Tuesday Overnight Open Thread - March 24, 2026 [Doof]

From Abby

Greetings to you, ONT conversationalists all across the fruited plain! {typo corrected}

So glad you are here. Open thread, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?

***

Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?

UFO Sightings Surge Across North America Ahead of “Alien Abduction Day”

As March 20—National Alien Abduction Day—rolls around again, a fresh wave of data is stirring up conversation, curiosity… and maybe a little unease. Across the United States and Canada, thousands of reported UFO sightings are painting a strange, flickering map of where the unexplained seems to linger most.
And honestly, the numbers feel less like trivia and more like something you might glance at twice before heading outside at night.
According to Casino.ca’s reporting on newly analyzed reports sourced from the National UFO Reporting Center and social media discussions, UFO sightings continue to cluster in unexpected places. Delaware, surprisingly, has emerged as America’s top hotspot. With one reported sighting for every 928 residents, the small state has logged over 1,000 encounters since 1974—many involving glowing cylinders and hovering lights that don’t quite behave like anything… familiar.

Up north, Canada tells a slightly different story, and it’s arguably more intense. Alberta now claims the title of the country’s UFO capital, with one sighting for every 568 residents. Wide open skies, fewer city lights—perfect conditions, depending on how you look at it.

Interesting stuff! Any of you willing to admit you've seen a UFO?

-----

Hochul learns that FAFO applies to her tax and spend schemes

🚨 LMFAO! New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is being mocked nationwide after she BEGGED people to move back from Florida

4 years ago, she was GLOATING, saying Republicans should "jump on a bus and head down to Florida"

Mamdani will make the problem EVEN WORSE!pic.twitter.com/UMwZAIzBWC
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 19, 2026

Voting with your feet is real and spectacular!

-----

So satisfying to watch!

I could use this in my life right now.

Okay, that will be $6,000 sir.

This speaks to my brain on another level. 😂 pic.twitter.com/MmZzz25TXl
— 👉M-Û-R-Č-H👈 (@TheEXECUTlONER_) March 17, 2026

Question for the 'ettes -- is this as kewl to you as it is to us guys?

-----

I wonder if John Bender is still there in detention?

On this day 42 years ago…. pic.twitter.com/MOqO13DgKX
— 80s Nostalgia Channel (@80s_channel) March 24, 2026

The Breakfast Club seems to bring out big opinions among the Horde. As a Gen X'er who watched the film more times than I can count, I still hold it in high regard - quoting it regularly. Some of you either didn't get it, or you might think it's overrated. As was said in a different 80s movie, "opinions vary".

What say you? Like it, love it, hate it? Favorite scenes or lines?

-----

Remember big league pitcher Randy Johnson - aka "The Big Unit"? He played for a lot of teams during his career. The first was the old Montreal Expos. He wasn't there long.

Throw a ball through a bird?? Yup - that happened 25 years ago today.

-----

Rock and Roll in the Great White North and also Down Under

Up first - Who Are the ‘Big 4′ of Canadian Rock Bands?

Spoiler alert - Of course my favorite band made the list. Can you guess the other 3? Hint - one isn't actually a band, but rather a solo artist.

***

Moving to the southern hemisphere - Who Are the ‘Big 4′ of Australian Rock Bands?

One of these is probably a slam dunk guess for most of you. The second one is another one of my all time favorite bands, so I'm glad they made the list. Think you can figure them all out?

Curious as to your thoughts on both lists!

***

DJ Doof - Other Hoseheads and Aussies Edition

These artists didn't make the lists linked in the last segment. Should any of them have made it over one who did?

***

Tonight's ONT brought to you by reminders

***

Doof Enterprises, LLC thanks you for showing up once again to be whelmed. You are appreciated - to the exact amount that you can understand.

Your feedback may or may not be very important to Doof Enterprises. Follow Mr. Doof on X @doof2112 or do the email thing – doof2112 at proton dot me.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 This one's for the Boss as he eases into antiquity
https://youtu.be/vapoNZBrGxA

Posted by: mindful webworker taps the Moronificial Intelligencia at March 24, 2026 10:00 PM (jrd4M)

2 First

Posted by: John at March 24, 2026 10:01 PM (Risui)

3 Yay

Posted by: fourseasons at March 24, 2026 10:01 PM (3ek7K)

4 Good evening morons y gracias Disco

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 24, 2026 10:01 PM (RIvkX)

5 Meow

Posted by: Lurking Cheshirecat at March 24, 2026 10:01 PM (w3u3d)

6 Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?
---
Yessir! And I've got the rectal probe to prove it!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2026 10:02 PM (ESVrU)

7 Evenin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at March 24, 2026 10:03 PM (sAmhv)

8 Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?

Would we be commenting if we did?

Or maybe UFOs have good wi-fi.

Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 10:03 PM (VHUov)

9 That's a lot easier than digging up a stump with a shovel and a pry bar.

Posted by: huerfano at March 24, 2026 10:04 PM (98kQX)

10 Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?

We're gonna need a bigger pot of mashed potatoes.

Posted by: Chief Brody at March 24, 2026 10:05 PM (wVcYX)

11 That's a lot easier than digging up a stump with a shovel and a pry bar.

To say nothing of teaspoons.

Posted by: Milton Friedman at March 24, 2026 10:05 PM (Riz8t)

12 > What's on YOUR mind tonight?
---

the worry that Trump and US will leave islamic clerics in charge of Iran when we declare victory and go home

how many times can we f*** these people over

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:05 PM (ZxPkt)

13 I see Delaware is #1 in alien 'encounters,' that might explain Joey, Jill, and Hunter. They all got probed.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:06 PM (2GVsD)

14 I liked The Breakfast Club and saw it in theaters.

I told my parents the next day if they wanted to understand contemporary youth, it was worth a watch.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 24, 2026 10:06 PM (RIvkX)

15 UFO sightings continue to cluster in unexpected places. Delaware, surprisingly, has emerged as America’s top hotspot. With one reported sighting for every 928 residents

Wait, Minnesota is in 41st place?

So we're the 10th-most-sane state, for once?

Posted by: mikeski isn't as crazy as he thinks at March 24, 2026 10:06 PM (VHUov)

16 Thanks Doof.

I'm heading upstairs. One of the Unexplained shows had this in the description on the History channel.

"Something crashes at a top secret US military base, but is it a UFO?"

Lol. How fortuitous would it be for aliens to deliver? Right to the top secret US military base?

Posted by: Stateless - Day 5 - dog care at March 24, 2026 10:07 PM (Sco7b)

17 Which Breakfast Club character were you?

Posted by: davidt at March 24, 2026 10:08 PM (Q+gd/)

18 At some point the dude digging up that tree root was just showing off. I want to buy that man a beer.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Trumpy can do magic at March 24, 2026 10:08 PM (0aYVJ)

19 Yes, Doof. It’s cool. I wouldn’t seek it out, but I understand the fascination.

Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 10:08 PM (Wmg4n)

20 I liked The Breakfast Club and saw it in theaters.

I told my parents the next day if they wanted to understand contemporary youth, it was worth a watch.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 24, 2026 10:06 PM (RIvkX)

They probably thought of the movie back then the way we think about "six seven" today.

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:08 PM (QMAsf)

21 The aliens saw the Somalis move into Minnesota and decided to give it a pass.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:08 PM (2GVsD)

22 Thanks for the ONT.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at March 24, 2026 10:09 PM (zZu0s)

23 Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?
=
I don't know.

I'll tell you once I've had some hypno-therapy.

Posted by: Methos at March 24, 2026 10:09 PM (vSvIl)

24 Sorry I'm late, I was getting my bowling ball a tune-up.

Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:10 PM (9uW/C)

25 "Any of you willing to admit you've seen a UFO?"

Sure. Right at Midnight on July 4, 1976. Me & a friend saw a flying object we couldn't identify.

Funny thing, we had just been talking about his younger brother & friends being chased a few nights earlier, down back roads in Arkansas by something overhead that kept a spotlight on them.

They telepathically listen. They knew what we were saying. They tease us for their own amusement. Just like Alexa.

Posted by: mindful webworker heard it whooshing by at March 24, 2026 10:10 PM (jrd4M)

26 At some point the dude digging up that tree root was just showing off. I want to buy that man a beer.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Trumpy can do magic at March 24, 2026 10:08 PM (0aYVJ)

Same. But I want to see him open it and pour it with that rig!

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:10 PM (QMAsf)

27 I have seen many flying objects I could not identify.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 24, 2026 10:10 PM (/lPRQ)

28 Yes, Doof. It’s cool. I wouldn’t seek it out, but I understand the fascination.
Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 10:08 PM (Wmg4n)

My X feed and yours probably look quite different!

