifearmy.com/blogs/tla_blog/archive/2006/01/02/11.aspx

    As for Canadian former Defense Minister Hellyer, a little Internet searching will turn up plenty:
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hellyer+inter-galactic

    Now, nobody seems to realize, that the ETs are among us, and certain of them are the very ones trying to establish this ET contact. Moonbats, hm? I do believe, however, in being diplomatic to their non-troll representatives.

    Posted by ForNow on 2006 01 03 at 10:09 AM • permalink

  38. Yeeks:

    intellegence
    Pergatory
    warrentless

    It appears the aliens have already gotten to Heard’s spell-checker.

    Posted by Rittenhouse on 2006 01 03 at 10:17 AM • permalink

  39. If the UN takes charge of intergallactic diplomacy, I confidently predict the extermination of the human race within a decade. I offer the following life-saving phrase to my fellow RWDB’s: “Gort, Klatu Nicto Barata”.

    Posted by paco on 2006 01 03 at 10:26 AM • permalink

  40. The original press release had an internal frame showing this Webpage:
    http://exopolitics.blogs.com/star_dreams_initiative/

    and on that Webpage you will find, among many other things, the text of the proposed UN resolution, and a link to the now-absent press release.

    Posted by ForNow on 2006 01 03 at 10:29 AM • permalink

  41. Oops! Heh heh. That’s “Gort, Klaatu Barata Nicto”. Whatever you do, don’t use the first expression I provided (it means, “Gort, Klaatu want you to preheat me to 400 degrees”).

    Posted by paco on 2006 01 03 at 10:32 AM • permalink

  42. Michael Crichton made a good speech slamming SETI; the link is here (thanks to Dave S.)

    The speech is not specifically about SETI (it’s about science, “Aliens cause Global Warming”), but here is what Mr. Crichton says about SETI:

    “The belief that there are other life forms in the universe is a matter of faith. There is not a single shred of evidence for any other life forms, and in forty years of searching, none has been discovered. There is absolutely no evidentiary reason to maintain this belief. SETI is a religion.”

    So, will SETI become the official UN religion?

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 01 03 at 10:34 AM • permalink

  43. ET’s erase U.N. press release, too busy making crop circles - then only want to “go home”.

    Posted by Joe Peden on 2006 01 03 at 10:40 AM • permalink

  44. I think Crichton goes a little overboard there. I agree with his criticism of the “equations” used in estimating the possibility of ETs out there somewhere, and I agree that that kind of loose mathematically phrased rhetoric has been ill for public discourse. But it just stands to common sense and reason that we’re not the only intelligent life in our galaxy. Just as extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof (and I’m a CSICOP and Randi fan from way back), so, likewise, extraordinary possibilities based in reason and common sense can justify extraordinary searches for evidence, which is what SETI is at least supposed to be.

    Posted by ForNow on 2006 01 03 at 10:41 AM • permalink

  45. “For the first time in 27 years, the United Nations General Assembly will be debating the issue of establishing diplomatic relations with advanced Extraterrestrial Civilizations that may now be visiting Earth.”
    Diplomatic Relations, NEVER! The advanced Extraterrestrials are all JOOZE!

    Posted by stats on 2006 01 03 at 10:46 AM • permalink

  46. Farrakahn, the next UN GS after Annan, has already made contact for the Nation of Islam.

    Posted by stats on 2006 01 03 at 10:48 AM • permalink

  47. this is a hoax. PRWEB will publish anything that someone sends them. but funny nonetheless. :)

    Posted by drscroogemcduck on 2006 01 03 at 11:02 AM • permalink

  48. Well, the UN is going to eventually become the United Federation of Planets, as realized by the modern incarnation of Nostradamus, Gene Roddenberry. I mean, he predicted transparent aluminum! And a UN-based Federation that kills off anyone who is smart and strong enough to reject their authority by exiling them to a desert planet and then equipping a nearby space civilization with the weapons needed to blow them up.

