Invasion of the blue UFOs!
November 10, 2010 7:22 AM   Subscribe

“It’s weird. You only see this type of stuff in movies. Just as long as we're here, I'm sure there are other things somewhere." In the past couple of months, strange blue lights have been appearing over towns across the USA: Anaheim, College Station, and outside of Washington DC. Many UFO buffs and conspiracy theorists believe this to be a part of an alien agenda to force the US Government to disclose alien existence, or perhaps a plot by NASA to overthrow all the world's religions.

On the other hand, the recent UFO flap coincides with the availability of easy to fly remote control electric gliders, and ultra-bright LED strips for night flying. Hobbyists are flying them in places like Anaheim, College Station, and outside of Washington DC.
posted by smoothvirus (52 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
Another strike against the "alien agenda" proponents: why only USA? For maximum effect, multiple landmasses/cities. Always interesting that any alien activity is very nationalistic.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 7:28 AM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


There's a sale at K-Pax-Mart!
posted by condour75 at 7:28 AM on November 10, 2010 [5 favorites]


You're supposed to build up at least half a day of eager speculation, wild theories, and a few small disputes over the real intent of extra terrestrials before dropping the facts. That way, the MeFi Detective Squad wins again. Now it looks staged, and no one feels triumphant for guessing it first.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:32 AM on November 10, 2010


That's my snarky way of saying "good post"
posted by filthy light thief at 7:32 AM on November 10, 2010 [2 favorites]


why only USA?

Americans are complacent. That's where the slaves will come from... as soon as they lose some weight.
posted by klanawa at 7:33 AM on November 10, 2010 [4 favorites]


Reptilians are here to eat Obama
posted by DU at 7:33 AM on November 10, 2010 [4 favorites]


Another strike against the "alien agenda" proponents: why only USA?

They hate us for our freedoms, obviously.
posted by JaredSeth at 7:34 AM on November 10, 2010


It makes me so happy that $30.00 at Think Geek is enough to get a bunch of UFO wackjobs fueled up about some sort of alien agenda or government conspiracy.

Let me get this straight... there are aliens who have come all the way from another star system, many light years away, and they've come in a saucer-shaped vehicle the size of a Buick, and they're doing it in secret but not so secret that a bunch of folks have managed to witness it (though never reliably on camera) and somehow a bunch of science-types at NASA know about it but even though NASA science-types would love nothing more than to find evidence of alien life and tell the world about it, they're all keeping it secret. For some reason.

Yes. That is plausible.

I should add, for the record, that I totally believe there is life elsewhere in the universe/galaxy/solar system. I just think it'll be much, much more obvious to the world when/if we make contact. There will be no mistaking it or covering it up.
posted by bondcliff at 7:36 AM on November 10, 2010 [6 favorites]


I told you people year after year to vote for the lizard-people but you didn't listen. Now instead of a representative democracy of majority lizard-people rule, they've come to force a lizardocracy on us.
posted by 2bucksplus at 7:37 AM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


why only USA?

They're hoping for some more of those Balloon Boy snacks.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:40 AM on November 10, 2010 [3 favorites]


I'm not worried about the alien reptiles, because the flying squids will protect us!
posted by briank at 7:46 AM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


Americans are complacent. That's where the slaves will come from... as soon as they lose some weight.

I'd retaliate by talking shit about your home country if I could think of a single thing that makes Canada stand out. It's like making fun of the color beige.
posted by Edgewise at 7:50 AM on November 10, 2010 [14 favorites]


I'm sure somebody's going to come up with some kind of totally plausible explanation for all of this, which may involve some kind of self-reinforcing/self-selecting bias involved in it. That's what always seems to happen. But I just want to be the first to say: it's probably NASA plotting to overthrow all the world's religions.
posted by penduluum at 7:57 AM on November 10, 2010


I love NASA, but does anybody really think they're capable of overthrowing the world's religions? Because if they could do that, going back to the Moon or even to Mars would be simple in comparison.
posted by tommasz at 7:58 AM on November 10, 2010