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:11 PM (QMAsf)

29 John Bender is the principal of Shermer High School now. Hw the worm has turned.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Trumpy can do magic at March 24, 2026 10:12 PM (0aYVJ)

30 Up first - Who Are the ‘Big 4′ of Canadian Rock Bands?

Spoiler alert - Of course my favorite band made the list. Can you guess the other 3? Hint - one isn't actually a band, but rather a solo artist.

I "guessed" one of the other ones. I didn't know the third was Canuckian.

I'm glad the solo artist wasn't Celine.

Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 10:12 PM (VHUov)

31 Thanks for another dandy Tuesday Night ONT, Doof!

Great photo up top.

And, yes, the tree stump demolisher is tres kewl. It almost looks like a steel dinosaur in action. Very skilled operator behind the controls.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at March 24, 2026 10:12 PM (vrNzf)

32 Which Breakfast Club character were you?
Posted by: davidt at March 24, 2026 10:08 PM (Q+gd/)

Brian Johnson, definitely.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2026 10:12 PM (ExV1e)

33 I'm happy that the mystery click wasn't from Field of Dreams.

Dust in the Wind, by Kansas, might have worked. Tim McGraw's Down on the Farm might work.

https://youtu.be/9YFCZb3rLb8

Here's another Tim McGraw song that I think many in the Horde would agree with.

https://youtu.be/_9TShlMkQnc

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 24, 2026 10:12 PM (S/Y4j)

34 Arrogant Worms is probably not on that list of top Canadian bands.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:12 PM (2GVsD)

35 The only quote from "The Breakfast Club" that I remember is, "Demented and sad, but social."

Contrary to popular belief, I have not actually modeled my life after that quote.

Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (9uW/C)

36 Howdy, Doof!

Great mystery click but, based on the picture, I was half expecting Carrie Underwood's "Blown Away". Looks like tornado weather...

Posted by: Matthew Kant Cipher at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (qVGoX)

37 The Breakfast Club ?
Never seen it.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (/lPRQ)

38 Those kids were way younger and obviously rich north shore pussies, I didn't see myself remotely in any of the characters. Whose parents are driving them to school?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (RIvkX)

39 Wait, Minnesota is in 41st place?

So we're the 10th-most-sane state, for once?
Posted by: mikeski isn't as crazy as he thinks at March 24, 2026 10:06 PM (VHUov)

Aliens don't want Somalis either.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (ExV1e)

40 Don't know what the stump digger machine is called, but I do want on now.

Also happy to see The Guess Who on the Canuck list. Listened to them a fair bit as a kiddo.

Posted by: She Hobbit at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (ftFVW)

41 Good evening everyone

I watched and enjoyed the full stump digger clip. Amazing how having the right tool for the job makes the work so much easier.

Thanks for the ONT doof!

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (RkOfE)

42 US sends 15-point plan to end war with Iran as Trump says the regime has agreed to scrap nuclear program
----

it's a regime that has as one of its core tenets, LYING to non-muslims to gain advantage

JFC and FFS
also OMG and AYFKM

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:14 PM (ZxPkt)

43 Spoiler alert - Of course my favorite band made the list. Can you guess the other 3? Hint - one isn't actually a band, but rather a solo artist.

Ann Murray

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 24, 2026 10:14 PM (/lPRQ)

44 The Breakfast Club ?
Never seen it.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (/lPRQ)

It was a pretty good movie.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2026 10:14 PM (ExV1e)

45 how many times can we f*** these people over
Posted by: Don Black

Sorry. We owe them nothing. If Persians want to rule their destiny, they need to fight and sweat and bleed and die for it. If we do it for them, it won’t last. It’s false. It can be taken away.

We Americans are giving our freedom away. Our forefathers died for it. And we are squandering it.

Posted by: nurse ratched at March 24, 2026 10:15 PM (A5RD0)

46 The Breakfast Club was ok. When I first saw it, none of the main characters resonated with me. I wouldn't hang with any of them, but I've always had strong introverted tendencies. I watched it recently, and I still think it's ok. Now, being over 29, I find the principle and janitor more relevant (Paul Gleason was a great character actor). Still liked the soundtrack quite a bit.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at March 24, 2026 10:15 PM (sAmhv)

47 I never had the nerve to try it, but it seems like digging a hole in under a stump and putting a couple pounds of tannerite would be fun.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2026 10:15 PM (D4x+R)

48 I "guessed" one of the other ones. I didn't know the third was Canuckian.

I'm glad the solo artist wasn't Celine.
Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 10:12 PM (VHUov)

The 2 bands other than Rush have a common member. Count them as a combo entity, and I might agree that they belong in the top 4. But I'm going with Triumph as the #2 regardless.

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:15 PM (QMAsf)

49 When you wrote that one of the Canadian "Big 4" was a solo artist, I was afraid it was going to be Neil Young.

Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (9uW/C)

50 Stump-plucker is AWESOME!

Thanks, Doof. Great content tonight!

Posted by: JQ at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (rdVOm)

51 I never had the nerve to try it, but it seems like digging a hole in under a stump and putting a couple pounds of tannerite would be fun.

Orbital or suborbital?

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (2GVsD)

52 Sorry I'm late, I was getting my bowling ball a tune-up.
Posted by: tankdemon

Lots of lane oil to clean out of it? Sand it to get the surface right?

Maybe I should have enlisted Mr. Rothlisberger for this one?

Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (VHUov)

53 Testing 1, 2, 3

Posted by: JohnFNotKerry at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (Risui)

54 Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?

-----

Did ICE get rid of all of them already?

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (S/Y4j)

55 Mindless troll near the end of the last thread.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (8zz6B)

56 ok, posted on last thread, but..

"Nikita Bier
@nikitabier
1h
Starting Thursday, we'll be updating our revenue sharing incentives to better reward the content we want on X:

We will be giving more weight to impressions from your home region—to encourage content that resonates with people in your country, in neighboring countries and people who speak your language.

While we appreciate everyone's opinion on American politics, we hope this will disincentivize gaming the attention of US or Japanese accounts and instead, drive diverse conversations on the platform.

We invite creators to start building an audience locally. X will be a much richer community when there's relevant posts for people in all parts of the world"

You know what that means, right ?

Posted by: runner at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (GD0B3)

57 Being a class of 1984 graduate, I can say that Sixteen Candles was way better than The Breakfast Club. I hated that movie.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (0aYVJ)

58 US sends 15-point plan to end war with Iran as Trump says the regime has agreed to scrap nuclear program
----

it's a regime that has as one of its core tenets, LYING to non-muslims to gain advantage

JFC and FFS
also OMG and AYFKM
Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:14 PM (ZxPkt)

1. Maybe don't freak out until you know what the 15 points are.
2. I'm betting that one of them, the one designed to ensure that they scrap their nuclear program, is surrendering all their uranium.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2026 10:17 PM (ExV1e)

59 I've never seen a UFO. My cousin and uncle said they saw a UFO while driving across the Texas Panhandle at night. My brother said he and his wife saw one while they were night fishing in northwest New Mexico. None of them are prone to lying. Who knows?

Posted by: huerfano at March 24, 2026 10:17 PM (98kQX)

60 The stump digger is cool. I still have the stump of a rhododendron in my garden that died during some long-ago drought.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 24, 2026 10:17 PM (RIvkX)

61 Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?
---
Yessir! And I've got the rectal probe to prove it!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel
==

They let you keep it ?

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 24, 2026 10:17 PM (/lPRQ)

62 Howdy, Doof!

Great mystery click but, based on the picture, I was half expecting Carrie Underwood's "Blown Away". Looks like tornado weather...
Posted by: Matthew Kant Cipher at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (qVGoX)

Dang. Your choice works great! I wasn't going for a connection tonight -- someone made reference to Shattered in a comment earlier today, so it has been an earworm since then. I had to let it escape!

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:18 PM (QMAsf)

63 I’ve definitely seen a UFO, more than one. That doesn’t mean I’ve seen any alien spaceships, though. It means I’ve seen some things up there that make me say “what in holy fuck was that???”

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2026 10:18 PM (D4x+R)

64 Loved the Shattered up top. Keith has invented many memorable riffs in the last 60+ years. He has always slept with a guitar and recording device at bedside in case he dreams some musical tidbit during the night.

Posted by: Midnight Rambler at March 24, 2026 10:18 PM (oftw2)

65 Of the Ozzie "Big 4" I was surprised to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, but they kick ass. Not recommended if you aren't into gloom 'n' doom.

Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:18 PM (9uW/C)

66 What terrifies a school of nailfish?

An inept carpenter with a hammerhead.