    Now, where did I put those damn dilithium crystals…

    Posted by Tatterdemalian on 2006 01 03 at 11:05 AM • permalink

  49. Yup Rittenhouse, them there alien dudes done hijacked my spell checker. Thanks for all the research folks. It appears that the press release was from a bunch of nutcase NGOs instead of the UN itself like the Google News Alert alluded to.

    Posted by Tom at Heard Here on 2006 01 03 at 11:06 AM • permalink

  50. I printed the folly in all of its glory including all the links to the petition and the proposed resolution. Quite a chuckle.

    Posted by Tom at Heard Here on 2006 01 03 at 11:09 AM • permalink

  51. Who was it who wrote, “I look forward to the day when the white man, and the black man, and the yellow man, and the brown man, shall join hnads in friendship and harmony to kick the shit out of the green man…”?

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 01 03 at 11:12 AM • permalink

  52. It gives a whole new meaning to the expression “moonbat.”

    Posted by Mystery Meat on 2006 01 03 at 11:49 AM • permalink

  53. Richard, all I did was call the UN and asked if they had anyone who could translate a Ferengi instruction manual.  I am almost certain this has nothing to do with me.  Almost certain.

    Posted by wronwright on 2006 01 03 at 12:21 PM • permalink

  54. I think the chance of extraterrestrial life is 100%, but the chance of detecting it substantially lower. I disagree with Crichton on that point; I’d like to keep SETI going.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 03 at 12:42 PM • permalink

  55. But it just stands to common sense and reason that we’re not the only intelligent life in our galaxy.

    True enough, ForNow, but “common sense and reason” simply isn’t proof, and does borderline on faith.  Perhaps Mr. Crichton is being unduly harsh, but some people do treat science as a religion, and consensus as a replacement for science.  In that context, he is spot on.  This particular issue involving SETI is an example that.  FWIW, I’m in favor of SETI as well, as long term R&D.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 01 03 at 12:52 PM • permalink

  56. Dave S: It’s probably not worth it to get in touch with ETs. They likely have their own sports, and their consumer products are probably all shite.

    On the other hand, I hear the girls on Planet Zongo do great table dances.

    [libel] At least that’s what Hellyer told me…. [/libel]

    [serious again]

    Note also what PRWeb is about:

    “PRWeb pioneered Free Press Release Distribution and continues to set the standard for online news distribution.”

    In other words, the recognized disclosure wire for the Moonbat Market. Those that see the UN’s fingers on this are kidding theirselves. UN pops its own releases out on its website (and doesn’t need external supplies of absurdity).

    Posted by Jim Whyte on 2006 01 03 at 01:00 PM • permalink

  57. UN pops its own releases out on its website (and doesn’t need external supplies of absurdity).

    Rats!!!!

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 01 03 at 01:16 PM • permalink

  58. This is all a French plan to find new sources of immigrants who can keep the French social services afloat. Their, um, previous sources ain’t workin’ out so well.

    Maybe a burning Peugot is a beacon of sorts?

    Posted by localharbor on 2006 01 03 at 01:39 PM • permalink

  59. Oh, Canada!

    Posted by mojo on 2006 01 03 at 01:41 PM • permalink

  60. The Real JeffS—I agree, standing to reason and to common sense is not proof, it’s a mark merely of a reasonable interpretation, and is not a variable on which to bet any leonine portion of financial or agricultural resources. And yes, smash in the face of Richard Rorty, truth isn’t to be replaced by opinion warranted upon, say, having polled for a consensus (though if one wants always to bet the bank and the farm that way, that’s one’s free and eventually instructive choice), it’s instead that which sufficient research into the subject itself would establish. And there’s no way to know well enough what sufficient research would establish, without actually doing it. In the case of ETs, it seems best regarded, as you say, as long-term R&D.

