Were you in California or Nevada on Nov. 27, 1978?

I am researching a UFO sighting that occurred in northern
Nevada and California on the evening of November 27, 1978.
(And I expect to find a non-space-alien explanation for it!)
As UFO sightings go, it is notable for having two
blue-chip witnessess: the writer John McPhee and the
distinguished geologist Kenneth Deffeyes. McPhee mentioned
it in passing in his book "Annals of the Former World,"
which won a Pulitzer Prize.

The sighting was of an apparently stationary "ball of light"
and I would like to gather enough sightings to estimate
its geographical location and altitude. If you were in
California then, a coincidence might jog your memory: the
mayor of San Francisco had been shot dead earlier that day.

So if you were there and saw the UFO, please post here or
send me e-mail. If you know somebody who was there, please
forward this posting to them.

--
Charles Packer
http://cpacker.org/whatnews
mailboxATcpacker.org

Charles Packe:

I am researching a UFO sighting that occurred in northern
Nevada and California on the evening of November 27, 1978.

Why, I wonder?

(And I expect to find a non-space-alien explanation for it!)

But you're not sure. It _could_ have been an alien spacecraft, right?
Otherwise, of what interest could it possibly be? There are a _lot_ of
lights in the sky.

As UFO sightings go, it is notable for having two
blue-chip witnessess: the writer John McPhee and the
distinguished geologist Kenneth Deffeyes. McPhee mentioned
it in passing in his book "Annals of the Former World,"
which won a Pulitzer Prize.

I'm not sure how that qualifies them as blue-chip witnesses. After all,
experienced pilots and astronauts have seen "UFO's," but the notion
that "UFO's" are alien spacecraft is still a myth or a lie or
delusional thinking.

The sighting was of an apparently stationary "ball of light"

Apparently, indeed. I suggest that your time would be better spent
reading
_THE_ _INVISIBLE_ _GORILLA_
And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us
By Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, which will explain to you
that human beings are unreliable witnesses of just about everything.

and I would like to gather enough sightings to estimate
its geographical location and altitude. If you were in
California then, a coincidence might jog your memory: the
mayor of San Francisco had been shot dead earlier that day.

By aliens, perhaps? See the above book. Eyewitnesses had wildly
differing stories about the JFK assassination, as they do about
everything else. They can show you where they were standing when it
happened, with absolute certainly. And then a photograph reveals they
were 1/2 mile from that spot. Virtually everyone is subject to this
phenomenon. One witness says the perp was black, tall, well built,
wearing blue. The next says he was a short, fat, caucasian wearing red.
Or a female. That's the way life is. It calls for critical thinking and
rational investigation, both of which are in short supply.

How can I call for rational investigation and say you're wasting your
time investigating this "incident?" The same way I could tell you that
you are wasting your time examining lunar photos looking for pumpkin
patches. There ain't none.

So if you were there and saw the UFO, please post here or
send me e-mail. If you know somebody who was there, please
forward this posting to them.

And you will take their testimony from 32 year earlier (or even from
this morning) with a _very_ tiny grain of salt.

Davoud
Learn about critical, rational thinking and try to be rational.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Jun 10, 4:20*pm, Davoud wrote:

Learn about critical, rational thinking and try to be rational.

What, in particular, is it about "ufos" which irritates you so
much? :-)

Why do "ufos" suffer from such poor observational skills on the part
of their observers? Including the highly intelligent and the highly
expert even in the presence of others?

Why are those who investigate these objects such charlatans and
morons? Is it because the subject has become a belief system? So that
they can freely behave like uneducated, medieval peasants believing
unquestioningly in children's religious visions?

How do you satisfy the burning doubts and endless questions of those
who really have seen the inexplicable and can easily filter out the
bleedin' obvious?

+NOT that detestable BaRstewArD Guff or any of his other trolling
aliases+

On Jun 10, 10:20*am, Davoud wrote:
Charles Packe:

I am researching a UFO sighting that occurred in northern
Nevada and California on the evening of November 27, 1978.

