Author Topic: Quiet  (Read 14994 times)

Offline gwiz

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #15 on: July 02, 2013, 09:36:29 AM »
I suppose what got my interest was a children's comic, Eagle, which featured on its front page the adventures of Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future, who flew around the solar system meeting the inhabitants of, mainly, Venus.  By the time Sputnik was launched, I was already taking a magazine called Flying Review which had good space coverage and I had already read a few non-fiction books on astronautics.  After that I naturally followed the developing space programmes of both the USSR and USA.  While my engineering career was mainly on the aircraft side of the aerospace industry, I did get involved in the early days of the Shuttle as a member of the Hawker-Siddeley team that collaborated with McDonnell-Douglas on the Phase B design studies, back when the thing was going to be fully reusable.

As to the Apollo hoax, I first came across that in 1997 when a colleague at British Aerospace showed me a copy of X-factor magazine and challenged me to refute their claims.  It was a few years later that I discovered the extensive presence of the hoax on the Internet.
Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign of a diseased mind - Terry Pratchett
...the ascent module ... took off like a rocket - Moon Man

Offline Glom

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #16 on: July 02, 2013, 01:37:01 PM »
Quiet, everyone! I'm listening out for HB's.

I first learned of the conspiracy theory through the Fox Special. It was from there I sought to learn more and that was what actually got me interested. Funny how these things work.

Offline Donnie B.

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #17 on: July 02, 2013, 07:29:48 PM »
Quiet, everyone! I'm listening out for HB's.

Not wabbits?

Offline gtvc

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #18 on: July 02, 2013, 07:34:09 PM »
first time I found about about the moon hoax was on the internet in the nineties 1996 I used to believe everything on the net, and I was living near Kennedy Space Center  :(  :P

Offline ka9q

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #19 on: July 03, 2013, 12:40:20 AM »
Quiet, everyone! I'm listening out for HB's.

Not wabbits?

Of course not. It's duck theathon!

Offline Jason Thompson

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #20 on: July 03, 2013, 07:22:21 AM »
Quiet, everyone! I'm listening out for HB's.

Not wabbits?

Of course not. It's duck theathon!


Wabbit theathon!
"There's this idea that everyone's opinion is equally valid. My arse! Bloke who was a professor of dentistry for forty years does NOT have a debate with some eejit who removes his teeth with string and a door!"  - Dara O'Briain

Offline Andromeda

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #21 on: July 03, 2013, 08:40:46 AM »
Quiet, everyone! I'm listening out for HB's.

Not wabbits?

Of course not. It's duck theathon!


Wabbit theathon!

And YOU are a dirty skunk...
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'" - Isaac Asimov.

Offline Jason Thompson

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #22 on: July 03, 2013, 06:01:29 PM »
Quiet, everyone! I'm listening out for HB's.

Not wabbits?

Of course not. It's duck theathon!


Wabbit theathon!

And YOU are a dirty skunk...

I'm a dirty thkunk? I'M a dirty thkunk?! :)

Meanwhile, back in weality.. um, reality, I can't remember where my interest in manned space flight began. I've been interested in it for as long as I can remember. The Apollo hoax idea was first planted by the Fox documentary back in about 2002, and I was intrigued. Some of it seemed to make sense, but it didn't seem right somehow. I was intrigued enough to buy Dark Moon and the accompanying video (five hours I will never get back!), and I discovered Clavius, Bad Astronomy and Apollohoax shortly thereafter. And the more I learned about the hoax arguments and the reasons they were bunk the more fascinated I became by the whole business of manned space flight. Then I discovered Spacecraft Films and Andy Chaikin's amazing A Man on the Moon in 2004 and have been building my collection ever since. And here I am today. :)
"There's this idea that everyone's opinion is equally valid. My arse! Bloke who was a professor of dentistry for forty years does NOT have a debate with some eejit who removes his teeth with string and a door!"  - Dara O'Briain

Offline qt

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #23 on: July 04, 2013, 06:03:02 AM »
If I bring it up, it's usually funny--or else so frustrating that I need to vent.

Amazing, I just had lunch with someone who brought up the apollo hoax theories, in a conversation that had not previously involved space, technology, or the like in the slightest way.  He was looking for an example of something really stupid that people believe.

Offline gillianren

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #24 on: July 04, 2013, 12:07:02 PM »
It's a good one, certainly.

Honestly, I never quite know what to say when people talk about polls showing what a huge percentage of Americans allegedly believe in the hoax.  I'm aware that my personal experiences aren't actually evidence, but most of the people I talk to about my time here and at BAUT have literally never heard of the hoax theory before I mentioned it.  It's the same level of incredulity they express at the idea that not all flat-Earth believers are kidding.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline qt

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #25 on: July 04, 2013, 10:11:31 PM »
It's a good one, certainly.

Honestly, I never quite know what to say when people talk about polls showing what a huge percentage of Americans allegedly believe in the hoax.  I'm aware that my personal experiences aren't actually evidence, but most of the people I talk to about my time here and at BAUT have literally never heard of the hoax theory before I mentioned it.  It's the same level of incredulity they express at the idea that not all flat-Earth believers are kidding.

This prompted me to try to look up (via Google) some of the polls.  The Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy_theories claims it is 6-20% in the US, and up to 28% in Russia.

I'm surprised it's that way, I never met anyone who didn't think it was laugh-out-loud stupid.  (If the topic came up.)

On the other hand, I used to know a reasonably well-known mathematician who seemed to believe the space shuttle travelled to the moon.  If he were told about the hoax theories, who knows, maybe in the near total absence of knowledge or experience of such things, he would believe them.  However, I doubt that belief (if it occurred) would survive the slightest counter-arguments.

So I wonder whether a certain percentage of the responses are based on profound ignorance, rather like the way people might think Italy is in South America - they just don't know any better.  Show them a map, and they would most likely revise their opinions.  I'd be interested in knowing the results of a before/after poll, with viewing of some goofumentary and rebuttal in between.

One of the more delightful pieces of information from the Wikipedia page is that some hoaxers cite a mockumentary as evidence :eek:

Offline gillianren

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #26 on: July 04, 2013, 10:21:54 PM »
Oh, yeah, you hadn't heard about that one?  Happens all the time.  I'm eventually going to have to seek it out and watch it; it sounds funny.

I'm pretty sure, too, that it's about to get quieter around here for a bit.  I suspect I'm about to go offline for a while.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline Sus_pilot

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #27 on: July 05, 2013, 02:20:11 AM »
Oh, yeah, you hadn't heard about that one?  Happens all the time.  I'm eventually going to have to seek it out and watch it; it sounds funny.

I'm pretty sure, too, that it's about to get quieter around here for a bit.  I suspect I'm about to go offline for a while.

Good luck!

Pool on weight and date, anyone?

Offline Andromeda

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #28 on: July 05, 2013, 12:52:58 PM »
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'" - Isaac Asimov.

Offline George Tirebiter

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Re: Quiet
« Reply #29 on: July 06, 2013, 12:24:45 AM »
I'm pretty sure, too, that it's about to get quieter around here for a bit.  I suspect I'm about to go offline for a while.

Have you reached the stage yet where whenever you leave the apartment, people give you that look that says, "please, lady, don't have it here"?