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 24, 2026 10:19 PM (S/Y4j)

67 snl alien abduction...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfPdYYsEfAE

Posted by: davidt at March 24, 2026 10:19 PM (Q+gd/)

68 When you wrote that one of the Canadian "Big 4" was a solo artist, I was afraid it was going to be Neil Young.

Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (9uW/C)

Be honest -- you actually thought it was Justin Bieber.

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:20 PM (QMAsf)

69 SNL? Coneheads.

"Consume mass quantities."

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:20 PM (2GVsD)

70 28 Yes, Doof. It’s cool. I wouldn’t seek it out, but I understand the fascination.
Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 10:08 PM (Wmg4n)

My X feed and yours probably look quite different!
Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:11 PM (QMAsf)

You would be proud to know mine is blowing up (giggle) over a fart joke right now. And no, I am not remotely kidding.

Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 10:20 PM (Wmg4n)

71 Arrogant Worms is probably not on that list of top Canadian bands.
Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:12 PM (2GVsD)

Sadly, no. I would deep-six Bryan Adams, and replace him with Crowbar, who very definitely could rock out.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2026 10:20 PM (8zz6B)

72 I thought I saw a UFO about 3 years ago but publius explained it was a Starlink satellite deployment.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 24, 2026 10:21 PM (RIvkX)

73 Avoided "The Breakfast Club" like the plague.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 10:21 PM (jmsL3)

74 The outlet’s report contains 14 of the 15 demands the Trump administration has conveyed to Iran.

Iran must dismantle existing nuclear capabilities
Iran must commit never to pursue nuclear weapons.
No uranium enrichment on Iranian territory.
Iran must hand its stockpile of enriched uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo nuclear facilities must be dismantled.
The IAEA must be granted full access to Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iran must abandon its “regional proxy paradigm.”
Iran must cease the funding, directing and arming its proxies.
The Strait of Hormuz must remain open.
Iran’s missile program must be limited in both range and quantity.
Iran must limit its use of missiles to self-defense.

In return, Iran would benefit from:

The end of sanctions imposed by the international community.
US assistance to advance its civilian nuclear program.
A “snapback” mechanism allowing for the automatic reimposition of sanctions if Iran fails to comply would be removed.

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:21 PM (ZxPkt)

75 Best Canadian band?

3 Inches of Blood.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, at March 24, 2026 10:21 PM (0aYVJ)

76 I was wondering. if there's a correlation between the number of UFO sightings and the geographic area or the population

"And that's why you don't have a girlfriend."

Posted by: JM in Illinois at March 24, 2026 10:21 PM (YqdGw)

77 The Breakfast Club ?
Never seen it.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (/lPRQ)

Join the club.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2026 10:22 PM (8zz6B)

78 I liked Ally Sheedy

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:22 PM (ZxPkt)

79 Many memorable Canuck bands and artists, Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Steppenwolf, BTO, Neil, of course.

Posted by: Hosers at March 24, 2026 10:22 PM (oftw2)

80 Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?

I brought my little sister to the top of the highest hill in town and held a sign reading, "Free Test Subject," but I guess there weren't any UFO's conducting experiments today.

Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:22 PM (9uW/C)

81 15 points because Japan used 14 parts for its message breaking off diplomatic relations.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:22 PM (2GVsD)

82 nl alien abduction...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfPdYYsEfAE
Posted by: davidt

One of the very few semi-recent snl sketches that is funny.

Posted by: She Hobbit at March 24, 2026 10:22 PM (ftFVW)

83 Stump-plucker is AWESOME!

Thanks, Doof. Great content tonight!
Posted by: JQ at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (rdVOm)

Howdy, barkeep!

Glad you enjoyed the content. I started in a completely different direction, inspired by a theme in comments to a daytime thread today. That stuff got punted to Thursday though. It'll keep!

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:23 PM (QMAsf)

84 Wasn't Ally Sheedy kinda like the proto-Emo girl in that movie?

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:24 PM (2GVsD)

85 The DEFINITIVE Top 4 Canadian Bands list (in no particular order, because even "album sales" is time/era dependent):

Rush
Bachman Turner Overdrive
Triumph
April Wine

Posted by: Crusader at March 24, 2026 10:24 PM (Cjcf6)

86 I'm a buzzkill, I know

look- flying saucers
oh no

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:24 PM (ZxPkt)

87 Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:14 PM (ZxPkt)

I'm still getting news updates in email that seem to suggest more American forces are headed that way, so I'm not really sure declaring victory and moving on to something else is really the plan.

Trump says a lot of shit, particularly when bombs are dropping, and it may or may not mean anything.

Posted by: Methos at March 24, 2026 10:25 PM (vSvIl)

88 If individual artists like Adams are included in the list, like him or hate him I don't think Neil Young can be left off a list of one Canada's greatest rockers. The guy is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Twice.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 10:25 PM (viF8m)

89 I remember the Guess Who. Burton Cummings is a real singer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MyeHH5uJzY&t=100s

Posted by: huerfano at March 24, 2026 10:25 PM (98kQX)

90 I'm a buzzkill, I know

look- flying saucers
oh no
Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:24 PM (ZxPkt)

Flying saucers can be dangerous. Filled flying coffee cups are worse.

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 24, 2026 10:26 PM (S/Y4j)

91 I'm glad the solo artist wasn't Celine.
Posted by: mikeski

The 2 bands other than Rush have a common member. Count them as a combo entity, and I might agree that they belong in the top 4. But I'm going with Triumph as the #2 regardless.
Posted by: Doof

I've got that Triumph album. Musically, better than the rest. But the McDonalds Argument is what they're going by; sales = popularity = quality.

Solo Canadian artist..... again, hard to argue with his sales figures.

But Heavy Devy kicks his scrawny butt right into Hudson Bay, eh?

https://youtu.be/8apZ3ci9J40
https://youtu.be/NurwvilJh0U

Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 10:26 PM (VHUov)

92 Flaming flying pie tins are even worse

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:26 PM (2GVsD)

93 You would be proud to know mine is blowing up (giggle) over a fart joke right now. And no, I am not remotely kidding.
Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 10:20 PM (Wmg4n)

Farts (and stuff that sound like farts) are never not funny!

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:26 PM (QMAsf)

94 Greetings to you, ONT conversationalists all across the fruited plane!

Is the pilot gay?

Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2026 10:26 PM (2WIwB)

95 I have several Randy Johnson rookie cards of different brands. That was right smack in the baseball card glut though so I don't think they go for much.

Posted by: steevy at March 24, 2026 10:27 PM (YwEeS)

96 I liked Ally Sheedy
Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:22 PM (ZxPkt)

Me too, but The Breakfast Club sucked. All the way.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Trumpy can do magic at March 24, 2026 10:27 PM (0aYVJ)

97 Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?
---
Yessir! And I've got the rectal probe to prove it!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel
==

They let you keep it ?
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 24, 2026 10:17 PM (/lPRQ)
---
Of course! How else are they gonna plant subliminal messages in my brain?

(I suspect their grasp of human biology might be a bit lacking, hence the probe...)

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2026 10:27 PM (ESVrU)

98 Comin' up blank, Doof.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 24, 2026 10:28 PM (1Ff7Z)

99 The DEFINITIVE Top 4 Canadian Bands list (in no particular order, because even "album sales" is time/era dependent):

Rush
Bachman Turner Overdrive
Triumph
April Wine
Posted by: Crusader at March 24, 2026 10:24 PM (Cjcf6)

April Wine is definitely underrated and overlooked in the discussion of Canadian Rock bands.

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:28 PM (QMAsf)

100 I have to ask. Is this "Perfesser" Squirrel's theme song?

https://youtu.be/K16fG1sDagU

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 24, 2026 10:28 PM (S/Y4j)

101 Heart started out in Canada as they went up there with their draft dodger boyfriends...

Posted by: steevy at March 24, 2026 10:28 PM (YwEeS)

102 Mindless troll near the end of the last thread.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

Wasn't me! I tried to leave a call to the ONT, but I guess I forgot to hit Post.

Oh...

Mindless troll. Never miiiind.

Posted by: mindful webworker channeling Roseanne Rosannadanna at March 24, 2026 10:28 PM (jrd4M)

103 "Greetings to you, ONT conversationalists all across the fruited plane!"

Here in California it's the fruity plain.....

Thank you for ONT Doof!

On to digesting content.....and dinner...

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 10:28 PM (QGaXH)

104 I guess I just want the Hollywood ending

we capture or kill all their leaders
the people restore their country
America is hailed as a liberator once again
everybody's happy

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:29 PM (ZxPkt)

105 When you sleep that anal probe turns into a Ku band satellite dish.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:29 PM (2GVsD)

106 Gale Garnett is a Canadian artist who should have been a bigger star. Won Folk Grammy in 1965, beating out Dylan for We'll Sing In The Sunshine. Some moderate Pop success after that, then headed a psychedelic band 1968-71, or so. Was mostly out of music by 1980, but became a successful novelist after. Beautiful alto voice with a great "bottom" to it like a purr. She was born in NZ, moved to Canada, age 11.

