Author Topic: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...  (Read 12786 times)

Offline onebigmonkey

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That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« on: February 27, 2016, 07:00:22 AM »
...annoyed me so much I started a debunking page. Which has so far turned into 3 pages, and I'm not even half way through it.

http://onebigmonkey.com/itburns/syfy/syfy1.html

Offline bknight

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2016, 09:51:05 AM »
I'm glad I haven't watched all that bunk.  One of the images of boulders is used by snake-oil salesman Marcus Allen to "prove" that NASA "doesn't give a straight answer".  It is the Vitello crater(I believe) where the rock "rolls uphill".  He asks why, NASA answered boulder rolling from probably a quake. 
He counters with:
1. "Uphill?"
2. "There are other boulders in the image that have not rolled, why the difference?" Allegedly NASA never answered those questions, thereby giving him more "evidence" that NASA always lies, therefore Apollo is a fraud. 
Truth needs no defense.  Nobody can take those footsteps I made on the surface of the moon away from me.
Eugene Cernan

Offline raven

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2016, 10:50:31 AM »
Jeez, their name just keeps getting more and more appropriate*.  :o
*For those who don't know, syfy is Polish slang for syphilis.

Offline onebigmonkey

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2016, 07:04:26 AM »
Here is a prime example of just how dishonest these people are - I'm writing this up now but am waiting for China's images to come back online so I can get their shots of the area.

At about 45:30 minutes in they examine a photograph that they claim was 'discovered at JPL' showing a pipeline connecting Manilius crater to Mare Serenitatis. Worth nothing here that they identify neither the origin of the photograph nor the name of the crater or mare.

Far from it being some sort of secret image buried in the archives, it's actually this one:

http://www.iphotocentral.com/common/detail.php/4096/96/2/208/1/0/1/11401

an image that eventually made it into this book in 1902:

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=13085997513&searchurl=sts%3Dt%26tn%3DL%2592Atlas%2520photographique%2520de%2520la%2520Lune

Helpfully, they show us a picture of JPL as part of the segment, together with a picture of a probe orbiting a planetary body. Hilariously, it's Messenger orbiting Mercury.

Offline onebigmonkey

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2016, 07:05:02 AM »
Jeez, their name just keeps getting more and more appropriate*.  :o
*For those who don't know, syfy is Polish slang for syphilis.

It's because they broadcast claptrap :D

Online Zakalwe

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2016, 08:28:48 AM »
Here is a prime example of just how dishonest these people are - I'm writing this up now but am waiting for China's images to come back online so I can get their shots of the area.

At about 45:30 minutes in they examine a photograph that they claim was 'discovered at JPL' showing a pipeline connecting Manilius crater to Mare Serenitatis. Worth nothing here that they identify neither the origin of the photograph nor the name of the crater or mare.


That's the Rima Hyginus and Rima Ariadaeus...anyone that has looked at the Moon through a 4" or larger telescope should be familiar with these features.
Here's an image that I took way back in 2011:



Youve got to approach these programs as poor entertainment for the hard-of-thinking. Don't assume that anything presented in them bears any resemblance to anything like a fact. They are pure fiction and are designed to appeal to people that can barely read....
"The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' " - Isaac Asimov

Offline onebigmonkey

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2016, 08:40:45 AM »
Nice picture :)

I already had a very similar one taken by Lick Observatory in the 1930s published in Dinsmore Alter's 'Lunar Atlas' and it was bugging me that there must be an original out there, hence my searching.

You know it's bull, I know it's bull, but there are people out there who buy into this nonsense unquestioningly. My mission is not just to say "it's bull", but to point out exactly why.

Offline bknight

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2016, 09:31:11 AM »
Here is a prime example of just how dishonest these people are - I'm writing this up now but am waiting for China's images to come back online so I can get their shots of the area.

At about 45:30 minutes in they examine a photograph that they claim was 'discovered at JPL' showing a pipeline connecting Manilius crater to Mare Serenitatis. Worth nothing here that they identify neither the origin of the photograph nor the name of the crater or mare.