Wait wait wait....NASA has a plan to overthrow all the world's religions? Are they taking donations?
posted by DU at 7:59 AM on November 10, 2010 [15 favorites]


Or, it's just "viral" crap for Skyline.
posted by Rat Spatula at 8:01 AM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


Note to all UFO nutjobs: LEDs come in blue now.
Also, there's nobody up there.
posted by rocket88 at 8:01 AM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


Oh my god, I want to buy some of these glow-in-the-dark RC airplanes and fly them everywhere. This is the ultimate troll for the evening news.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 8:03 AM on November 10, 2010


It's like making fun of the color beige.

"Your Neutralness! The Earthers are making fun of our national colour!"

"Very well then. It's time for the strongest sanction the Neutral Planet Government has at its disposal - the stiffly worded letter."
posted by Electric Dragon at 8:19 AM on November 10, 2010 [3 favorites]


Everyone holding out for OR (organized religion) to collapse at first contact with aliens (space aliens) is going to be sorely disappointed. Religious thought is a fundamental feature of human nature. More to the point, there's too much money and power on offer - there will always be OR. We might just hope for better, more thoughtful or at least responsible manipulation of other people's religious beliefs.
posted by newdaddy at 8:33 AM on November 10, 2010


Thanks to everyone for reminding me why I walked away from any form of rational discussion about the anomalous aspects of reality - it's not possible, sadly, certainly not in any sort of public venue. Any yeah, lights in the sky are just lights in the sky, but anyone who thinks this stuff only goes on in the U.S., well, take a read of my friend Leslie Kean's sober, serious new book on UFOs, and we'll talk. Or not.
posted by dbiedny at 8:35 AM on November 10, 2010 [4 favorites]


From DU's link: The after-invasion party...BYOB, cigars and snack to share.

Also, from the comments.

"My sexy BTR photo blog is selling very well so I have added more photos worthy of the $29.99 price men with money are willing to pay to see more of my stellar bod fitting of Athena's soul"

Thanks for this...I needed some good tinfoil hattery.
posted by schyler523 at 8:38 AM on November 10, 2010


Um... yeah, guys, sorry about that. We were just needing some place to practice driving. You know how when you're learning to pilot your ground vehicles--your, what do you call them, let's see here, ah, yes, your "cars"--you usually go to some parking lot somewhere, preferably one that's abandoned, and practice piloting (excuse me, "driving") there? Right. Well, you didn't seem to be using your airspace very much, so, heh, we just sort of borrowed it a little.

There really shouldn't be any long term effects, maybe a bit of minor, temporary damage to the ozone, but I'm sure that even what passes for medicine on your world should be able to clear up any resultant melanomas with some fairly simple stem cell therapy. Sorry for the inconvenience. Oh, and in the future? If your so-called United Nations were actually that, it would be a heck of a lot more convenient to notify you in the future. You might want to fix that before the war games we're holding in this neck of the woods a couple of your lunar cycles from now.

Yours,

in the name of the most beneficient Brood Empress, may her ovipositor be overflowing and the lesser species sing in exultation upon implantation,

HJ
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:47 AM on November 10, 2010 [6 favorites]


Lizard people are some tough bastards, even in D&D Basic. Ahh crap this is a Gamma World post, never mind.
posted by Mister_A at 9:02 AM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


Reptilians are here to eat Obama.
The after-invasion party...BYOB, cigars and snack to share.

Man. Look at the fantastic digs being flagrantly crazy in California will buy you. I picked all the wrong states to fruitbat in.
posted by clarknova at 9:07 AM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


Thanks for this...I needed some good tinfoil hattery.
posted by schyler523


Is she just doing that trying to generate revenue or is she really that crazy?
posted by zephyr_words at 9:08 AM on November 10, 2010


"BTR"?
posted by DU at 9:10 AM on November 10, 2010


I think she's really that crazy.
posted by clarknova at 9:11 AM on November 10, 2010


Americans are complacent. That's where the slaves will come from... as soon as they lose some weight.

