Ok! The exams are postponed! And as usual here I am writing a blog post when I have hell a lot to study! I was just idling today recalling some silly, old memories and I couldn't help wondering where my childhood fantasies have disappeared to. What I mean is that all those dreams we had when we were kids, tend to float away when we grow up. If you turn to poke back in to those good old memories, you'll find yourself laughing your head off, realizing how crazy you were back then.
When I was a kid I owned so many fantasies; ghosts, aliens, superheroes etc.etc.etc! :D yeah it’s true. Well today I realized that one of my all time favourite topics hasn’t drawn my attention for a long time. That is ALIENS and along with it comes flying saucers/UFOs, abductions, conspiracies, invasions, UFO cults and all the rest! I should say that my thoughts were severely inspired by science fictions, movies and TV shows. I think that will be typical of any other UFO nut like me. Before talking about extraterrestrial life, I should say that there are three types of people. (Categorized according to their interest reguarding this topic)
- Those who believe
- Those who think that it’s nothing but a hoax
- Finally those who don’t give the crap about it!
Without doubt I fall in the first!
Aliens: are they real? Well no one can give a proper answer to that question so far! At least not me!
Have you seen them? NO!!
Ask me ‘why do you believe in then if you haven’t seen them?’ I’ll definitely slap you. :D:P All we know it that the universe is very large, filled with unsolved mysteries, undiscovered galaxies and so on. So there's plenty of chance life may exist somewhere on another planet far far away. What kind of life you may ask me; I say that they might not be as complex and moderate like us, yet Hollywood is much more interested in superhuman type life forms.
Ok! This alien business isn’t just a fantasy of the new millennium. This subject has drawn man’s attention over centuries. Check out this portrait “The Madonna with Saint Giovannino” that hangs in the Palazzo Vecchio. It’s a work by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494) that dates back to the early 15th century. In the enlargements you can clearly identify a disk shaped object over Mary’s left shoulder, and also in the background a man and his dog who seem to be observing this object in the sky.
Also ancient Mayan and Egyptian cultures are assumed to have connections to these aliens too. The close resemblances in ancient sculptures, paintings, documents and other artifacts to those icons that are considered to be of extraterrestrial origin nowadays has lead to this belief. And also comparative to the primitive tools that were found during excavation suggests that those civilizations weren’t capable of building those immense pyramids and sculptures. But, to be honest, I don’t believe it. The reason is, throughout our Sri Lankan history massive pagodas, temples and irrigation systems were constructed. The techniques, geometry and designing skills of our ancestors still amaze historians but so far we ain’t got any single proof, any pictures, documents, carvings or anything that can be related to that of alien origin. So if our ancestors could do that all by themselves with the knowledge and techniques they possessed, why couldn’t the Mayans or the Aztecs or the Egyptians?
The Tunguska explosion is one of the most intriguing events believed to be an alien encounter. On 30 June, 1908, witnesses told of a gigantic explosion and blinding flash and thousands of square kilometers of trees were discovered later, burned and flattened. Scientists have always suspected that a comet or asteroid is responsible - but no impact crater was ever discovered and no expedition to the area has ever found any large fragments of an extraterrestrial object. So the aliens were put in charge; that they might have flown their craft too low or may have tested one of their experimental weapons. :D I know the idea sound crazy but no one has given a possible NOT SO SPOOKY explanation so far. As I see it these alien stories are assigned to unexplained phenomena. Take this as an example: Ancients believed that diseases were caused by the anger of gods. As science expanded, with the knowledge gained man realized that it was no god’s revenge but bacteria and viruses. So this must be something like that; just a matter of time till someone bumps upon the reality or the truth.
A new phase of UFO sightings began with an American businessman, Kenneth Arnold spotting nine brilliantly bright objects flying across the face of the mountain Rainier, Washington on June 24, 1947. Although there were other UFO sightings of similar objects reported before, it was Arnold's sighting that first received significant media attention and captured the public's imagination. Arnold’s descriptions were widely reported and within a few days gave rise to the terms flying saucer and flying disk.