    Now there is a very empirical rule, according to which, for example, if one needs a taxi and none seems available, just light a cigarette up and a smoke-free taxi will pull right up to keep you from enjoying your smoke. Likewise I think it can be soundly promised to ET cultists that, if, and only if, they deprogram themselves and take to heart a sober perspective instead, then ET will show up in a jiffy.

    Posted by ForNow on 2006 01 03 at 02:23 PM • permalink

  61. Jimmy Carter.

    *sigh*

    Should’ve known.

    Posted by Achillea on 2006 01 03 at 02:35 PM • permalink

  62. It’s unlikely that we are alone in the universe, assuming we did, in fact, evolve from natural processes. The fact that we can’t find any ETs may indicate that we did not.

    If SETI is science, so is intelligent design. There comes a point where you have to realize you are no longer performing an experiment, but a ritual.

    Posted by Tatterdemalian on 2006 01 03 at 02:45 PM • permalink

  63. To dismiss the search for extraterrestrial life in the universe after forty years of not finding anything is short-sighted.  Considering the size and age of the universe, forty years isn’t even an eye-blink.  So yes, I believe in SETI, but I also recognize it’s an article of faith.  It’s possible we will never find extraterrestrial life, or that we might not recognize it if we do find it.  Doesn’t mean it isn’t there.  Not believing is as much an article of faith as believing.

    Frankly, it’s the UN I find impossible to believe in.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 01 03 at 04:08 PM • permalink

  64. ForNow has an idea here. If everyone just stopped thinking there were any other forms of intelligent life, if we just stopped all the frantic searching, then they’ll show up in our frozen food or whatever environment they prefer. But looking for them just drives them off. Like chicks. Same thing. Ignore ‘em and they swarm you (I said you, not me. Never swarm me no matter what I do). Works on dogs, turtles, children, flies, ants, everything but cats. If the aliens are ailuroforms, we’re screwed.

    Posted by ekw on 2006 01 03 at 04:19 PM • permalink

  65. Concerning the likelihood of intelligent, technologically advanced, ET civilizations, the following is a comment I made on Blithering Bunny in response to an Aug 12 post titled “UFO wars”, written in commemoration of the death of Philip Klass, the UFO skeptic and debunker. That post and comment thread touch upon several of the same topics as this thread does.

    “For those interested in these questions I recommend the book “Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe” by Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee (2000). Also Stephen Jay Gould’s “Wonderflul Life” and a number of his essays that touch on the question of whether life has an inherent tendency to advance toward self-consciousness and intelligence. These are in his various essay collection books such as “The Panda’s Thumb” and “Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes”. For myself, I am quite comfortable with the idea that we may well be the only intelligent, self-aware life form in the entire universe, but of course I don’t know and neither does anyone else.”

    The Rare Earth authors point out many features of our Earth and Solar System that appear to be extremely unlikely to be replicated elseware but also appear to be necessary for advanced life forms (the formation of our moon and it’s specific size, position and inclination, for example; the near circular orbits of all of our planets for another). The discovery of many extra-solar planets in recent years (over 50 found so far I believe) reinforces the Rare Earth hypothesis because none of their solar systems are even close to being suitable for an Earth-like planet.

    Posted by gary-in-phoenix on 2006 01 03 at 04:53 PM • permalink

  66. Kojo has his eye on a spiffy new flying saucer and pops wants to get him in good. Nothing wrong with that.

    Posted by zefal on 2006 01 03 at 05:08 PM • permalink

  67. # 16

    Have the various scientific agencies ever stopped to consider the possible nature of the aliens they wish to contact? What if they are malevolent bug-eyed monsters who want to wipe us out?

    What if they’re Vogons wanting to demolish the Earth for an intergalactic superhighway?

    Posted by jpaulg on 2006 01 03 at 05:47 PM • permalink

  68. I’ve got news for you skeptics. Aliens are real, and they devote enourmous amounts of resources, energy, alien money, and whole generations of time spent travelling, to pursue their primary goals of:

    1) mutilating our cows
    2) drawing pretty patterns in Soybean fields
    3) conducting anal probes.

