Do you believe extraterrestrial life is possible?

[cor1]

Of course intelligent life is out there!

[BobV]

Given the vast size of the univers almost anything is possible. However given the great distance between planets, stars, and galaxies, those of us confined to earth will most likely never have proof of their existance.

[Byronleehk]

Given the vast size of the univers almost anything is possible. However given the great distance between planets, stars, and galaxies, those of us confined to earth will most likely never have proof of their existance.

True! But they are OUT THERE!!

[flaninacupboard]

Evolution is weird. damn weird. our skin is heat/sunliught senitive. a creature with sunlight sensitive skin will do well, especially if it's cold blooded. so how do we get from sensitive skin to the mind bogglingly complex thing that is the human eye. i mean, eye socket, eyeball, iris, retina, cornea etc etc. Evolution is like reverse entropy, and that's just wrong.

[flaninacupboard]

Anyone who has seen the Pyramids in Egypt in person and stood next to them should tell you:

THERE IS NO FVCKING WAY WE BUILT THOSE !!

I was there last winter ...for the first time. After repeated attempts to hoist my jaw back up so I could close my mouth, I wandered around muttering "fuuuuuuuck meeeeeeeee!!!" over and over.

Khufu's pyramid (largest pyramid). That's me in the red cap:

I was impressed with the shot of a tiny bus next to the pyramids!

[smearbrick1]

By the time an average reader finishes the first post on this page, man will have evolved even further up the evolutionary chain.

[yoda313]

Hello,

Cool story:

http://www.yahoo.com/_ylh=X3oDMTB1M2EzYWFoBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEdGVzdAMwBHRtcGwDaWUtYmV0YQ--/s/208747

'Super-Earth' spotted in distant sky

PARIS (AFP) - European astronomers announced they had found a "super-Earth" orbiting a star some 50 light years away, a finding that could significantly boost the hunt for worlds beyond our Solar System.

The planet was spotted orbiting a Sun-like star, mu Arae, which is located in a southern constellation called the Altar and which is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, they said.
The so-far unnamed world, which whizzes around mu Arae in just 9.5 days, is the smallest of the estimated 125 so-called extrasolar planets that have been detected so far.
"This new planet appears to be the smallest yet discovered around a star other than the Sun. This makes mu Arae a very exciting planetary system," French astronomer Francois Bouchy was quoted in a statement issued by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
With few exceptions, the extrasolar planets spotted so far have approximated the size of Jupiter, the giant of the Solar System.
But this latest find is far smaller, with a mass of only 14 times that of the Earth, which puts it in the same ballpark as Uranus for size.
The big difference, though, is that Uranus is an uninhabitable hell, a gassy planet on the far frigid fringes of the Solar System, whereas the new planet appears to be a rocky planet, as the Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury are, and orbits in a much balmier region.
It has a gassy atmosphere, amounting to about a tenth of its mass, although what this consists of is so far unknown.
The object qualifies "as a 'super-Earth," the ESO said.
Much about this enigmatic world remains to be uncovered, least of all whether it may be habitable.
However, there is the tantalising question as to whether it lies within the "Goldilocks Zone" -- a distance from its star that is not too hot, not too cold, just right.
In this zone, a planet would be close enough to the star to have liquid water -- yet not so close that its oceans would boil away -- and not so far that its oceans would freeze. That is one of the prime conditions for creating and sustaining life, according to a leading theoretical model.
The discovery was made thanks to a highly accurate spectrograph, a velocity-measuring instrument, on the ESO's 3.6-metre (11.7-feet) telescope at La Silla, Chile.
In a separate development, a team of American and Spanish astronomers, the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES), said they had found an extra-solar planet using a telescope with just a 10-centimeter (four-inch) diameter.
Telescopes of this size can typically be bought in department stores, so this is a remarkable technical breakthrough in planet-hunting.
The newfound planet is a Jupiter-sized gas giant orbiting a star located about 500 light years from Earth in the constellation of Lyra.
This world circles its star every 3.03 days at a distance of only 6.4 million kms (four million miles), far closer and faster than Mercury is in our Solar System.

To make the find, the astronomers used a network of small, inexpensive telescopes whose finds were then followed up and confirmed by the big lenses of the W.M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii.
Most known extra-solar planets have been found by using the "Doppler method" which measures changes to the composition of a star's light that are caused by the planet's gravitational tug.
In the US case, though, the astronomers looked for possible planets that were "transiting" their star -- that were in other words happened to be aligned between the star and Earth as they pursued their orbit. Such planets can then be detected indirectly because of the amount of light they block as they pass by.
The two findings will be published in leading astrophysics journals.

[Capmaster]

I was impressed with the shot of a tiny bus next to the pyramids!

THat pic above isn't good for scale because of where the people are and the fact that it's taken looking uphill.

Here's one I took of the Great Sphinx, Khafre's pyramid - the second largest in the world, and Menkaure's pyramid to the left - and you can get an idea of scale where I've pointed to people, one of them next to a car.



EDIT: I found the one you were thinking of flan:

Another one of Khafre's pyramid with Khufu's to the left:

[flaninacupboard]

They must have been amazing when they still had capstones, can you imagine a polished surface as large as that? the reflected sunlight must have been visible a looooooooooong way away.

[Capmaster]

They must have been amazing when they still had capstones, can you imagine a polished surface as large as that? the reflected sunlight must have been visible a looooooooooong way away.

Too bad they got cannibalized like that. They're still amazing, but having smooth white tula limestone all over it would have been awesome.

[Doramius]

They must have been amazing when they still had capstones, can you imagine a polished surface as large as that? the reflected sunlight must have been visible a looooooooooong way away.

Too bad they got cannibalized like that. They're still amazing, but having smooth white tula limestone all over it would have been awesome.

I honestly thought for a long period of time, if they decided to restore the pyramids with the polised surface, that the reflected light would show something spectacular that nobody ever even comprehended would happen.

[flaninacupboard]

Yeah, it's like my old home town, my parents house was built from stone stolen from the towns' castle - which there is now nothing left of. there used to be a large college there too, but it was wrecked by locals for houses, all that remains is a series of small walls. at least the area is enclosed now, and there's some beatiful gardens among the ruins.

[hech54]

Anyone who has seen the Pyramids in Egypt in person and stood next to them should tell you:

THERE IS NO FVCKING WAY WE BUILT THOSE !!

I was there last winter ...for the first time. After repeated attempts to hoist my jaw back up so I could close my mouth, I wandered around muttering "fuuuuuuuck meeeeeeeee!!!" over and over.

Khufu's pyramid (largest pyramid). That's me in the red cap:

YOU LUCKY BASTARD....

[flaninacupboard]

Yeah! that's such a sweet red cap!!

[Byronleehk]

Proof that we are NOT alone!!

http://www.home.datacomm.ch/marco.fernando/fla/bozzetto/adam.swf :P

[Capmaster]

Yeah! that's such a sweet red cap!!

It's a "Dodge Motorsports" cap - my favorite, and I wore it all over Egypt It identified me as a "rich American" and the panhandlers and souvenir hawks came out of the woodwork asking "baksheesh" (gratuity) and "you buy alabaster American" or "Pepsi".

Funny enough, Coke was nowhere to be found in Egypt, but Pepsi was at every streetcorner in stands, on shelves, in restaurants. Pepsi, Baraka water and Stella beer - everywhere you turn. Occasionally Fanta, but nooooo Coca Cola anywhere

[Doramius]

Yeah! that's such a sweet red cap!!

It's a "Dodge Motorsports" cap - my favorite, and I wore it all over Egypt It identified me as a "rich American" and the panhandlers and souvenir hawks came out of the woodwork asking "baksheesh" (gratuity) and "you buy alabaster American" or "Pepsi".

Funny enough, Coke was nowhere to be found in Egypt, but Pepsi was at every streetcorner in stands, on shelves, in restaurants. Pepsi, Baraka water and Stella beer - everywhere you turn. Occasionally Fanta, but nooooo Coca Cola anywhere

You must not have gone to McDonald's or Burger King While you were there.

[Capmaster]

Yeah! that's such a sweet red cap!!

It's a "Dodge Motorsports" cap - my favorite, and I wore it all over Egypt It identified me as a "rich American" and the panhandlers and souvenir hawks came out of the woodwork asking "baksheesh" (gratuity) and "you buy alabaster American" or "Pepsi".

Funny enough, Coke was nowhere to be found in Egypt, but Pepsi was at every streetcorner in stands, on shelves, in restaurants. Pepsi, Baraka water and Stella beer - everywhere you turn. Occasionally Fanta, but nooooo Coca Cola anywhere

You must not have gone to McDonald's or Burger King While you were there.

Once. One of our hotels was in Giza 2 miles from the pyramids. About one mile from them was a McDonalds. One day we got tired of the usual local fare and stopped there. Our taxi driver was appalled. Muslims don't eat beef slaughtered the way McDonald's suppliers do it. He waited in his cab while we ate in spite of our offer to buy him lunch.

The Big Macs were surprisingly close to here. And it was the cleanest restaurant in Cairo - one of the dirtiest, slummiest cities I have ever seen. Well ..16 million people in a poor country/city with heartbreaking poverty will do that Chicken was common though, as was sheep and goat

Check this out. Right across the street from the entrance to the Giza plateau:

[Rookie64]

Were you allowed to go inside the great pyramid, Cap?

If science can ever explain Easter Island, Peru, Stonehenge and the mystery of the pyramids...not to mention why the body of the Sphinx was eroded by water, will we ever begin to understand evolution or life elsewhere in the universe.

[Doramius]

All that will be discovered before the female psyche, I'll tell you that much.

[Capmaster]

Were you allowed to go inside the great pyramid, Cap?

We were allowed to, but the travel agency in Cairo screwed up our trip. We went in the afternoon after the day's quota had been filled (for humidity reasons they limit it to 300 inside per day). We went back again but it was also early afternoon. I did go inside the Red Pyramid in Dahshur. That's the first continuous angle smooth pyramid.

BTW, the three great pyramids are dedicated to three fourth dynasty (old kingdom) pharaohs. Khufu (largest pyramid) was Khafre's father (second biggest but appears the same size because it was built on slightlu higher ground). Khafre was Menkaure's (smallest of the three) father, but by then huge pyramids were falling out of favor because of costs/labor involved.

Egypt is a place you could spend years visiting and never see all the neat stuff. I could go on and on ...so I won't

Funny you mention the sphinx and the water erosion. It's an interest of mine. I saw it clearly when I was there. No way it's from wind and sand. It was obviously from vertically traveling water.

If it is water erosion, that would make the great sphinx about 12,000 years old instead of the commonly accepted 4500. That was the latest time in history that Egypt got rainfall of that magnitude. The sphinx might just be the oldest surviving human-fashioned object in the world

[Rookie64]

Egypt is a place you could spend years visiting and never see all the neat stuff. I could go on and on ...so I won't

Bet there's even more neat stuff buried under all that sand 8)

Funny you mention the sphinx and the water erosion. It's an interest of mine. I saw it clearly when I was there. No way it's from wind and sand. It was obviously from vertically traveling water.

If it is water erosion, that would make the great sphinx about 12,000 years old instead of the commonly accepted 4500. That was the latest time in history that Egypt got rainfall of that magnitude. The sphinx might just be the oldest surviving human-fashioned object in the world

Yea, I'd say I believe the stuff that was said in some documentaries on the sphinx...the head is much smaller than the rest.

There's a theory that there was another sphinx there, which probably got destroyed by earthquakes and is most likely under the sand.

We'd know a lot more if the Egyptian government allowed scholars to explore that area more.

[Capmaster]

Egypt is a place you could spend years visiting and never see all the neat stuff. I could go on and on ...so I won't

Bet there's even more neat stuff buried under all that sand 8)

Funny you mention the sphinx and the water erosion. It's an interest of mine. I saw it clearly when I was there. No way it's from wind and sand. It was obviously from vertically traveling water.

If it is water erosion, that would make the great sphinx about 12,000 years old instead of the commonly accepted 4500. That was the latest time in history that Egypt got rainfall of that magnitude. The sphinx might just be the oldest surviving human-fashioned object in the world

Yea, I'd say I believe the stuff that was said in some documentaries on the sphinx...the head is much smaller than the rest.

There's a theory that there was another sphinx there, which probably got destroyed by earthquakes and is most likely under the sand.

We'd know a lot more if the Egyptian government allowed scholars to explore that area more.

Here's a good spot to look if you're interested in this stuff:

http://www.guardians.net/hawass/index.htm

[yoda313]

Hello,

If science can ever explain Easter Island, Peru, Stonehenge and the mystery of the pyramids...not to mention why the body of the Sphinx was eroded by water, will we ever begin to understand evolution or life elsewhere in the universe.

Easter Island was no mystery. There was a whole PBS show on it. It was a group of islanders who woshiped some type of god. There were quaries found and unused statues laying around. Even decades ago a trial was done to show how they moved them.

They over populated the island and died out. They used up the tree supply and I think there was erosion for whatever farming they did.

That's one less mystery!

Kevin

[Rookie64]

Even decades ago a trial was done to show how they moved them.

That's one less mystery!

How


Those things weigh tons - that'd be like moving mountains

[Craig Tucker]

Tractor Beams

[yoda313]

Hello,
Just like all those documentaries on the pyramids. It was with rope and wood rollers.
Kevin

---And dozens of people working at the same time!--

[yoda313]

Hello,
Here, check out this link on the NOVA PBS story:

http://rds.yahoo.com/S=2766679/K=easter+island+statues/v=2/SID=w/TID=BVT2_7/l=WS1/R=3/...bh/nova/easter

Kevin

[yoda313]

Hello,
Here's one on the Lighthouse of Alexander:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2417treasures.html

Kevin

--the world is still full of mysterys but more and more are being understood, or at least a good idea about them--

[Rookie64]

Tractor Beams

hernia hell

Hello,
Just like all those documentaries on the pyramids. It was with rope and wood rollers.
Kevin

---And dozens of people working at the same time!--

Those are theories...it's easier said than done

Still many unanswered questions though....and they have no proof that wood was available around there at that time.