No, Americans make poor slaves - too much bitching. Americans are the food animals, being fattened up for slaughter. Now, Mexicans and Chinese - those will make good slaves for the aliens, they bust ass.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 9:17 AM on November 10, 2010


Regarding Halloween Jack's hypothesis that aliens just need some place to practice driving, I am reminded of my own hypothesis for the often reported alien practice of anal probing: they just need some place to practice colonoscopy.

As for NASA's nefarious plan to destroy organized religion, don't worry, Astro Zombie would never let that happen.
posted by grizzled at 9:18 AM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


For sometime I've wanted to create a grandmaster conspiracy theory incorporating and tying together all of the disparate conspiracies into one place. I've had plans to include reptilian overlords, Masonic orders, Planet X (of 2012 fame), the faked moon landings, chemtrails & chemical rainbows, the Federal Reserve and some Lovecraftian elements for flavor. Then someone will post a link to Educate-Yourself and I'll give it up with the realization that I'm just a rank amateur in the world of delusional fiction.
posted by bionic.junkie at 9:21 AM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


As I've written here before, most UFO observers are actually pretty accurate reporters. What they are reporting is chiefly unusual atmospheric phenomena, or experimental US government craft - for example, the Stealth Bomber was accurately described as a UFO by many reporters as long as five years before its existence was admitted.

I think it's pretty likely to any dispassionate observer that the US has been tested some sort of radar hoaxer for at least ten years now, and in the last three or four years has been field-testing it with foreign air forces.

This would explain "only in the US". But from the images we see, I'd believe in the LED glider hypothesis for these images as most likely. However, earthlights are another, lesser possibility.

I should also note here that there has been a puzzling change in messaging from the US government in the last three or four years that many observers have noted. Some have interpreted this as preceding an announcement about extra-terrestrials or other such things - I'm dubious.

I have two theories - one is that the Bush administration simply hired a bunch of loonies, the other is that the US military is going to announce their new weapon fairly soon.

Finally, I'd note that, while I also consider the idea of technological aliens from other solar systems flying around in our skies in technological vehicles deeply implausible, the possibility that we share our planet with non-corporeal intelligences that are either electromagnetic or gaseous in nature, while quite unlikely, cannot be completely dismissed out of hand. I'd bet against it, but there are enough difficult-to-explain cases that it can't be ruled out altogether.

Still, when's all said and done, these sightings are almost certainly either 1) people playing with gadgets or 2) the government playing with gadgets.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 9:29 AM on November 10, 2010 [5 favorites]


I think any lights around Anaheim can be blamed on Disney.
posted by Monday at 9:40 AM on November 10, 2010


For sometime I've wanted to create a grandmaster conspiracy theory incorporating and tying together all of the disparate conspiracies into one place.

Don't worry, David Icke has taken care of that for you.
posted by kozad at 9:41 AM on November 10, 2010


Reptilians are here to eat Obama

I do believe that's a Thomas Kinkade she's standing in front of.
posted by cmoj at 10:15 AM on November 10, 2010


Why were the cops busting the guys in this video?
posted by charlie don't surf at 10:21 AM on November 10, 2010


I followed the "overthrow all the world's religions" link, from there I went to a women warriors site, which had a link to a site offering dolphin communicator orgone amulets (link).

Thank you.
posted by ServSci at 10:46 AM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


I think she's really that crazy.
posted by clarknova


Wow. I'm glad she gave me this line that won't allow aliens to take me away. "I'm a sovereign being and I don't consent to you taking me anywhere, you son of a bitch."
posted by zephyr_words at 12:19 PM on November 10, 2010


...there are aliens who have come all the way from another star system, many light years away, and they've come in a saucer-shaped vehicle the size of a Buick...

