The X-Files, via Netflix, starting from the pilot episode of Season 1, first aired in 1993. It's surprising how fresh these old episodes still feel, in spite of the clunky looking computer monitors, cellphones, and some of the fashion styles of Dana Scully and other female cast members. None of that takes away from decent dialogue, engaging plots and fascinating subject matter. We're now into early episodes of season 2. Lots more still to enjoy! And, slipping back to yesterday's topic, there's that haunting theme music.
Maybe a steady diet of X-Files encouraged me, last week, to click on a heading which eventually led me to its source in The New Scientist -
Is this ET? Mystery of strange radio bursts from space (31 March 2015 by Sarah Scoles). "Mysterious radio wave flashes from far outside the galaxy are proving tough for astronomers to explain. Is it pulsars? A spy satellite? Or an alien message?"
"BURSTS of radio waves flashing across the sky seem to follow a mathematical pattern. If the pattern is real, either some strange celestial physics is going on, or the bursts are artificial, produced by human – or alien – technology.
Telescopes have been picking up so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs) since 2001. They last just a few milliseconds and erupt with about as much energy as the sun releases in a month. Ten have been detected so far, most recently in 2014, when the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia, caught a burst in action for the first time. The others were found by sifting through data after the bursts had arrived at Earth. No one knows what causes them, but the brevity of the bursts means their source has to be small – hundreds of kilometres across at most – so they can't be from ordinary stars. And they seem to come from far outside the galaxy.
The weird part is that they all fit a pattern that doesn't match what we know about cosmic physics....................................
Michael Hippke of the Institute for Data Analysis in Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany, and John Learned at the University of Hawaii in Manoa found that all 10 bursts' dispersion measures are multiples of a single number: 187.5...................."
More in another article HERE.
Maybe, just maybe, those signals are echoes of messages sent by our far-future selves; or perhaps remains of messages bouncing back, sent long, long ago by far distant ancestors of ours, about whose civilisation we know absolutely nothing, yet. Is the truth really out there?
I spied a little more far-outness yesterday, this at Mother Jones website:
ETs for Hillary: Why UFO Activists Are Excited About Another Clinton Presidency
Mulder! Scully! The shipping! The theme music!! I just hope the new episodes work.
ReplyDeleteVanilla Rose ~ Yes, me too! I forgot to mention that the series is getting a re-boot.
ReplyDelete"Shipping" - I had to look up that on Google-wise. Hmm - yes, I see, it's the wish of fans for the two main characters in a series, professionally close, friends usually, to have a more intimate relationSHIP. I haven't yet had that feeling about Mulder and Scully, oddly enough. I experienced it strongly in 'The Killing' series we watched a few weeks ago though, and was very satisfied with the final episode - my fist was thrust in air with a great big YAY!!!!! :-D
Quite the thrill for the fans of "X", with the return. I had thought the series had a cult following, but I think it's actually entered the mainstream. I prefer the two not have a serious relationship (OK, maybe a fling), as that's just so sexist!...LOL. Can't the two sexes actually enjoy friendship and a professional relationship, or does everything require the happy ending of a deep love to appease the audience?
ReplyDeleteThere's been a conspiracy theory for decades about "Area 51" concealing one of the first UFO encounters, with compelling anecdotal testimonials from witnesses to the event. If true, then the presidents since have been informed, I would think. Then there are several astronauts that claim UFO sightings, such as Buzz Aldrin and Gordon Cooper. The urban legend that we have an alien establishment on the Moon that is hush-hush, but some strange photos have been released indicating peculiar structures. Who knows? I hope the aliens come save us from ourselves soon, if they exist.
I had previously read the link about the rhythmic signals from space, with the caveat that they could be from mother Earth, too. Reminiscent of the never-explained WOW signal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal) from almost four decades ago. Leads to another weird activity of our military called "HAARP" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program), which is acknowledged as real, but without much explanation.
Twilight ~ Very intriguing stuff. Wikipedia shows one additional radio burst occurring before the ones listed on the link you provided:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_radio_burst
*If* the Wikipedia information is correct, then the bursts began during the total Solar Eclipse of June 21, 2001, when the Sun, Moon (and NN) were on the Aries point in Cancer, the sign associated with 'home'. This kind of ties in with mike's comment about the possibility of the signals coming from Earth.
Also according to Wikipedia, the Eclipse was part of Saros Cycle 127:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_June_21,_2001
Saros cycles repeat every 18 years, 11 days. I haven't done a chart yet using the discovery time, nor have I tried to find anything on the astrology of the first Eclipse in this particular Saros cycle. It might be interesting.
Or am I missing something? Unlike you and mike, I have no aptitude for science or astronomy.
mike ~ Some pairings, and story lines, bring on the itch for closer relationships to develop than others.
ReplyDeleteIt's a script-writer's shrewd trick to draw in the audience's interest and keep their loyalty to the show. I'm always most intrigued by the least obvious instances - to the parties themselves (that kind has to include extra special script-writing skills!)
Yes, all those still simmering mysteries never loose their fascination to some of us. I'm not much of tin-foil hat wearer (astrology skeptics would disagree - but what do they know?), but I can never resist reading stuff on these topics. I think that's part of the reason why New Mexico has always held such fascination for me.
LB ~ I suspect, sadly, that there's going to be some really scientific but non-intriguing explanation found eventually.
ReplyDeleteIf the signals are coming from Earth - today's Earth that is, then somebody already knows from whence they're coming...but for some reason they are keeping quiet about it. That would lead to the suspicion that there's some military connection.
The astrology...I don't know. I'm not well-informed on eclipse astrology. With Uranus having been highlighted in those recent squares though, I guess anything unexpected was to be ...erm expected. ;-)
With the "Twilight Zone" theme music from yesterday, today's post reminded me of an old episode that seemed very spooky at its conclusion:
ReplyDelete"'To Serve Man' is episode 89 of the anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on March 2, 1962 on CBS.
The story is based on the 1950 short story 'To Serve Man', written by Damon Knight. The title is a play on the verb serve, which has a dual meaning of 'to assist' and 'to provide as a meal.' The episode is one of the few instances in the series wherein an actor breaks the fourth wall and addresses the viewing audience at the episode's end. The episode, along with the line, 'It's a cookbook!', have become elements in pop culture."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29
mike (again) ~ Ooooh-er!! Not sure whether I've seen that one or not. We've watched several of those "marathon" runs of Twi-Zone episodes TV has on offer often during holiday times, and one story tends to run into another. I do faintly remember the twist in that one.
ReplyDeleteYikes...maybe those signals from outer space being noticed now are the...erm...dinner bell of an alien race, coming for their first course. ;-) We of the older generations would prove a little tough, maybe we'll be placed at the back of the queue - for later slow cooking.
It's lunchtime. I'll just heat-up my soup in the microwave!
ReplyDelete"Rogue Microwave Ovens Are the Culprits Behind Mysterious Radio Signals"
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/10/rogue-microwave-ovens-are-the-culprits-behind-mysterious-radio-signals/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20150413ph-microwaves&utm_campaign=Content&sf8548745=1
mike(again) ~ Well dang! That's boring! But does it relate to those signals mentioned in the article linked in the post though to be from outside our galaxy?
ReplyDeleteJohn Learned at the University of Hawaii in Manoa found that all 10 bursts' dispersion measures are multiples of a single number: 187.5...................."
Well...maybe aliens on a far planet have microwaves too. ;-/
The most recent signals detected at Parks Observatory in Australia were apparently caused by microwaves, but true FRBs are of unknown cause and thought to be a deep-space phenomenon. Here's a good explanation:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.iflscience.com/space/astronomical-quest-leads-ovens
There's still hope that ETs are desiring contact...LOL.
mike (again) ~ Thanks for the additional clarification.
ReplyDeleteI shall just have to rely on "X-Files"
for excitement then, until further revelations emerge. :-)