Posted by: Gale Garnett and the Gentle Reign at March 24, 2026 10:29 PM (oftw2)

107 When I was about 10, I noticed a circle of flashing / rotating lights hovering near our parked car. It was hard to see through the trees, but it appeared to follow us when we started driving. We went maybe half a mile until the trees thinned out, and at that point I got my one-and-only in-person look at a real-life, genuine...

Goodyear Blimp. I have no idea why it was over our town, or what message it was flashing, but it sure had us going for a few minutes.

Posted by: PabloD at March 24, 2026 10:30 PM (8sD0/)

108 My very own governor also invited us to leave the state.

https://tinyurl.com/2pmtjtnt

It's only the influx of illegals that has kept the population stable
How are they at paying taxes?

Posted by: JM in Illinois at March 24, 2026 10:30 PM (ERDLG)

109 Guy taking out tree stump obviously has no gas, electric, water, or sewer mains in that yard.

Posted by: GWB at March 24, 2026 10:30 PM (OmQ3D)

110 If individual artists like Adams are included in the list, like him or hate him I don't think Neil Young can be left off a list of one Canada's greatest rockers. The guy is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Twice.
Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 10:25 PM (viF8m)

I can't disagree with you there. I'm far from a fan of his, but yeah he belongs in the list of top solo artists from Canada. The article linked above should have chosen bands or solo - not both.

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:30 PM (QMAsf)

111 Thanks, Doof.

The Guess Who & Bachman Turner Overdrive.

Lucky for me we did not have a HS breakfast club. However, I am fairly certain my "permanent record" was the thickest of the principal's index cards. Stupid stuff like talking in class, being late for class due to talking in the hall. No bombs or razor fights or smoking or anything of note.

My worst was having a guy who took me to a dance talk me into the Beta Club photo (I was not in the Beta Club). The editor, who was a friend of mine & later apologized, went loco and reported me. Pity as it was a really good photo of me.

The enraged principal told me I'd have to pay for a new photo. Ok, no problem.

Found out after HS that he mostly hated me due to my last name. Apparently, growing up in the city, my Daddy was part of an elementary school gang and he must have been picked on.

He never called my parents & said, "Your crazy daughter is here in my office again. As usual she does not seem worried that she will never amount to anything or have a job" (yes, he said that to me). I never told my parents, either, big deal. Now I want my permanent record.

Any tips on reviving energy after a virus,please let me know.Tired.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026 10:30 PM (WONhk)

112 Never saw Breakfast Club. We were busy with three young kids in 1984.

Have thought maybe we would watch it some day. Haven't.

Posted by: mindful webworker was busy that day at March 24, 2026 10:31 PM (jrd4M)

113 We need an overlay map to place on top of that "UFO Hotspots" map. The overlay will highlight the highest drinking States per capita. I'm betting it matches up pretty closely.

Posted by: Orson at March 24, 2026 10:31 PM (dIske)

114 >Me too, but The Breakfast Club sucked. All the way.

Posted by: Pug Mahon
---

well, I liked her in general, and that movie was silly

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:31 PM (ZxPkt)

115 we capture or kill all their leaders
the people restore their country
America is hailed as a liberator once again
everybody's happy
Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:29 PM (ZxPkt)

Well, they are working on Step One. Going quite well, it appears. Third assistant mosque janitors are now not reporting for work.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2026 10:31 PM (8zz6B)

116 Arrogant Worms is probably not on that list of top Canadian bands.
Posted by: Anna Puma

Sadly, no. I would deep-six Bryan Adams, and replace him with Crowbar, who very definitely could rock out.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

And I'll always take the opportunity to mention Canada's best grunge-funk band: I Mother Earth.

https://youtu.be/fmxbaHXOXGw

Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 10:31 PM (VHUov)

117 Don't forget Frank Marino and Pat Travers.

Posted by: Mark1971 at March 24, 2026 10:31 PM (CNl8/)

118 Is the pilot gay?
Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2026 10:26 PM (2WIwB)

Ha! How did I miss that?? Sorry, El Rushbo!

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:31 PM (QMAsf)

119 Maybe some aliens are sportsmanlike, practicing 'catch and release', while others are more of a subsistence type.

Posted by: davidt at March 24, 2026 10:32 PM (Q+gd/)

120 I thought it was weird they made them come for detention on a Saturday. They certainly did not do that where I went to school and I sat in detention many times. Was right after school for an hour or so iirc.

Posted by: steevy at March 24, 2026 10:32 PM (YwEeS)

121 Which Breakfast Club character were you?
Posted by: davidt

The smart, semi-suckup kid who got away with murder because they simply couldn't believe I'd do the things I really did. Except for SGT Streb - she was on to me but she hated the Admin as much as I did. She wrote a glowing recommendation for my application to the Naval Academy.

So, that would be more along the lines of Ferris Buller I guess.

Posted by: Tonypete at March 24, 2026 10:32 PM (cYBz/)

122 The Breakfast Club, another in the long line of "never saw it."

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 24, 2026 10:33 PM (1Ff7Z)

123 I thought Men at Work and Sting/Police was the same band.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 10:33 PM (jmsL3)

124 52 Lots of lane oil to clean out of it? Sand it to get the surface right?

Maybe I should have enlisted Mr. Rothlisberger for this one?
Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (VHUov)

I had to get the trim veins re-grooves and the naugahyde cover needed to get a couple of spots patched.

Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:33 PM (9uW/C)

125 I have to ask. Is this "Perfesser" Squirrel's theme song?

https://youtu.be/K16fG1sDagU
Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 24, 2026 10:28 PM (S/Y4j)
----
I won't lie--that song does show up on a playlist my friends and I listened to in college....

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2026 10:33 PM (ESVrU)

126 Gordon Cooper, of original 7 Mercury astronaut fame, prior to that was a test pilot at Muroc dry lake (Now Edwards AFB). He said one day a couple contractors came into the office one day pretty shook up. They were shooting film of something and some sort of strange craft landed, and they got film of it. Cooper said he saw the photographs when developed, they had called Washington about it, they told him to send in the film and that’s what he did. That was the last he heard about it.

In the skies over Europe during WWII 8th Army Air Force crews saw all sorts of strange stuff. They called them “Kraut balls” or “Foo Fighters”.

Posted by: Common Tater at March 24, 2026 10:33 PM (/eAJY)

127 I couldn't get past that Molly Ringwald was supposed to be a hot chick.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 10:34 PM (V4IXI)

128 I have never seen the entire Breakfast Club movie. Just little pieces here and there. Same with Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Posted by: Mark1971 at March 24, 2026 10:34 PM (CNl8/)

129 >>I can't disagree with you there. I'm far from a fan of his, but yeah he belongs in the list of top solo artists from Canada. The article linked above should have chosen bands or solo - not both.

I'm not a big fan but one of his HOF inductions is with Crazy Horse.

From everything I've heard about him he sounds like a dick. But he write and play.

https://tinyurl.com/2vbkvh3r

Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 10:34 PM (viF8m)

130 I suspect Donaldus Maximus' 15 point peace plan offer to Iran will get the same sort of reception that Vlad Putin's 4 point peace plans keep getting in Ukraine.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at March 24, 2026 10:34 PM (wLsnt)

131 I saw an UFO in Mississippi. With a guy I met at the hospital from a summer job as a lab assistant (phlebotomist).

We were making out in my car and drinking beer. A large, half a football field, oblong neon green lit thing landed below us (we were high on a hill in woods). Silent. Lights. Neon green. Oblong.

The guy saw it as well and told me to get the hell out of here and we did.

I don't know about him but I did not tell my parents or anyone. But we both saw it. I don't recall discussing it with him again, either. We were both shocked.

There was no probing by this guy nor the aliens of me, to be clear.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026 10:35 PM (WONhk)

132 I thought Men at Work and Sting/Police was the same band.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 10:33 PM (jmsL3)

Really?? OK then!

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:35 PM (QMAsf)

133 I was the combo jock brainiac slacker if that makes sense.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 10:35 PM (V4IXI)

134 Democratic governors' playbook

1. Tell productive citizens to leave
2. Replace them with tax-eating aliens
3. Beg productive citizens to come back
4. Profit!

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 24, 2026 10:35 PM (RIvkX)

135 A week early...April Wine's Say Hello:

https://youtu.be/QJ0Kv-BOglQ?si=q64O5hMOONwSFVZ8

Posted by: Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie at March 24, 2026 10:36 PM (tT6GE)

136 Never saw Breakfast Club. We were busy with three young kids in 1984.

Have thought maybe we would watch it some day. Haven't.
Posted by: mindful webworker was busy that day at March 24, 2026 10:31 PM (jrd4M)

***

I was in Turkey. Movies there were...problematic.

Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2026 10:36 PM (2WIwB)

137 I am noticing something mist UFO sightings seem to have in common- they always happen at night. Makes me think that perhaps these flying saucers aren't manned by aliens, but by vampires.

Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:36 PM (9uW/C)

138 “Per x people” is a very strange and obscurantist way of representing the rate of sightings. Why not the far more standard—and understandable—“per 100,000 people”?

Delaware: 108 sightings per 100,000 people
Washington: 102 sightings per 100,000 people
Mississippi: 30 sightings per 100,000 people
Louisiana: 29 sightings per 100,000 people.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at March 24, 2026 10:36 PM (EXyHK)

139 Guy taking out tree stump obviously has no gas, electric, water, or sewer mains in that yard.
Posted by: GWB at March 24, 2026 10:30 PM (OmQ3D)

He already took them out!

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:37 PM (QMAsf)

140 There was no probing…

… that you remember.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (EXyHK)

141 I probably should have shortened that URL for April Wine, so here's a tinyurl for Say Hello:

https://tinyurl.com/3rbzmb65

Posted by: Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (tT6GE)

142 My buddy and I saw the same flashing colored lights rise in one area and descend in another for hours at the high school football field. We were doing Orange Sunshine, listening to Joujouka and Jimi Hendrix.

Posted by: Flashback To 1974 at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (oftw2)

143 I couldn't get past that Molly Ringwald was supposed to be a hot chick.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg

To the incels of that era, maybe.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (/lPRQ)

144 We need an overlay map to place on top of that "UFO Hotspots" map. The overlay will highlight the highest drinking States per capita. I'm betting it matches up pretty closely.
Posted by: Orson

Signs point to "no."

Top 10 UFO sighters, in order:
DE, WA, NY, OR, FL, TX, MT, VT, NM, GA

Top 10 drunkards, in order:
NH, DE, NV, ND, MT, VT, ID, WI, CO, AK

Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (VHUov)

145 I like this theory about UFOs.

https://youtu.be/Pkdci55adqk

Some of you will recognize the Johnny Cash song it's based on.

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (S/Y4j)

146 Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?
---
Yessir! And I've got the rectal probe to prove it!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel
==

They let you keep it ?
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 24, 2026 10:17 PM (/lPRQ)
---
Of course! How else are they gonna plant subliminal messages in my brain?

(I suspect their grasp of human biology might be a bit lacking, hence the probe...)
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2026 10:27 PM (ESVrU)

Well, they assume that's where your brain is because they watch all the celebrities, politicians, and newsers on our broadcasts before arriving.

Posted by: GWB at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (OmQ3D)

147 I thought Men at Work and Sting/Police was the same band.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 10:33 PM (jmsL3)

I could understand confusing Men at Work and Midnight Oil but not The Police.

I never confused them but their songs do sound the same to me. Journey and Survivor.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (V4IXI)

148 The DEFINITIVE Top 4 Canadian Bands list (in no particular order, because even "album sales" is time/era dependent):

Rush
Bachman Turner Overdrive
Triumph
April Wine
———-

What!??

Posted by: Chilliwack at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (/eAJY)

149 There was no probing…

… that you remember.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (EXyHK

Makes ya wonder if aliens smoke after probing?

Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2026 10:39 PM (2WIwB)

150 77 The Breakfast Club ?
Never seen it.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 24, 2026 10:13 PM (/lPRQ)

----------

Where's Beeks?

There's Beeks.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at March 24, 2026 10:39 PM (JkO4W)

151 >>>Interesting stuff! Any of you willing to admit you've seen a UFO?

I have seen a UFO. It was tracking ICBMs on a rail line to their destination. It defied all human technological methods of propulsion and generated no sound. This was decades ago, not some man-made drone. It was not some flashing light in the sky, - it occupied space and had volume. I believe it had some sort of gravity device that allow it to move the way it did.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at March 24, 2026 10:39 PM (Wnd0C)

152 Loved the removal of stump video. It reminded me of a long ago acquaintance, a member of the Operating Engineers Union local, who enthused then about what a kick it was to get paid good money for time spent as a grown man, with gigantic tools, but actually just playing in the dirt. Heh.

Posted by: Fritz at March 24, 2026 10:39 PM (J7jo9)

153 I always believed Sleep Paralysis was the cause for a lot of alien abduction reports.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 10:40 PM (V4IXI)

154 Goodyear Blimp. I have no idea why it was over our town, or what message it was flashing, but it sure had us going for a few minutes.
Posted by: PabloD at March 24, 2026 10:30 PM (8sD0/)

My mother lives in the Phoenix area, near the desert, and has an almost funny but painful story about that. She was walking my sisters dog which she was taking care of, a part husky, strong dog, in a patch of desert near her house. Over the Christmas/ New Year’s holidays, the blimp is usually in town and cruises around displaying advertisements.
So she hears some hum and turns around and that blimp is right behind them and low! She was surprised, but the dog was terrified and took off at a dead run. Her hand got caught in the leash and before she could get loose he dragged her down a small gravel hill on her face and put her shoulder out of socket!

Dog kept running, thought it was gone for good but finally came back a couple days later. Always wondered what he thought it was.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2026 10:40 PM (D4x+R)

155 I probably should have shortened that URL for April Wine, so here's a tinyurl for Say Hello:

https://tinyurl.com/3rbzmb65
Posted by: Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (tT6GE)

Just delete the question mark and everything after it - that's just YT tracking stuff that isn't needed

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:40 PM (QMAsf)

156 That stump destroyer was great! He was so showing off.
I'm currently trying to dig out an old rosebush, without much success. It's kind of in a corner of a bed, so I can only attack it from three angles.
The landscapers were supposed to take it out, but they just cut it down to the ground and it sprouted back.
I may just leave it for this year out of curiosity, to see if it's the rose- or just the root stock.

I'm a sucker for volunteer plants- if Audrey II turned up in my yard, I'd be all "Aww, look at you, brave little soldier. Want some water?"
Or blood.

Posted by: sal at March 24, 2026 10:40 PM (f+FmA)

157 I would not add Skinny Puppy to the Canadian "Big 4" but they are the best Canadian band, unless you count The Band as a Canadian band.

Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:41 PM (9uW/C)

158 I always believed Sleep Paralysis was the cause for a lot of alien abduction reports.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 10:40 PM (V4IXI)
----
That's what they want you to think....

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2026 10:41 PM (ESVrU)

159 UFO?

youtu.be/-HpSh5J4bvw

youtu.be/J-U5H6hmw6E

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at March 24, 2026 10:41 PM (sAmhv)

160 Elizabeth, the Charismatic Voice, reacts to Ironmouse's "Music Box of Fate."

https://youtu.be/3fDpADXe2ac

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:42 PM (2GVsD)

161
Any tips on reviving energy after a virus,please let me know.Tired.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026 10:30 PM (WONhk)

It takes time. A lot of time. Are you able to eat okay? I would bump up protein, sugar (fruits, molasses, maple syrup - basically whole foods), and sunshine until the fatigue begins to dissipate. If it doesn't after a couple of months (yea, RSV is a freaking butt kicker) go back to your doctor.

Posted by: moki at March 24, 2026 10:42 PM (wLjpr)

162 I used to experience sleep paralysis frequently. Some nights I didn't even want to go back to sleep because I knew it was going to happen again. When I hit my mid 40s it totally stopped. Haven't experienced it since.

Posted by: Mark1971 at March 24, 2026 10:42 PM (CNl8/)

163 Makes ya wonder if aliens smoke after probing?

The robot in Heavy Metal says “yes”.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at March 24, 2026 10:43 PM (EXyHK)

164 "But what if I come home to find you screwing the toaster?"

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 10:44 PM (2GVsD)

165 140 There was no probing…

… that you remember.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at March 24, 2026 10:38 PM (EXyHK)

..........................
Oh, I would remember. The only probing I ever had was a goosing on a sidewalk (at dusk) in college.Half block from my rental house.

Skinny frat boy, friends probably put him up to it. I was wearing jeans.Instantly screamed, "You bastard!" and I am loud.

I tried to kill him but he outran me. I was oddly carrying the lid of a cast iron Dutch oven, which slowed me down. My plan was to beat his head with it.

My two male grad student apt mates made me call the police as they were outraged when I told them. I'd like to see that police report as well and wonder if I mentioned the Dutch oven lid.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026 10:44 PM (WONhk)

166 Sorry. We owe them nothing. If Persians want to rule their destiny, they need to fight and sweat and bleed and die for it. If we do it for them, it won’t last. It’s false. It can be taken away.