Why, I wonder?


Because it was there...

--
Charles Packer
http://cpacker.org/whatnews
mailboxATcpacker.org

Charles Packer:
I am researching a UFO sighting that occurred in northern
Nevada and California on the evening of November 27, 1978.

Davoud:
Why, I wonder?

Charles Packer:
Because it was there...

I think you may have missed the point, which is "No, it wasn't." I'm
not questioning the fact that two people (why only two?) thought they
saw something. I'm merely telling you that if they saw something, it
was nothing of significance.

Ever ask yourself why "UFO's" mostly appear in the western U.S.? With
all due respect to my western friends, any alien smart enough to build
a spacecraft that can visit Earth is going to want their presence
known, and they're going to want to talk to someone in Washington, DC,
not in an Oklahoma trailer park.

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

Davoud:
Ever ask yourself why "UFO's" mostly appear in the western U.S.? With
all due respect to my western friends, any alien smart enough to build
a spacecraft that can visit Earth is going to want their presence
known, and they're going to want to talk to someone in Washington, DC,
not in an Oklahoma trailer park.

I was being a bit chauvinistic. I should have said "they're going to
want to talk to someone in a world capital or a major city like NYC or
LA (let's hope not) or SF (ditto) not in an Oklahoma trailer park."

Yeah, NYC or Chicago would be good, except that if a UFO landed in NYC
and a group of weird-looking aliens got out and began speaking their
strange tongue, there is the danger that no one but a traffic cop would
notice, and all they would get for their million-year journey would be
a bunch of parking tickets and a towing bill. "'ey, Mike, dis thing
ain't got no wheels! How da hell we gonna tow it?"

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Jun 10, 4:10*pm, Davoud wrote:
I'm merely telling you that if they saw something, it
was nothing of significance.

Undoubtedly, but that doesn't mean that checking into the sighting is
worthless. In fact, if he thinks that other sightings (which are
likely to be separated in time by minutes or hours) are likely to
provide information on factors like the altitude of what was seen,
instead of a flying saucer maneuvering all over the place, we might be
talking about... a meteor.

Locating a meteorite is even on-topic for this group.

John Savard

In article , Davoud wrote:

Ever ask yourself why "UFO's" mostly appear in the western U.S.?

I ask myself this occasionally, but the answer 'because the Edwards
and Vandenberg air force bases are in the western US, as are the main
factories of most of the major military aerospace builders' seems
boringly obvious. A meteor would be much more interesting.

Tom

WHAT..a stupid question...they say there is no such thing as a stupid
question ...this is proof there is !


"Charles Packer" wrote in message
...
I am researching a UFO sighting that occurred in northern
Nevada and California on the evening of November 27, 1978.
(And I expect to find a non-space-alien explanation for it!)
As UFO sightings go, it is notable for having two
blue-chip witnessess: the writer John McPhee and the
distinguished geologist Kenneth Deffeyes. McPhee mentioned
it in passing in his book "Annals of the Former World,"
which won a Pulitzer Prize.

The sighting was of an apparently stationary "ball of light"
and I would like to gather enough sightings to estimate
its geographical location and altitude. If you were in
California then, a coincidence might jog your memory: the
mayor of San Francisco had been shot dead earlier that day.

So if you were there and saw the UFO, please post here or
send me e-mail. If you know somebody who was there, please
forward this posting to them.

--
Charles Packer
http://cpacker.org/whatnews
mailboxATcpacker.org

Davoud:
I'm merely telling you that if they saw something, it
was nothing of significance.

John Savard:
Undoubtedly, but that doesn't mean that checking into the sighting is
worthless. In fact, if he thinks that other sightings (which are
likely to be separated in time by minutes or hours) are likely to
provide information on factors like the altitude of what was seen,
instead of a flying saucer maneuvering all over the place, we might be
talking about... a meteor.

Locating a meteorite is even on-topic for this group.

Good luck with identifying its trajectory and likely debris field from
human "memories" 32 years later.

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm