Tag Archives: National Geographic

UFO Files, Part Deux

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Okay, time for a mea culpa on the recs contained in my last post on the National Geographic Channel’s  Hunting UFOs series http://wp.me/pYql4-2b2. I grabbed the clicker after 20 minutes. The program was part Blair Witch and part reality TV, and I’m not fond of either.

And as for the tweets, I think we better hope the aliens don’t speak English.  On the other hand, if they do, it probably means they’ve been tuning in to our TV signals for years.  If they’ve been watching commercials and Fox news, this set of tweets won’t phase them.

For me, the most interesting item to emerge from all of this was a quote from Stephen Hawking that I pasted into a comment and will repeat here.  He warned that if more advanced alien life forms landed on earth, we could see a replay of the fate of Native American populations at the hands of European colonizers.

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.” – Stephen Hawking 

So life continues, as do our explorations, for as two researchers who are beyond reproach observed, “The truth is out there.”

Mulder and Scully of The X-Files

Hunting UFO’s and Your Chance to Tweet Outer Space

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Tonight at 9:00pm, the National Geographic Channel will present “Chasing UFO’s,” with a team of three investigators checking out reported sightings in Texas, Fresno, and other hotspots of alien activity.

The National Geographic Team – move over Men in Black!

In a recent survey, National Geographic discovered that 80 million Americans – a third of the population – believe in UFO’s.  Seventy-nine percent of us think the government has kept UFO information hidden, and more than half believe there are real Men in Black who threaten people who report sightings.

Aliens grok Geena Davis in “Earth Girls are Easy,” 1988

But wait – there’s more going on tomorrow than just watching other people have all the fun.  There’s something to take our minds off wondering how to land a job as a UFO Chaser.  It’s the Wow Reply Project.

In August, 1977, Jerry Ehman, a researcher at the Ohio State Big Ear radio observatory, spotted a coherent alpha-numeric sequence on a computer printout of signals from deep space.  He grabbed a red pen, circled it, and wrote “Wow!” in the margin.

Tomorrow night, National Geographic gives us the chance to Tweet back to whatever alien intelligence may have tried to contact us.  You can schedule your reply at this link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/chasing-ufos/the-wow-reply/.

And in case you’re a bit stuck in figuring what to say, the Geographic has solicited suggestions from several experts, including Stephen Colbert, to help us.  Check out Colbert’s recorded message, which begins, “Greetings intelligent alien life forms.  I am Stephen Colbert, and I come to you with an important message from all the peoples of the earth.  We are not delicious.”

From “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” 1951

It isn’t easy to make up a tweet for space beings.  What can you possibly say?  “Greetings, aliens. I had cheerios for breakfast, how bout you?” See, this is going to take some work, and there isn’t much time, so we better get busy!