US pilot ordered to shoot down UFO

[Inky_Wretch]

An American fighter pilot flying from an English air base at the height of the Cold War was ordered to open fire on a massive UFO that lit up his radar, according to an account published by Britain’s National Archives on Monday.

The fighter pilot said he was ordered to fire a full salvo of rockets at the UFO moving erratically over the North Sea — but that at the last minute the object picked up enormous speed and disappeared. The account, first published in Britain’s Daily Star newspaper more than 17 years ago and to this day unverified by military authorities, was one of many carried in the 1,500 pages the archives made available online.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27279684/?gt1=43001

 

[heyabbott]

Are sidewinder missiles really a match for Photon torpedoes?

 

[93Devil]

I didn't know Will Smith was alive back then.

 

[Tom Petty]

bookmark

 

[93Devil]

I may have goofed on this thread, but I am willing to bet a months paycheck that we are not the only planet with life in the universe.

I am also pretty convinced that there is some pretty intelligent life out there.

 

[Magic In The Night]

I may have goofed on this thread, but I am willing to bet a months paycheck that we are not the only planet with life in the universe.

I am also pretty convinced that there is some pretty intelligent life out there.

Some of my former coworkers convinced me that there are aliens among us.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

I may have goofed on this thread, but I am willing to bet a months paycheck that we are not the only planet with life in the universe.

I am also pretty convinced that there is some pretty intelligent life out there.

I hope so, because I don't think there's any on this planet.

 

[schiezainc]

I may have goofed on this thread, but I am willing to bet a months paycheck that we are not the only planet with life in the universe.

I am also pretty convinced that there is some pretty intelligent life out there.

I hope so, because I don't think there's any on this planet.

Ok, I've got to ask. Did you just say you think you're an idiot?

 

[Smallpotatoes]

I may have goofed on this thread, but I am willing to bet a months paycheck that we are not the only planet with life in the universe.

I am also pretty convinced that there is some pretty intelligent life out there.

I hope so, because I don't think there's any on this planet.

Ok, I've got to ask. Did you just say you think you're an idiot?

I can be sometimes.

 

[Mitch E.]

OK, maybe at the time they thought it was an enemy plane, but I hope our strategic planning has changed since then. Really, do we want to shoot the thing down and **** off a group of people that have mastered the art and science of SPACE TRAVEL!!?

 

[Double Down]

Whatever happens, I'm sure our God will be able to fight their God and come out on top.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

I may have goofed on this thread, but I am willing to bet a months paycheck that we are not the only planet with life in the universe.

I am also pretty convinced that there is some pretty intelligent life out there.

Depends on how you calculate it. The rare-life hypothesis suggests 361 advanced civilizations in the Milky Way now. Another theory puts the number at well over 31k, with yet another theory saying there ought to be almost 38k civilizations more advanced than our own in the Milky Way right now.

Given that despite all our best efforts at detecting signs of life via electromagnetic emissions (the SETI project) we haven't found a damn thing (Fermi's Paradox), I lean more toward the 361 estimate from the rare-life hypothesis, which has an echo in the concept called The Great Filter:

The main argument is based on the observation that we have not yet observed extraterrestial intelligent life, even though we have observed a great number of stars. Therefore, the whole process of starting with a star, and ending with communicating intelligent life, must be unlikely (the Great Filter). This implies that at least one step in this process must be improbable. Hanson listed the likely steps as:

1. The right star system (including organics)
2. Reproductive something (e.g. RNA)
3. Simple (prokaryotic) single-cell life
4. Complex (archaeatic & eukaryotic) single-cell life
5. Sexual reproduction
6. Multi-cell life
7. Tool-using animals with big brains
8. Colonization explosion

At least one of these steps must be improbable. If it's not 1-7, then the implication is that our future is bleak. If 1-7 are likely, then many civilizations would have developed to the current level of the human race. However, none have made it to step 8, or the galaxy would be full of colonies. So it must be that step 8 is the unlikely one, and the only thing that appears likely to keep us from step 8 is some sort of catastrophe.

http://arxiv.org/abs/0810.2222
http://arxivblog.com/?p=674
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/20/1230207

 

[Bubbler]

It's all fun and games until Predator shows up.

 

[Tom Petty]

It's all fun and games until Predator shows up.

which one? the cool one that kills the alien or the original?

 

[Bubbler]

It's all fun and games until Predator shows up.

which one? the cool one that kills the alien or the original?

Yes.

 

[Tom Petty]

It's all fun and games until Predator shows up.

which one? the cool one that kills the alien or the original?

Yes.

awwwwww. ok.

 

[CM Punk]

And occasionally, you meet a nice one. Starman or ET. But usually they turn out to be some kind of big lizard!

 

[Starman]

And occasionally, you meet a nice one. Starman or ET. But usually they turn out to be some kind of big lizard!

what the hell

 

[CM Punk]

Dr. Venkman intended no pun.

 

[goalmouth]

These idiot stories always come out of England. Or California.