We Americans are giving our freedom away. Our forefathers died for it. And we are squandering it.
Posted by: nurse ratched at March 24, 2026 10:15 PM (A5RD0
------------

THIS.

Posted by: Matthew Kant Cipher at March 24, 2026 10:44 PM (qVGoX)

167 Posted by: Mark1971 at March 24, 2026 10:42 PM (CNl8

Happened to me only once. Freaked me out bigley.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 10:44 PM (V4IXI)

168 Another candidate for Ozzie Big 4 is The Church.

Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:44 PM (9uW/C)

169 I think Elon Musk’s comments on aliens was interesting. He quoted the large number of Skylink satellites he has out there and said none of them have ever been hit or disturbed by a ufo.

Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 10:45 PM (Wmg4n)

170 152 Loved the removal of stump video. It reminded me of a long ago acquaintance, a member of the Operating Engineers Union local, who enthused then about what a kick it was to get paid good money for time spent as a grown man, with gigantic tools, but actually just playing in the dirt. Heh.

Posted by: Fritz at March 24, 2026 10:39 PM (J7jo9)

Another reason to get your kids Tonka toys!! Guide them to fun, productive work!!

That stump remover was one of the best things I've seen, and I'm a chick. TBF, I've been asking my husband for a power washer for the entirety of our marriage, and it has yet to make an appearance under the Christmas tree, for an anniversary or a birthday. I think he's afraid of the ensuing water bill.

Posted by: moki at March 24, 2026 10:45 PM (wLjpr)

171 >>I would not add Skinny Puppy to the Canadian "Big 4" but they are the best Canadian band, unless you count The Band as a Canadian band.

Half breed.

I would kind of agree but there was no The Band without Levon. Just some Nighthawks.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 10:46 PM (viF8m)

172 Canadian band? Tom Cochrane & Red Rider ("Lunatic Fringe") should be on the list.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at March 24, 2026 10:46 PM (wLsnt)

173 My two male grad student apt mates made me call the police as they were outraged when I told them. I'd like to see that police report as well and wonder if I mentioned the Dutch oven lid.
Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026 10:44 PM (WONhk)

I'm betting the roommates were named Greg and Xeryx-7.

Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2026 10:46 PM (2WIwB)

174 Love The Church. Most people know them for one song, but they put out a lot of good albums.

Posted by: Mark1971 at March 24, 2026 10:46 PM (CNl8/)

175 163 Makes ya wonder if aliens smoke after probing?

The robot in Heavy Metal says “yes”.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at March 24, 2026 10:43 PM (EXyHK)

*********

One of my favorite t-shirts has a picture of a UFO snagging someone by the heel with the light beam and pulling him into the UFO, with the caption, "Get in Loser. We're Doing Butt Stuff!"

Posted by: Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie at March 24, 2026 10:46 PM (tT6GE)

176 169 I think Elon Musk’s comments on aliens was interesting. He quoted the large number of Skylink satellites he has out there and said none of them have ever been hit or disturbed by a ufo.
Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 10:45 PM (Wmg4n)

I've always said we have tens of thousands of telescopes pointed at the sky 24/7 and not one has a definitive siting of an alien craft.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 10:48 PM (V4IXI)

177 Louisiana is last on UFO sightings. They are just every-day folks down here, nobody pays them much mind.

Posted by: javems at March 24, 2026 10:49 PM (uZMo/)

178 169 I think Elon Musk’s comments on aliens was interesting. He quoted the large number of Skylink satellites he has out there and said none of them have ever been hit or disturbed by a ufo.
Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 10:45 PM (Wmg4n

Just means they’ve got good collision avoidance systems.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2026 10:49 PM (D4x+R)

179 I'll bet stump removal guy just KILLS IT on those claw machines in the arcades.....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 10:49 PM (QGaXH)

180 UFO doesn't mean aliens, it just means shit for which we cannot account.
Most of the time it's Venus.
The others are atmospheric issues, or meteors.
I suspect some of the older ones were Soviet satellites that failed before Sputnik. The Soviets were capitalists when they had to be...

Posted by: gKWVE at March 24, 2026 10:49 PM (oXCz5)

181 If it doesn't after a couple of months (yea, RSV is a freaking butt kicker) go back to your doctor.
Posted by: moki at March 24, 2026 10:42 PM (wLjpr)

I'm able to eat ok but had an upset stomach yesterday. Here's how my stupid brain thinks:
"OH! Now I have c-diff!" Haven't had an antibiotic in 3yrs or been sick, so I doubt it.

On probiotic, B6 vitamins with C, vitamin D.

Granted it's only been a few days. I am dramatic.

Wiped out, man. I guess the old immune system took a beating and tomorrow is another day. I plan to garden a bit in the morning and do some stuff as I am way behind in everything.

Thanks. I think I have molasses.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026 10:50 PM (WONhk)

182 National Alien Abduction Day?

I have a sudden urge to play “Hangar 18” by Megadeth.

Posted by: Cow Demon at March 24, 2026 10:51 PM (hJH5n)

183 We were doing Orange Sunshine, listening to Joujouka and Jimi Hendrix
——-
L.S.D. is a very fragile molecule, I’ve read. Exposure to light & oxygen is no bueno. Sandoz (Switzerland) used to send it out for free in glass ampoules, which if stored properly should be good to go.

The CIA in the early 50s wanted to purchase the entire world supply (keep it from the Soviets). Then they got Eli Lilly to start making it, who said they could turn it out it out in “tonnage quantities”. Your tax dollars at work.

I heard an interesting Old Time Radio program episode the other night, “The Man Called X” starring Herbert Marshall, from 1952. Had to do with hypnotic suggestion, manchurian candidate, murder type stuff.

This is exactly the type of cold war research being done at that time, I wouldn’t be surprised if the producers didn’t get a phone call. This was all very classified type stuff funded through cutout orgs and conducted by universities, who didn’t ask too many questions so long as they got funding. The Fund for Human Ecology. My dad went to a small school in Iowa and participated in a sleep experiment, they tried to see if people could learn while sleeping. Spook shit.

Posted by: Chilliwack at March 24, 2026 10:51 PM (/eAJY)

184 When Obama was president I witnessed an alien landing,

"Take me to your leader." they asked.

Me: "Try the golf course."

Posted by: wth at March 24, 2026 10:52 PM (BT3km)

185 Asshoe Cop, unknowingly, pulls over an FBI agent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExKFqOvs1Dw

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 10:52 PM (jmsL3)

186 6 Did YOU celebrate National Alien Abduction Day?
---
Yessir! And I've got the rectal probe to prove it!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2026 10:02 PM (ESVrU)

Yes sir! He's outside right now mowing the grass and then washing the windows.....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 10:52 PM (QGaXH)

187 When Obama was president I witnessed an alien landing,

"Take me to your leader." they asked.

Me: "Try the Chicago Bath House"

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 10:53 PM (jmsL3)

188 There was a movie called Gayni--ers From Outer Space. Specifically the planet "Anus". I have no idea why it exists

Posted by: gKWVE at March 24, 2026 10:53 PM (oXCz5)

189 US sends 15-point plan to end war with Iran as Trump says the regime has agreed to scrap nuclear program
----

it's a regime that has as one of its core tenets, LYING to non-muslims to gain advantage

JFC and FFS
also OMG and AYFKM
Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:14 PM (ZxPkt)

Absolutely zero from President Trump saying this on TS.

Got any citations from POTUS or any reliable sources?

Posted by: Will Robinson at March 24, 2026 10:53 PM (cO6oP)

190 I also told them he would love to be probed.

Posted by: wth at March 24, 2026 10:54 PM (BT3km)

191
Creedence Clearwater Revival had a song about a UFO sighting

https://youtu.be/zwAcvIZzuM0

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 10:55 PM (ZxPkt)

192 Breakfast Club = live-action Teen Titans

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at March 24, 2026 10:55 PM (fE6HJ)

193 Evening Horde. Thx Doof.
Did I give you the idea for Shattered? If so I'm honored

Posted by: Smell the Glove at March 24, 2026 10:55 PM (mHVWR)

194 It can't be a real alien abduction unless it's two guys named Booger and Spud.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 24, 2026 10:56 PM (1Ff7Z)

195
I'm betting the roommates were named Greg and Xeryx-7.
Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2026 10:46 PM (2WIwB)

Gerry and Charles. I was a surprise for them as well.

The landlady found the furnished apt for me as a favor to an ex-friend of mine. Had my own bedroom and bath and entry. Shared kitchen, laundry room and living area with them.A mile walk uphill to campus and I was in great shape.

