You Must Be Kidding

I refer to this morning’s post about the new alien video “proof” that aliens exist. The Denver Post reporter who actually saw the film today, saw:

A few minutes of grainy, black and white video show a shadowy creature with big eyes peeping over a windowsill. But does it show a puppet or an alien from outer space?

The video, purportedly capturing proof of alien life, was released this morning during a press conference at the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus in downtown Denver.

Over the course of three minutes or so, the footage shows a white creature with a balloon-shaped head that keeps popping up and down in a windowsill that was 8 feet above ground. The face was white, with large black eyes that seemed to blink.

"If it was a puppet, it would be a very elaborate and sophisticated puppet," said Alejandro Rojas, education director of MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, who spoke at the press conference.

Very elaborate and sophisticated? For a five year old, perhaps. See the above image taken from the video. Now admittedly, this is a still photograph, not the original video (which supposedly moves). But The Rocky Mountain News (that has the same picture) states that this is a “still image of the video, handed out by presenters” – so they presumably must think it is representative of the quality of the video. And really. Come on. What we have here is a film taken inside what looks like a fully lit room at night. It is dark outside. The image seen in the dark window could be anything – a simple model held outside the window, or even a reflection of something in the room held by someone just out of camera shot. Sophistication not needed. Now, I never expected to see anything especially convincing (and as Akusai commented this morning, even a good alien video wouldn’t prove anything), but even I expected something better than this.

Even more ridiculous (if that were possible), were the comments of the MUFON guy, Alejandro Rojas:

I don't believe they have the ability or the motivation to fabricate a hoax…

I think I already covered the “ability” part. (And read The Rocky Mountain News link for a description of how some skeptics made a better alien film in 6 hours for $90.  Edit - click here for video.) As for motivation – Peckman’s big deal is an initiative to require the city of Denver to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission to handle alien encounters. Yes, really. And during the press conference, Peckman frequently referenced this initiative and his petition (he needs 4,000 signatures to get it onto the ballot). And boy has he got plenty of free publicity for this today. I say again, an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission to handle alien encounters. Really.

Peckman is reportedly 54 years old, single, and lives with his parents. Yes ladies, he’s available!

Comments

[Zeno]

I think a 54-year-old bachelor who lives with his parents is the exact opposite of "available."

But what do I know? I'm an older bachelor who lives alone. (And without aliens, too.)

[DY]

54 and still with his parents....maybe he's praying for abduction to help him make the jump.

I remember in the early 90s there were lots of predictions that aliens were going to make a great public appearance....

In fact, I remember talking to a woman who happened to mention something one day about her husband serving a prison sentence. I asked what he'd done and she said that he'd been contacted by aliens and given the task of building a landing pad for their space craft....(She explained all this in her rather droning voice)...he needed to raise $100 000 to build it, so he and a small group of devotees had tried to rob a bank. Unfortunately something went wrong and her husband (still told in the droning voice) shot someone dead.

[Paul]

Oh, this story keeps getting better and better. Why was he pointing a video camera set to night vision at the window in the first place? Apparently, because he was trying to catch a Peeping Tom he felt had been looking in the window. Except now the window's eight feet above ground level? What, did the peeper carry his own ladder?

[DY]

Indeed!

....So he was thinking a peeping tom would be climbing up to look in the window of a 54 year old male who lives with his parents, but it turns out it was an alien who has traveled god knows how many light years through a vast galaxy in order to climb up and look through the window of a 54 year old make who lives with his his parents.

The alien probably also feels a bit let down.

[angry doc]

I can't find it, but does anyone have a copy of that Farside cartoon where the parents scare their son into eating dinner in their second-floor room using a balloon-monster floated from the ground floor?

[Yoo]

What's going on with Peckman? Is he a sincere believer who's being routinely pranked? Is he just trying to grab attention? Or is one part of his mind delusional while another part of his mind sets up not so elaborate hoaxes?

In any case, it's laughable that he would put forward that picture as "proof".

[angrydoc]

Found it!

http://ptsview.com/live/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/fsfhd.jpg

[Moxiequz]

I remember that cartoon! Damn, I miss The Far Side.

"In any case, it's laughable that he would put forward that picture as "proof"."

Funny how that will all our advances in video, photography, sound recording and general surveillance technology over the years the BigFoot, alien, ghost, etc woos can't seem to produce anything other than dark, grainy shots usually taken at a distance.

