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"Planets with indigenously evolved life are probably few and far between. If the Universe is swarming with life, it's because of colonization by the more advanced societies." I think (obviously with no evidence!) that life is common but intelligence is rare, possibly even unique to humans...

Well, we already have Victorian England and Aliens -- "War of the Worlds". IIRC, Time Tunnel (1967?) did an episode where a couple of aliens land near a town in the Old West. Their planet's running out of resources or something and they're looking for stuff to steal. Guns won't hurt them and...

"Stanislaw Lem" Agree, Lem is great. I read "His Master's Voice" the other month. I particularly liked the example of a caveman stumbling on a library and thinking he's found some really great fuel for his campfire. Lem figures that's about the level we'll be at if we interact with an ET...

I'm reading through the paper now. It's a little more post-modern academic than I usually care for, but more interesting than I thought it would be. Thanks for the link.

I guess you'd have to do some kind of statistical analysis to know if UFO and other paranormal events are really more common at certain times. Apparent differences in numbers of experiences could be a product of larger populations, better communications, and how receptive the culture is to...

Thanks, dyingsun. My parents bought the Beetle new in Germany, drove it around Europe, shipped it to the U.S. east coast, drove it across the country, after that shipping it to Hawaii where they were living at the time (and where I was born). A few years later we all went to the Seattle area...

1955 Volkswagen Beetle. It's what I learned to drive with. And every car after it has felt like a limo.

I've seen bright stars appear to move and change colors when viewed through very turbulent air. Not sure how Venus would appear. Here's a view of what the sky would have looked like where the video was shot: Sorry it's of such poor quality. Both Venus and Saturn were visible in the east at...

"I plan on stuffing a mouse trap in my pants next time I opt out." They'll arrest you for that too.

If you think (like I do) that the ultimate purpose of terrorism is not to harm the enemy, but to trick the enemy into harming himself on a far larger scale, I'd say it's one more example of how successful the 9/11 hijackers actually were. Well, them plus the various authoritarians who were...

Just finished (belatedly) listening to Dr. Salisbury. Generally I enjoyed the discussion -- he seems like a smart, level-headed guy. I don't mind his religious angle. He was very forthright about it and also recognizes how it might (at least in some circumstances) lead you astray. It's best...

Well, zeno claims to work with autistic children, so I doubt that he/she intended any bigotry (nor did I). Maybe the thread title could have been better chosen.

I think that to some extent tech work attracts individuals with limited social skills, who'd rather deal with machines than people. This may correlate with autism. It's really a matter of percentages though. Most of the people I work with seem socially normal (more than I am!). I'm more inclined...

I've never taken psychedelics so I have no opinion on that. I am a little wary of privileging 'normal' consciousness as somehow being the 'truest' mental state. It's probably the state that's optimal for survival (and I'm sure was heavily selected for), but you could make a case that meditation...

I'm white myself. Born in Hawaii (my parents lived here in the 50's) but grew up on the mainland and came back (quite by chance) as an adult. I wasn't trying to give anything like a complete history of course, mainly just showing how 'contact' can have all sorts of results. What's striking...

We might win at first. Here in Hawaii King Kamehameha grabbed a whaling ship with some cannons and a couple of guys who knew how to fire them and used them to take over the whole place. But a century later the Hawaiian population had dropped 90% and white people were running everything. So short...

So are these guys actors playing prisoners, or prisoners acting, or what?

I never heard a sound from a meteor, just seen them as quick streaks or flares of light, so presumably they were very high or far away. That one must have been really close to you. Did anyone try to find a meteorite?

The meteors I've seen only lasted a second or two. I've never seen one that shoots clear across the sky and makes the news (hope to someday!). Once I saw a very bright one that I thought for sure would be reported, but there was nothing. I guess most people don't pay much attention to the sky. I...

Any chance it was a meteor? Of course for that it would have to be much higher than tree-top level, but could its apparent height have been a trick of perspective? I ask because occasionally I've seen bright meteors that looked like what you describe.