    I think the UN is quite correct in capitulating ahead of time to these fearsome alien intellects.

    Posted by Supercat on 2006 01 03 at 05:56 PM • permalink

  69. ekw: Wow, I’d sure like to meet someone who’s been diagnosed with Batrachophobia (fear of Salamanders).

    Posted by Henry boy on 2006 01 03 at 05:57 PM • permalink

  70. I smell hoax. And popcorn. I think I burned the popcorn.

    Posted by Jim Treacher on 2006 01 03 at 06:10 PM • permalink

  71. 48 Tatterdemalion

    Now, where did I put those damn dilithium crystals…

    Is THAT what those were?  I saw Mr Wronwright and Michael Lonie in the wardroom, chopping those up on a mirror and snurking them up, and haven’t gotten any sense out of either of them ever since.  Not that you can go by that ...

    Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 01 03 at 06:44 PM • permalink

  72. “I saw Mr Wronwright and Michael Lonie in the wardroom, chopping those up on a mirror and snurking them up ...”

    That’s not true.  I was using an inhaler for my allergies.  I have a prescription.

    Posted by wronwright on 2006 01 03 at 07:26 PM • permalink

  73. Just days after the UN got involved, the aliens have started bombing the moon.

    By the end of the month, the Earth will be one big smoking cinder. Thanks a lot, Kofi.

    Posted by Evil Pundit on 2006 01 03 at 07:51 PM • permalink

  74. tatterdemalion—Except that you can criticize SETI because so far it has not produced results supporting its theory, while ID is a fundamentally untestable concept.

    There’s a difference between a failed theory and bad science.

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 01 03 at 08:33 PM • permalink

  75. #73 - Y’know, I could swear I saw wronwright hanging around here just before the rail gun went missing.

    Posted by Achillea on 2006 01 03 at 08:53 PM • permalink

  76. Just days after the UN got involved, the aliens have started bombing the moon.

    Nah, that was just Lt. Ellis explaining to wronwright that no means no.

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 01 03 at 09:19 PM • permalink

  77. Except that you can criticize SETI because so far it has not produced results supporting its theory, while ID is a fundamentally untestable concept.

    Not to mention the fact that there is already an example of sentient life on one planet (making the theory of another in the vastness of the universe very viable), while there is no corresponding supporting example of an omniscient, omnipotent uber-being.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 03 at 09:31 PM • permalink

  78. there is no corresponding supporting example of an omniscient, omnipotent uber-being.

    You forget me. By the way, quit whacking off three times a day.

    Posted by Supercat on 2006 01 03 at 10:14 PM • permalink

  79. Another great point # 74, mcenroe, you asshole. Now I have to wonder exactly how those who push ID would recognize the Designer if they came across It, and why they would want to stop wondering about whether it was really the Designer at that point, and therefore stop wondering all together.

    And just when I had thought I had reached Heaven, the absence of wonder and wondering. You asshole!

    Posted by Joe Peden on 2006 01 03 at 10:14 PM • permalink

  80. #71 Stoop,
    Snurf, wripple, hasta la cufurnat?

    Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 01 03 at 10:22 PM • permalink

  81. looks like a few raw nerves exposed here ... there is NO science is ID, just faith ... whereas Darwinian evolution, a theory in the real sense of the word, is proven using science ... end of argument.

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 03 at 10:38 PM • permalink

  82. You forget me. By the way, quit whacking off three times a day.

    Fraud. It’s four.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 03 at 10:42 PM • permalink

  83. #27, Egg:  ”... but the extraterrestrials may like us, with a bit of salad on the side ... “

    Remember the Twilight Zone episode where the punchline was “‘To Serve Man’ is a cookbook.”?

    Posted by Bruce Lagasse on 2006 01 03 at 11:38 PM • permalink

  84. Well I for one welcome our new alien overlords.


    (someone had to say it)

    Posted by Quidnunc Savant on 2006 01 03 at 11:47 PM • permalink

  85. #67. What if they’re Vogons wanting to demolish the Earth for an intergalactic superhighway?

    Worse.  What if they’re wanting a captive audience to listen to their poetry?

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 01 03 at 11:49 PM • permalink

  86. Well I for one welcome our new alien overlords.


    (someone had to say it)


    Furthermore, all our base belong to them.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 04 at 12:26 AM • permalink

  87. I agree with Tatterdemalian. And ID isn’t just William Jennings Bryan dressed up in a white lab coat. There are honest, sincere and intelligent scientists who believe that the evidence points to intelligent design, just as there are honest, sincere and intelligent scientists who believe that evolution (and pure materialism) adequately account for the universe and life as we know it. Me? I think Chesterton put it best: It is more likely that something created everything than that nothing created anything. Not science, perhaps, but unassailable logic. Although, in the dark night of the soul, I tend to believe that the existence of people like Cindy Sheehan and Howard Dean argue against both evolution AND intelligent design (maybe unintelligent design with the occasional devolutionary hiccup).

    Posted by paco on 2006 01 04 at 12:56 AM • permalink

  88. if any of you are as old as dirt, you will remember the Church of God (evil cult), Herbert W Armstrong, Garner Ted Armstrong & The World Tomorrow, and the white trash hellfire fundamentalist anti-evolution garbage they used to spray out over the airwaves worldwide.  ID is just that shite made a tad more spohisticated by the admixture of a couple of deluded scientists

    holy fuck - they’re still at it ID bullshit

    Posted by KK on 2006 01 04 at 01:12 AM • permalink

  89. “Is THAT what those were?  I saw Mr Wronwright and Michael Lonie in the wardroom, chopping those up on a mirror and snurking them up…”

    Great. You just snorted the future of the Federation. Now we’ll never have holodecks full of green-skinned Orion slave girls.

    Is there any left? I could really use a line or two.

    Posted by Tatterdemalian on 2006 01 04 at 01:15 AM • permalink

  90. “I agree with Tatterdemalian.”

    No you don’t.

    “Except that you can criticize SETI because so far it has not produced results supporting its theory, while ID is a fundamentally untestable concept.”

    That much I’ll grant. Still, there’s no need to keep dropping rocks off the Tower of Pisa for 40 years in the hope one of them will hit the ground first. Radio telescopes aren’t cheap to maintain, and I’d rather put the money into developing some better interplanetary transport and colonization systems first.

    Posted by Tatterdemalian on 2006 01 04 at 01:31 AM • permalink

  91. paco, nothing could not have created anything because nothing does not exist - by definition. Therefore, Chesterton’s logic states nothing but a definition of words. We know that nothing is not something, excepting Cindy Sheehan, enc.. Therefore, I have just disproved my own argument and must retire for the night.

    Posted by Joe Peden on 2006 01 04 at 01:43 AM • permalink

  92. “The belief that there are other life forms in the universe is a matter of faith. There is not a single shred of evidence for any other life forms, and in forty years of searching, none has been discovered. There is absolutely no evidentiary reason to maintain this belief. SETI is a religion.”

    We shot a few dozen men and women into low earth orbit and even fewer to the Moon, that qualifies as searching for 40 years? Hell if Magellan thought like that where would we be?

    Why did NASA put the Apollo astronauts into isolation chambers? Because scientists had no idea what might happen.

    Why are contemporary scientists afraid that we might contaminate Mars with earth borne microbes ? because we don’t know if simple life exists on Mars.

    Measure Love. Distill Love. Quantify Love. Prove Love.