That's the Rima Hyginus and Rima Ariadaeus...anyone that has looked at the Moon through a 4" or larger telescope should be familiar with these features.
Here's an image that I took way back in 2011:



Youve got to approach these programs as poor entertainment for the hard-of-thinking. Don't assume that anything presented in them bears any resemblance to anything like a fact. They are pure fiction and are designed to appeal to people that can barely read....
So uum, where is the pipeline?
I won't go and waste any time watching the program, but I'm sure the UFO ologists might be foaming at the mouth with this "new" discovery. :)
Truth needs no defense.  Nobody can take those footsteps I made on the surface of the moon away from me.
Eugene Cernan

Online Zakalwe

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #8 on: February 28, 2016, 10:27:09 AM »
They are referring to two long features on the Lunar surface: Rima Hyginus and Rima Ariadaeus.
Rima Hyginus is a collapsed lava tunnel and Rima Ariadaeus is a graben, formed when a section of the crust sank between two parallel fault lines. It'd take either a spectacular imagination (and, indeed, one that couldn't be bothered to do the tiniest bit of research) to think that it was a pipeline, or someone that has a financial interest in selling rubbish programs to crap TV channels. I'll let you work out which one is the likeliest in this case...

Amazing, isn't it...the easier it is to find information the more the stupidity of some people seems to grow. There really is a sucker born every minute.
"The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' " - Isaac Asimov

Offline onebigmonkey

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #9 on: February 28, 2016, 11:38:35 AM »
It's not even that simple a misunderstanding.

As I mentioned above, they are referring to this:



and here is the Kaguya image from the same spot, which I stitched together from 9 separate tiles:


Offline bknight

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2016, 08:10:07 PM »
It's not even that simple a misunderstanding.

As I mentioned above, they are referring to this:



and here is the Kaguya image from the same spot, which I stitched together from 9 separate tiles:


I'm glad you pointed it out, because it looks so much like a pipeline, NOT.
Truth needs no defense.  Nobody can take those footsteps I made on the surface of the moon away from me.
Eugene Cernan

Offline smartcooky

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #11 on: February 28, 2016, 11:44:46 PM »
It's not even that simple a misunderstanding.

As I mentioned above, they are referring to this:



and here is the Kaguya image from the same spot, which I stitched together from 9 separate tiles:



This is a very good example of what happens when people try to determine what something might be from a high contrast, blunt (out of focus) photograph with its attendant loss of detail and tonal range. At the left hand end of your red marked area, there is a part that looks for all the world like a round, cylindrical pipe-like object passing though the walls and the top end of the crater. The apparition is reinforced by random shadows and lighting to the right that happen to roughly line up with it. But when you find a sharp photograph with good contrast, the apparition is lost and you can see what it really is.

Probably the most famous example of this is the Cydonia "Face on Mars"



The image on the left is the original Viking photo taken in 1976. Its blurry and not in good focus, and it is covered with image data errors (the black dots). The two images on the right were taken with the Mars Orbital Camera in 1998 (they are actually the same image but one is tonally inverted, i.e. its a negative. When you see the sharp, lower contract image, the "face" apparition disappears, yet almost 20 years later, there are still nutjobs who insist the face exists and keep going back the the old Viking photo as evidence.

Here is an example I made up...



Of course, I know what it actually is, and I also have an idea what people might think it looks like, but I am not going reveal that because I don't want to put my idea into people's heads, and I would ask that others don't post what they think it looks like for 24 hours. All will then be revealed!
If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong.

Offline onebigmonkey

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #12 on: February 29, 2016, 01:45:48 AM »
ALIENS!!


Offline Tedward

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #13 on: February 29, 2016, 03:45:49 AM »
To be fair, they did broadcast that excellent documentary on sharks last night, in the UK.

(I do tend to avoid the CT element)

Offline bknight

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Re: That stupid Syfy documentary on Aliens...
« Reply #14 on: February 29, 2016, 09:50:17 AM »
Here is an example I made up...



Of course, I know what it actually is, and I also have an idea what people might think it looks like, but I am not going reveal that because I don't want to put my idea into people's heads, and I would ask that others don't post what they think it looks like for 24 hours. All will then be revealed!
I know, I know, it is the heart of the moon! :)
Truth needs no defense.  Nobody can take those footsteps I made on the surface of the moon away from me.
Eugene Cernan