No, no, no. Aliens ate my Buick.
posted by Splunge at 12:39 PM on November 10, 2010


Actually about 30 years ago they stopped eating cars and eating bars.
posted by crapmatic at 12:54 PM on November 10, 2010 [2 favorites]


Regarding Halloween Jack's hypothesis that aliens just need some place to practice driving, I am reminded of my own hypothesis for the often reported alien practice of anal probing: they just need some place to practice colonoscopy.

My theory is that we are the run-down backwoods of the galaxy, and the ufos that visit are bored teenagers playing the space equivalent of mailbox baseball.
posted by madajb at 1:07 PM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


I have two theories - one is that the Bush administration simply hired a bunch of loonies
oh that's a theory
posted by Namlit at 3:13 PM on November 10, 2010


Americans are the food animals, being fattened up for slaughter. Now, ... Chinese - those will make good slaves for the aliens, they bust ass.

Yeah, can't eat 'em, you'd be hungry half an hour later, amirite?
posted by me & my monkey at 3:17 PM on November 10, 2010


It isn't just the US. It's just that there have been a higher number of these specific sightings across the US lately.

There have been several that have made the news since mid-October. (remember that a former NORAD employee predicted that Oct. 13th would be when we would start to see these sightings. [original mefi post])

Scarborough, northern UK, Nov. 9th.

Gatteo, Italy, Nov. 7th.

Black Sea, Ukraine, Oct. 28th.

Shanxi Province, China, Oct. 20th (or thereabouts.) This one got coverage in many international news outlets.

Over the past six years there have been multiple very public sightings in several cities in Mexico and Central America of clusters of several dozen aircraft which remain motionless for several minutes and then disappear. There are dozens of videos of these events, and they are seen during very high visibility times like rush hour. [sample video]

I'm not a kook. I don't even follow this stuff. But they're happening enough times year over year that I am intrigued about the sudden news coverage.
posted by adamd1 at 4:50 PM on November 10, 2010


why only USA?
Because the fat ones are ready for harvest.
UK and Australia up next.
posted by compound eye at 6:32 PM on November 10, 2010


it's not only USA - google 'norway spiral' and you'll find links like this
posted by zenwerewolf at 6:49 PM on November 10, 2010


then there's this, which is very likely someone either hang-gliding or flying a pyramid
posted by zenwerewolf at 6:51 PM on November 10, 2010


It's kind of amusing how otherwise intelligent people will debunk without even looking at the evidence. I suppose we're past the knee-jerk "swamp gas" explanation, but perhaps just that; apparently the high-speed lights that don't move like any aircraft known to man and don't even follow the laws of physics are automatically bottlenecked into "Venus" (as if someone can't tell a fixed light from a rapidly moving one) or "he was some drunk redneck" (with the vast majority of UFO reportings, both are completely false). Now it's "Chinese lanterns" and, now, "LED lights". Actually the latter two are far more credible an explanation, though pinning sightings on those still involves a lot of square-peg-in-round-hole-ing.

And as for it only happening in the U.S.? That's so far from the reality, that's such astounding ignorance, the mind boggles. Mostly UFO reports in the U.S. and in other countries are reported by local media, because national news outfits won't touch a UFO story, unless they can find and angle to mock it. So because they're local, they're usually not translated into other languages and sent out internationally. But the sightings happen.

Hell, Central and South America seem to be the Times Square of UFO activity.

And I second dbiedny's very true point that real debate and discussion on this subject here on MeFi is an impossibility.
posted by zardoz at 9:58 PM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]




whenever i fix the lights around here they stop from moving rapidly, so yeah [I guess]
posted by Namlit at 12:11 AM on November 11, 2010


Skyline movie PR
posted by Duug at 2:42 AM on November 11, 2010


I think she's really that crazy.

I know that lolcrazyperson and lolteaparty are well-trodden topics here, but this, this, and this are a wonderful triangulation of the two.

I blame DU.
posted by peeedro at 11:00 AM on November 11, 2010


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