The idea of conspiracies came to picture on the same year when the “Roswell Daily Record” reported an UFO crash under the headline RAAF “Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch In Roswell region” on July 8, which was denied by the military forces saying whatever that was recovered was none other than the debris from a high altitude weather balloon launched under the programme “Mogul”. However the situation was triggered back again in 1995 when Ray Santili released a video of an alien autopsy carried on at a military base and the bodies were said to be recovered from the Roswell UFO crash back in 1947. The military was accused but the allegations were denied in return. This video was suspected to be fake mostly because it was released 48 years after the incident and by 1995 computer generated imagery was involved in film making so it arose suspicion that this also had a Jurassic Park (1993) genre. Despite of various conclusions by various parties, this indeed created some international sensation. Up to date thousands of UFO sightings have been reported from almost every nook and corner of the world.
Bermuda triangle, Area 51 and the black mail box, Betty and Barney Hill abduction, phoenix lights, battle of Los Angeles, Star child, crop circles are just a few paranormal events considered related to extra terrestrial encounters.
In 2002 we had the same experience; the so called UFO sightings over a rural village in the Polonnaruwa district. Well I was in grade 7 and was pissed off because aliens had shown up at the North Central province, not here closer to my place. Those few days I didn’t miss any news report on any channel or article on the paper about this sighting. Secretly I gazed at the night sky dying to spot a flying saucer and wishing the aliens will turn up on my doorstep. :D That’s why I said before, those stuff we wished as kids seem extremely crazy when we recall it as matured adults.
When we talk about the category of who believe, there are three types;
- Scully type
- Mulder type
- Cult type
(He hee :D :D I told ya I was moved by TV fantasies. Apart from” The X-Files”, “Roswell’ was my favourite.) As Agent Scully always says” you should only let in extreme possibilities unless you have a possible and scientifically acceptable explanation”. That type only accepts if there’s any possible proof. Mulder type is quite prone to any kind of spooky explanation but uses his senses to figure out what’s happening. The cult type is open to almost ANY thing. If someone says aliens are gonna invade the planet they’ll get together and prepare to fight or commit mass suicide or celebrate their last day of freedom. Well all these three types are believers and I think I’m 75% Mulder + 25% Scully type. :D:D Let’s just say that I WANT TO BELIEVE!
Though there are plenty of reported incidents where UFO sightings photographed or videotaped, many are just discarded or ignored. The main reason would be that creating a hoax nowadays will be a piece of cake with the existing technologies. The arrival of alien movies and TV shows tampered with our minds that there’s huge chance that 90% will say “no freaking way” if they are shown a photograph believed to be a UFO. There are incidents where certain objects are mistakenly identified as UFOs. Well the typical examples would be planets, stars, weather balloons, satellites, shooting stars, etc. Among these kinds of natural phenomena are the lenticular clouds that I found amazing at first sight. Just take a good look at its shape. If a UFO nut like me bumps across this at quite a distance he/she will alert media for sure. :D:D
So 99% or the majority are either fake or misunderstood. The question is what about the rest? Are we just gonna leave it behind because it’s just 1% ??
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The average description by a UFO spotter would be "I was driving my car that night and without notice my car stopped. Suddenly I noticed a bright yellow light and that object had saucer like shape and it travelled extremely fast and halted in empty sky rotated and flashed a several blue, red lights. Then swoosh………………. with a blinding light it vanished in the thin air in a split second! "Well yeah it’s creepy I know , those points might look Hollywood like but they are common to many events. These unusual characteristics are unexplainable practically, but perhaps in theoretical physics they might be. For instance aliens are known to be masters of ditching radars. But stealth air crafts used in experimental military air raids are said to have characteristics that interfere with radars and reduce visibility. So who knows!
I’d like to end this with the first wish Sir. Arthur C. Clarke made on his 90th birthday. “I would like to see some evidence of extra-terrestrial life. I have always believed that we are not alone in the universe. But we are still waiting for Ets to call us — or give us some kind of a sign. We have no way of guessing when this might happen — I hope sooner rather than later!”
So here we are waiting, eagerly gazing at the night sky hoping the aliens to wink at us! ;) :D