    Posted by 13times on 2006 01 04 at 02:16 AM • permalink

  93. As a child of the scientific era, I am bent - biased, actually - in favor of the scientific explanation, but I wonder if Darwinian evolution and its more recent refinements can explain it all. I think there can be little doubt that evolution theory is largely correct, but, for me, there is a big hole where the very inception, the instant of creation, the Big Bang, whatever you like to call it, occurs. How did that happen? I am not satisfied by what little I know of scientific explanations of this primal event. Similarly, of course, I ask myself, where did God come from? In both instances, there is a point at which all explanations, religious, philosophical, and scientific, fade to silence. Something apparently came out of Nothing, but how? I don’t think that anyone knows. So I am keeping my options open. 

    My own illogic has given me a headache. I’m going to say my prayers and go to bed.

    Posted by ekw on 2006 01 04 at 02:20 AM • permalink

  94. Good grief—how does a little hearty bashing of the UN turn into Scopes Trial 2006?? 

    Come on people, stay on message, we got bribe-sucking anti-American socialist 3rd world tinpot “diplomats” attempting to convince imaginary aliens to sign the Kyoto Treaty, and meanwhile YOU are paying their salaries.

    I say, do something constructive, like throw a rock at a UN delegate’s car while chanting pre-globalism slogans.

    Posted by Supercat on 2006 01 04 at 02:42 AM • permalink

  95. In the beginning there was SETI, and SETI begat BOINC, and BOINC begat Einstein@Home, and Boinc begat uFluids, and BOINC begat Rosetta@Home, etc. Distributed Computing Sites.

    Posted by Mike H. on 2006 01 04 at 04:07 AM • permalink

  96. Something apparently came out of Nothing, but how?

    Well, if the “elastic” theory of the universe is true, then the universe is continually expanding/contracting/expanding/contracting, infinitely into the future and infinitely back into the past. So, there’s never been a “nothing.” Since the human mind can’t really grasp the infinite past, the best thing to do is to take an aspirin and think about that leaky faucet you have to fix.

    (Here’s the part that really freaks me out - if the universe contracts the same way it expanded, does everything get scrunched back the same way it was as the last Big Bang? And every one before that? And in the next Big Bang, would everything develop exactly the same way, given the identical origin point? And does that mean that I pussied out of asking Janice Sever for a date an infinite number of times in the past, and will pussy out again for all of eternity? And is that where deja vu comes from? Pass the bong, dude. I’m freaking.)

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 04 at 04:18 AM • permalink

  97. Dave S ... quite intruiging that something came out of “nothing” ... a few problems with the rebounding universe that experiences the big crunch ... black holes don’t disappear ... the universe appears to be accelerating its expansion so the idea of a big crunch and another big bang seems a tad remote ... and if the universe is infinite (a variation on your theme), there could be an infinite number of you and I typing away on blogs somewhere ... and Margo is the Fairfax CEO and Tim’s blog is called Webdiary ... yes, the human mind finds it hard to grasp something that is infinite ... cosmology is always more interesting than the UN ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 04 at 04:47 AM • permalink

  98. Well, at least this jokey starting post evolved into a discussion of the big question. However, God has no need of your proofs in order to exist.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2006 01 04 at 06:20 AM • permalink

  99. “Something came out of nothing”

    Is not logically possible. No matter how “exotic” the physics.

    Posted by Brett_McS on 2006 01 04 at 06:44 AM • permalink

  100. #99 Brett:
    Maybe common sense says it’s not possible but Edward Tryon proposed that vacuum energy is behind the creation of the Universe ... there’s some evidence of vacuum energy, but whether it created the Universe is a bit more speculative ... oops ... Hawking’s Hawking radiation depends upon such energy ... oops again ... appealing to authority ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 04 at 07:47 AM • permalink

  101. #90 (Tatterdemalian): Yes, perhaps I misunderstood the import of your comment. My apologies.

    Contemplation of the infinite is perhaps better left for another day; I have enough trouble with the finite.

    Posted by paco on 2006 01 04 at 10:51 AM • permalink

  102. “Something came out of nothing”
    Is not logically possible.

    Is not physically possible, you mean. Neither logic nor emotion are physical, however, and in systems dependent on either, like economics and psychology, something is created from nothing on a routine basis.

    People like to forget that, and become outraged when their stocks drop in price or their beliefs lead them astray. Presuming everything is subject to physical laws is just as big a mistake as presuming nothing is.

    Posted by Tatterdemalian on 2006 01 04 at 10:58 AM • permalink

  103. #102 Tatterdemalian:
    Want to rephrase that in the English language please? ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2006 01 04 at 11:31 AM • permalink

  104. 89 Paco

    ID isn’t just William Jennings Bryan dressed up in a white lab coat.

    More exactly, it’s William Paley with a better metaphor.  Instead of “finding a watch on a beach is unlikely ...{skipping some steps} ... therefore life was intelligently designed,” ahem, we now have “finding mitochondria in the structure of living cells is hard to explain in evolutionary terms ... {skipping} ... therefore life was intelligently designed.”
    So if Behe’s argument works, it does so because Bishop Paley’s argument works.  But really, it doesn’t.

    93 EKW

    I wonder if Darwinian evolution and its more recent refinements can explain it all.

    Snot what it’s for.  Darwinian evolution explains how new species develop from old species, period.  No abiogenesis, no cosmology, nunnathat.  If your question is “How come African elephants look so much like Indian elephants but are a distinct species?” then evolutionary theory is the tool you use to figure it out.  If your question is “How come matter and energy exist?” then it ain’t.

    Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 01 04 at 11:45 AM • permalink

  105. 75 Adjutant Achillea

    I could swear I saw wronwright hanging around here just before the rail gun went missing.

    Did he have a big white dilithium-colored booger hanging across his sparse, callow mustache?  And was he giggling and talking way too fast?  And was Mr Lonie with him?  I have to get this report chit filled out, you know.

    Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 01 04 at 11:51 AM • permalink

  106. Stoop DD

    Thanks. I was mixing zero-matter and orang-utans.

    Posted by ekw on 2006 01 04 at 12:07 PM • permalink

  107. establishing diplomatic relations with advanced Extraterrestrial Civilizations that may now be visiting Earth

    Aren’t we going to taste first how they taste between a pair of sesame buns?

    Posted by jorgen on 2006 01 04 at 12:43 PM • permalink

  108. Frankly, I think we should welcome the space aliens to Earth.  We just have to be sure to hold the ceremonies in Las Vegas.  That way, we will own the title to their spaceship within a few hours.

    Posted by MikeTheLibrarian on 2006 01 04 at 01:10 PM • permalink

  109. #105 Did he have a big white dilithium-colored booger hanging across his sparse, callow mustache?  And was he giggling and talking way too fast?  And was Mr Lonie with him?  I have to get this report chit filled out, you know.

    Well, be sure to include this in your report.  First, I don’t have a mustache, not since the Tom Selleck (I wish) look went away.  But I think Nick might, a little William Powell urban type. 

    Second, you might note that your description (giggling and talking way too fast) actually describes you to a tee at the “Tim Blair is Gone So Let’s Fry Some Holdens Gala”.  In fact, I seem to recall Lonie singing some songs with you, up till the time he went looking for Tim’s prized but hidden stock of Sumerian mead.

    Makes me wonder if the crystal sniffing companion to Lonie was you.  Would anyone be surprised?  Hah!

    Posted by wronwright on 2006 01 04 at 01:30 PM • permalink

  110. #76 Just days after the UN got involved, the aliens have started bombing the moon.

    Nah, that was just Lt. Ellis explaining to wronwright that no means no.—richard mcenroe

    Oh I hate when you do that, McEnroe.  If you had bothered to have read the news article, published by no less a reputable news organization as the BBC, it stated unequivocally that the moon explosion was caused by a meteorite.  NASA says so.

    This has nothing whatsoever to do with me.  Especially with respect to Lt. Ellis, with whom I have a very cordial and somewhat promising relationship I might add.  I suspect she admires my expert technical skills with the laser thingy, and the phone booth gizmo, and stuff.