Their girlfriends were not pleased at all to have Ellie Mae Clampett, fresh off the farm, land in their bf's basement apt.

The boys were later bummed in that I had no idea how to cook...but they made me learn as we shared meals during the week and grocery bills with rent and utility.

I am sure they diagnosed me or tried to but did not tell me. They were good to me and took me hiking, camping, skiing and to concerts. I lucked out in them not being serial killers. Of course them being psych majors was almost as bad.

After 6mo of no dating they tried to plan a romance with a friend of theirs, nice guy. I guess because they felt sorry for me. He was also a grad student psych major and, well, no go, but he hung out with us trying. I was never mean to him but he got the hint.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026 10:57 PM (WONhk)

196 It can't be a real alien abduction unless it's two guys named Booger and Spud.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 24, 2026 10:56 PM (1Ff7Z)

Take me, but leave Spuds McKenzie alone!

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 24, 2026 10:57 PM (S/Y4j)

197 There was a movie called Gayni--ers From Outer Space. Specifically the planet "Anus". I have no idea why it exists
Posted by: gKWVE

Just watched a bit of it on UToob.

I have now seen everything. . .

Posted by: Tonypete at March 24, 2026 10:57 PM (cYBz/)

198 I tried to kill him but he outran me. I was oddly carrying the lid of a cast iron Dutch oven, which slowed me down. My plan was to beat his head with it.

My two male grad student apt mates made me call the police as they were outraged when I told them. I'd like to see that police report as well and wonder if I mentioned the Dutch oven lid.
Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026
10:44 PM (WONhk)

That was indeed Police Scanner worthy.

Posted by: sal at March 24, 2026 10:58 PM (f+FmA)

199 Another candidate for Ozzie Big 4 is The Church.
Posted by: tankdemon at March 24, 2026 10:44 PM (9uW/C)

Yes - highly underrated! As Mark1971 mentioned above, they released a lot of great stuff aside from just their big hit "Under the Milky Way".

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 10:58 PM (QMAsf)

200 Being a class of 1984 graduate, I can say that Sixteen Candles was way better than The Breakfast Club. I hated that movie.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (0aYVJ)

Never saw TBC, and I like John Hughes movies. From the clips, I think it takes itself a bit too seriously. 16 Candles seemed to dance on the edge yet managed to stick the landing. The penultimate scene in TBC, where the principal loses it? Yeah, Hughes did it much more effectively in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. What saved Breakfast Club was the soundtrack. It captured the era in a way that the characters and script did not...

Posted by: Joe Kidd at March 24, 2026 10:59 PM (nbLIj)

201 >>This is exactly the type of cold war research being done at that time, I wouldn’t be surprised if the producers didn’t get a phone call. This was all very classified type stuff funded through cutout orgs and conducted by universities, who didn’t ask too many questions so long as they got funding.

And then it ended up at Harvard in the late 50s - early 60s in government funded research and then made it's way to Bay Area, shockingly.

And great music followed.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 10:59 PM (viF8m)

202 How come we never have Freddy Cannon's Abigail Beecher as the mystery click?

Or some Guess Who - Raindance (where'd you get the gun, John?) Albert Flasher would work too...

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 11:00 PM (QGaXH)

203 My daughter was the last one out in the living room. She just yelled goodnight, and went upstairs. Every single light has been left on down here. lol. Guess I will get up and go turn them all off.

Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 11:01 PM (OoFl2)

204 Saw Midnight Oil twice. First at Radio City and it was real good. The second time was at Saratoga on Peter Gabriel's WOMAD tour. Gabriel was smart enough to go second to last . The Oils came and knocked the leaves off the trees. Awesome
Garrett is an idiot politically, but they are rocked

Posted by: Smell the Glove at March 24, 2026 11:01 PM (mHVWR)

205 Hmm. How long does it take Ace to answer an email? A day, week, month, year, never? Anyone know?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 24, 2026 11:01 PM (1Ff7Z)

206 L.S.D. is a very fragile molecule, I’ve read. Exposure to light & oxygen is no bueno. Sandoz (Switzerland) used to send it out for free in glass ampoules, which if stored properly should be good to go.

***

Had a guy in my first platoon back in the 70's. Good soldier. Nice kid. Got a call one night that he had wacked out. Got to the barracks and he was sitting up in his bunk staring straight ahead and totally unresponsive. He got medivac'd back to the States. (was in Germany). Heard later he was tripping on LSD, something he had tried in high school. This was a.flashback.
A real shame.

Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2026 11:01 PM (2WIwB)

207 Evening Horde. Thx Doof.
Did I give you the idea for Shattered? If so I'm honored
Posted by: Smell the Glove at March 24, 2026 10:55 PM (mHVWR)

-----
Daboubi , shattered, shattered
Posted by: Smell the Glove at March 24, 2026 12:59 PM (mHVWR)
-----

Yes indeed you did!

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 11:01 PM (QMAsf)

208 55 Mindless troll near the end of the last thread.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2026 10:16 PM (8zz6B)

Not me!

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 11:02 PM (QGaXH)

209 Most of the time it's Venus.
The others are atmospheric issues, or meteors.
Posted by: gKWVE at March 24, 2026 10:49 PM (oXCz5)

You forgot the weather balloon part:
"Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus."

Posted by: GWB at March 24, 2026 11:02 PM (OmQ3D)

210 The aliens liked the early Russian space program because they always wanted a dog.

Posted by: wth at March 24, 2026 11:02 PM (BT3km)

211 @191. Credence Clearwater had a song about a UFO sighting.

Sure did. " It Came Out Of The Sky"
Great song, even funny. CCR is one of my favorite bands.

Posted by: Case at March 24, 2026 11:02 PM (pvf3X)

212 Hmm. How long does it take Ace to answer an email? A day, week, month, year, never? Anyone know?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 24, 2026 11:01 PM (1Ff7Z)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You expect an answer from Ace?!?!?

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 11:03 PM (QMAsf)

213 Every single light has been left on down here. lol. Guess I will get up and go turn them all off.

Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 11:01 PM (OoFl2)

So she still believes in the light fairies!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 24, 2026 11:03 PM (n9ltV)

214 Monday morning email, or Doof's ONT suggestion box.

https://youtube.com/shorts/CHHcZOfTA8M

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 24, 2026 11:04 PM (S/Y4j)

215 >Got any citations from POTUS or any reliable sources?
----

NYPost

https://tinyurl.com/mxdsd2t6

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 11:05 PM (ZxPkt)

216 That's a lot easier than digging up a stump with a shovel and a pry bar.
Posted by: huerfano at March 24, 2026 10:04 PM (98kQX)

Or even a shovel, a chain and a 4x4 pickup

Posted by: Kindltot at March 24, 2026 11:05 PM (rbvCR)

217 She's not paying the light bill obviously.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 11:05 PM (2GVsD)

218 Have a great night y'all and thanx Doof!
I made a cake and now I'm going to slather it with ice cream.

Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2026 11:07 PM (2WIwB)

219 Monday morning email, or Doof's ONT suggestion box.

https://youtube.com/shorts/CHHcZOfTA8M
Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at March 24, 2026 11:04 PM (S/Y4j)

You're assuming the email address in my sign-off is real!

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 11:08 PM (QMAsf)

220
And great music followed.
Posted by: JackStraw
--

Ken Kesey on a rooftop with Timothy Leary on a roof top. Manyard Ferguson hanging out with Leary for two years. And, 'Be Here Now', Ricard Alpert, Phd.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 11:08 PM (jmsL3)

221 Right, it was chemical warfare deployed on the citizenry. Tune in, turn on, drop out. Groovy!

Posted by: Chilliwack at March 24, 2026 11:08 PM (EbGPh)

222 Canada has no bands other than Rush and Triumph.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 24, 2026 11:08 PM (snZF9)

223 180 UFO doesn't mean aliens, it just means shit for which we cannot account.
Most of the time it's Venus“

UFO’s aren’t always bright lights. I saw one of the infamous delta shapes once, but I sound stupid trying to describe it because even at the time, I couldn’t really figure out what I was seeing.
A big storm was blowing in at dusk, and I saw this shape on the horizon, and yes it looked like a delta shape. But I only could see the outline, because I also saw right through it. Like it was there and wasn’t there at the same time. I was thinking it was something being blown by the wind, but it was moving quickly against the wind.
Then it went behind a copse of trees between me and it, and I thought good, that weird thing is gone. But then it came back out from behind the trees, which really freaked me out, and I watched it til it disappeared in the distance.
I have no idea what it was, or how it was being operated. But even at the time, I wondered if I was looking at something that was cloaked, with the cloak only partly working.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2026 11:08 PM (D4x+R)

224 Have a great night y'all and thanx Doof!
I made a cake and now I'm going to slather it with ice cream.
Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2026 11:07 PM (2WIwB)

So I guess that means you didn't bring enough to share

Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 11:09 PM (QMAsf)

225 I never had the nerve to try it, but it seems like digging a hole in under a stump and putting a couple pounds of tannerite would be fun.
Posted by: Tom Servo
-----
Back before Timothy McVeigh and the instutional.paranoia of the BATF, a bag of ammonium.nitrate fertilizer a gallon of diesel and a half stick of dynamite (ANFO) was pretty much the standard for pasture stump removal.