[Random]

Actually, checking the website, this viedo appears to be a RECREATION of the event. NOT the actual event itself.

(puts hands together in a prayer like fashion)

Why are people so quick to judge others? Why oh why must we feel compelled to demand "proof" or "evidence" instead of trusting self-apointed authority figures, like myself.

REPENT SKEPTICO!!!! Your attempts to encourage people to think will be thwarted.

Rev. Modnar Hack BS, MS, PhD, BSS, SSS, GSS, DiP, DeE, DoO

[shane]

Another entry in the Festival of Stupid.

[Random]

Ah, a heckler. And I was going to wait until marriage.

The point was, Shane, that it wasn't real and even they admit that. (they won't admit to not having any REAL proof but that's another set of issues)

Basically as I see it, no matter how hard you try to parody something, there's always one ass-jacked, glue sniffing moron, who can't tell the difference

Welcome to the Festival, Shane.

Random

[Tom Foss]

There are two videos, from what I understand. One is the original, which Peckman refuses to show as it's part of a documentary (from which the above still is taken--by the way, great scientific protocol and transparency there, Peckman), and one is a deliberate hoax done by a skeptical organization to debunk the claim that the video couldn't possibly be fake. Unfortunately, the hoax is making the rounds on YouTube and other sites as the genuine video.

Phil Plait goes over the whole thing here.

[Random]

Thank you, Tom.

You're a voice of clarity as usual.

Random

(Being it's a comment from me, I feel compelled to mention that was not sarcasm)

I like all the "couldn't possibly be faked-type" arguments.

"As a fully-qualified accountant, sitting right here in my armchair, scratching my backside, I have no idea how the pyramids could possibly have been made. Therefore it must be have been aliens."

[Stuck N Middle]

LMAO. Oh balloon shaped head? Some balloon shop somewhere is missing an alien balloon.

[Big Al]

It's an alien balloon. A top scientist* has said that it's made out of rubber purer than any rubber humankind has ever made.

*Well, he told me he was a scientist, anyway.*

*Even though he spelt it "sceintist" with the Ss backwards.*

*PS, first to get to "Sceince doesn't know everything" wins!*

*Or science

[Sonic Design]

Wow! You guys are still here talking about irrelevant issues… Let us get back to our labs and get to qualitative and quantitative work.

[Tom Foss]

Educating the public away from ignorance and idiocy isn't irrelevant, and science isn't confined to the lab.

[Big Al]

Especially since what I call "Sceince" seems far more attractive to many people than the real thing.

Ridicule is an appropriate weapon when so many people can't follow a logical argument with the aid of a compass, a map and a trained bloodhound.

[Jimmy_Blue]

Sonic Design:

Wow! You guys are still here talking about irrelevant issues…

Irrelevant to what?

You think it irrelevant to discuss psuedoscience? Dangerous cultural ideas, practises and beliefs? Dangerous psuedo-medical practises, ideas and beliefs? In today's world?

I think we know who or what is irrelevant then.

Let us get back to our labs and get to qualitative and quantitative work.

Why do I get this mental image of a pompous ass in a very tall slightly off white building when I read this sentence?

You really think that this is all science is? And you think that nobody here does anything like that as well as being able to discuss the context around their work? See, we can handle doing more than one thing at once.

Go scurry off back to your lab and your ivory tower, the rest of us have important things to do AND talk about.

[Tom Foss]

Why do I get this mental image of a pompous ass in a very tall slightly off white building when I read this sentence?

Wearing an ascot and white gloves, while absentmindedly swirling a glass of brandy as he stands stiffly in front of the giant penthouse picture window, looking down at the city below as the sun sets on the horizon, talking in an utterly unimpressed fashion to a jittery young man with a clipboard and an ill-fitting suit, who is standing fifteen feet behind, on the other side of a large, pristine oak desk.

Yeah, I totally see it too, Jimmy.

[Brother Dave Thompson]

"...wearing an ascot and white gloves, while absentmindedly swirling a glass of brandy as he stands stiffly in front of the giant penthouse picture window, looking down at the city below as the sun sets on the horizon, talking in an utterly unimpressed fashion to a jittery young man with a clipboard and an ill-fitting suit, who is standing fifteen feet behind, on the other side of a large, pristine oak desk."

Being smug and out of touch never sounded so awesome.