    Posted by wronwright on 2006 01 04 at 01:40 PM • permalink

  111. i]a big white dilithium-colored booger hanging across his sparse, callow mustache?

    I thought the ‘hanging off Margo’s teat’ image a few threads back had completely burned out my visualizer.  Now I find, to my dismay, that it’s alive and functioning.  Or it was until a few seconds ago.

    Posted by Achillea on 2006 01 04 at 01:54 PM • permalink

  112. Preview?  We don’t need no steekin’ preview.

    Posted by Achillea on 2006 01 04 at 01:55 PM • permalink

  113. Question is: Is there any intelligent life in the UN?

    Posted by stats on 2006 01 04 at 03:32 PM • permalink

  114. 109 Ens Martinet

    Well, be sure to include this in your report.  First, I don’t have a mustache, not since the Tom Selleck (I wish) look went away.

    Then perhaps a good, brisk face-washing is in order, eh?

    Second, you might note that your description (giggling and talking way too fast) actually describes you to a tee at the “Tim Blair is Gone So Let’s Fry Some Holdens Gala”. 

    I deny it, and present as evidence this recording from said event:
    SDD: “HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW !!”
    Does that sound giggly to you?

    In fact, I seem to recall Lonie singing some songs with you, up till the time he went looking for Tim’s prized but hidden stock of Sumerian mead.

    Fibber!  By Mr Lonie’s own admission, neither he NOR the mead made it up the stairs to the bar.  Not even one taste of the golden brew of legend even got into the same room with me, a palpable injustice indeed!  And at no, I repeat NO time was I ever more than five feet away from the bar.  Not even to go to the bathroom.  So there!

    Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 01 04 at 04:39 PM • permalink

  115. Look SDD, yes, it’s true you were HAW HAW’ing through much of that extended weekend of depravity.  Most of the time, by yourself with no ostensible reason.  Spontaneously.  But you were noted by more than a few to have giggled like a 12 year little girl at certain times that weekend.  Again, for no discernible reason.

    Personally I thought there stood a good chance that you would have kae braid your hair in pig tails with a cute pink ribbon.  Anything for a laugh, that your personal motto.  I say, is that the hallmark of an aspiring neocon fascist?

    Second, I did NOT say that you accompanied Lonie on his quest for the holy grail of mead.  In fact, I grant you that Lonie is such a selfish lout of a person that he would quite likely kept his search secret, except for the sounds of various furniture being overturn and demolished.  At the same time, I will say that had you known there was a stash of Sumerian mead in the house and assuming you knew what “Sumerian” and “mead” meant (which I very seriously doubt being that your specialty is shock and awe and the removal of WMD for reasons that only Karl and the Inner Circle are aware), chances are near 100% that you would have mustered whatever reserves of energy and sobriety you had in that pathetic state of being and followed Lonie around like a gold mine claim jumper.

    Personally, I would have liked to seen what the two of you would have done if both of you had found it together.  Share it in a spirit of friendship and brotherhood?  Or lunge for each other’s throats that the rabid pack of jackals you two are.  Jackals!  Mead jackals!

    Posted by wronwright on 2006 01 04 at 06:29 PM • permalink

  116. Any self respecting alien would take one look at planet Earth, shake their head/s and say, “Well! There is obviously no intelligent life there,may as well go home,”

    Posted by waussie on 2006 01 05 at 12:20 AM • permalink

  117. Ah. They landed in Berkeley, then.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 01 05 at 01:57 AM • permalink

  118. This may matter Sooner Than We Think ...

    As Hawkwind, sang, back in the day;

    Put Stripes on the Stars!

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 01 05 at 09:09 PM • permalink

  119. 80 One-Way Lonie

    Stoop,
    Snurf, wripple, hasta la cufurnat?

    That’s what I thought!  Thank you for the corroboration.  May I quote you?  For this report chit, you know?

    Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 01 06 at 04:57 PM • permalink

  120. Page 1 of 1 pages

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