Posted by: buddhaha at March 24, 2026 11:09 PM (8snZr)

226 The science of Hydraulics is arguably the most significant 'invention' in history.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:10 PM (V4IXI)

227 You're going to panic over something that originated from Isreal's channel12? Have you done any research into channel 12?

Yeah, no. Not reliable at all.

Posted by: Will Robinson at March 24, 2026 11:10 PM (zBgIx)

228 Molly Ringwald . . . . I would not kick her outta bed for eating crackers. How’d she age?

Posted by: The Man from Athens at March 24, 2026 11:11 PM (UjFD0)

229 HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You expect an answer from Ace?!?!?
Posted by: Doof at March 24, 2026 11:03 PM (QMAsf)

Depends. No answer, no complaints.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 24, 2026 11:11 PM (1Ff7Z)

230 My daughter was the last one out in the living room. She just yelled goodnight, and went upstairs. Every single light has been left on down here. lol. Guess I will get up and go turn them all off.

Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 11:01 PM (OoFl2)

Have you met Mrs thomas edison berserker? The queen of lumens? Slayer of light bulbs? Nobody leaves lights on like her.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 24, 2026 11:11 PM (snZF9)

231 Well night all.

I hope we get a second season of Tojima Wants to be a Kamen Rider.

https://youtu.be/TB0758uZZhc

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 24, 2026 11:12 PM (2GVsD)

232
Hrae hike huh
Hay be hura horn a hum

Posted by: Bruce Springsteen, Champagne Communist at March 24, 2026 11:13 PM (lsrsS)

233 Canada has no bands other than Rush and Triumph.
Posted by: Berserker

Strapping Young Lad and/or solo Devin Townsend isn't on your list? I'm a little surprised.

Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 11:13 PM (VHUov)

234 You're assuming the email address in my sign-off is real!
Posted by: Doof
---

Nothing is real
Nothing to get up about

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 11:13 PM (jmsL3)

235 228 Molly Ringwald . . . . I would not kick her outta bed for eating crackers. How’d she age?
Posted by: The Man from Athens at March 24, 2026 11:11 PM (UjFD0)

Not particularly well, iirc. About what you would expect.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at March 24, 2026 11:13 PM (bss/y)

236 How’d she age?
Posted by: The Man from Athens at March 24, 2026 11:11 PM (UjFD0)

Looks like someone punched her in the mouf.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 24, 2026 11:13 PM (1Ff7Z)

237 Are you people on Greenwich time?

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:13 PM (V4IXI)

238 How’d she age?
——-

She’s a total whack job now. Go figure.

Posted by: Chilliwack at March 24, 2026 11:13 PM (EbGPh)

239 Have you met Mrs thomas edison berserker? The queen of lumens? "

Must be a friend of Mrs.

I'm fairly sure our outdoor lighting has become a marker pointing the way to Houston... for satellites.

Posted by: man at March 24, 2026 11:15 PM (XuXeR)

240 Some Australian bands that did not make the list:

Hoodoo Gurus - What’s My Scene
- https://youtu.be/K2vjGGEnE6U

Lime Spiders - Slave Girl
- https://youtu.be/vZuSsD4UTxg

Posted by: Slash Buzz at March 24, 2026 11:15 PM (FstDi)

241 Red states should make an offer to Hochul:

We will take the conservatives/Republicans. We will send you the illegals. In fact will send 10: 1. Since they are such a boon to the economy and lower crime rate that those dirty Americans it should work just splendidly.

Posted by: Ripley at March 24, 2026 11:16 PM (PTDkx)

242
230

Have you met Mrs thomas edison berserker? The queen of lumens? Slayer of light bulbs? Nobody leaves lights on like her.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 24, 2026 11:11 PM

------

LED lights make these things less alarming.

Posted by: Bruce Springsteen, Champagne Communist at March 24, 2026 11:16 PM (lsrsS)

243 UFO doesn't mean aliens, it just means shit for which we cannot account.
Most of the time it's Venus.
The others are atmospheric issues, or meteors.
Posted by: gKWVE

That's why AL, MI, LA are at the bottom of the list. They know their swamp gas effects.

Posted by: mikeski sneaks in a fart joke at March 24, 2026 11:16 PM (VHUov)

244 Oscar Peterson, Diana Krall, Maynard Ferguson, Gil Evans and Paul Bley moved to the US.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 11:16 PM (jmsL3)

245 "How’d she age?"

Total prog whackadoodle that disowned just about every movie she ever made when she was young.

Posted by: Will Robinson at March 24, 2026 11:17 PM (zBgIx)

246 on Greenwich"

Green witch? Like the broad in Wicked?

Posted by: man at March 24, 2026 11:17 PM (XuXeR)

247 Mia Sara >>>>>>Molly Ringwald

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:17 PM (V4IXI)

248 180 UFO doesn't mean aliens, it just means shit for which we cannot account.
Most of the time it's Venus.
The others are atmospheric issues, or meteors.
I suspect some of the older ones were Soviet satellites that failed before Sputnik. The Soviets were capitalists when they had to be...
Posted by: gKWVE at March 24, 2026 10:49 PM (oXCz5)

I guess I'm an open minded skeptic on the UFO subject. I know there's possible evidence of ancient aliens, but I think it's more than a coincidence that more recent sightings coincide with the advent of flight and wonder it there's a connection of some sort.....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 11:18 PM (QGaXH)

249 237 Are you people on Greenwich time?
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg
--

Tulsa, It's Tulsa Time.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 11:19 PM (jmsL3)

250 The tree stump removal reminded me of getting a plantar wart out of the bottom of my big toe as a teenager. The doctor froze it with dry ice or something; then later, in the shower, it started itching/hurting and I couldn't/had-to/couldn't-stop scratching/digging at it, until finally the pleasure/pain and horror/relief of getting it out.

It's like The Thing, your own flesh converted by a virus into an alien parasite with its own root-like anatomy; if you haven't experienced that, maybe getting well-burrowed tick out could be close. Or cancer, maybe? I dunno. Anyway, I got a similar vicarious relief from seeing that stump pulled well out.

Posted by: SciVo at March 24, 2026 11:20 PM (Sy6m/)

251 Late to the party... Huevos Rancheros and Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet are damn fine Canadian bands.

Posted by: tRusty Hudson at March 24, 2026 11:20 PM (ZfTMG)

252 Gun-shame. It is the newest thing.

My gun-shame is that I haven't gotten around to loading the .44 Russian rounds for my Spanish revolver yet.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 24, 2026 11:21 PM (rbvCR)

253 Divinyls
https://youtu.be/hVcjh13WiwA

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 11:22 PM (ZxPkt)

254 Red states should make an offer to Hochul:

We will take the conservatives/Republicans. We will send you the illegals. In fact will send 10: 1. Since they are such a boon to the economy and lower crime rate that those dirty Americans it should work just splendidly.
Posted by: Ripley at March 24, 2026 11:16 PM (PTDkx)

Then we build a wall around your state so you can't be a Native-American-giver.

Posted by: GWB at March 24, 2026 11:22 PM (OmQ3D)

255 Posted by: SciVo at March 24, 2026 11:20 PM (Sy6m

Think you could have just said Dr Pimple Popper.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:22 PM (V4IXI)

256 Strapping Young Lad and/or solo Devin Townsend isn't on your list? I'm a little surprised.

Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 11:13 PM (VHUov)

Strapping young lad is kinda what I call pandemonium metal. They got balls, but damn its chaotic. Sometimes I just can't find the direction of the songs. I only heard hem a few times though.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 24, 2026 11:23 PM (snZF9)

257 IMHO, we won't be visited by aliens until they discover how to travel faster than the speed of light

Posted by: JM in Illinois at March 24, 2026 11:23 PM (Bs2Ft)

258 In an infinite universe full of infinite possibilities the idea that life only exists on this rock seems kind of silly.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:24 PM (viF8m)

259 Thanks. I think I have molasses.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026 10:50 PM (WONhk)

Molasses, apple cider vinegar, ginger and lots of water.
The vinegar if diluted enough should help a little bit with your gut, too.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 24, 2026 11:24 PM (rbvCR)

260 Divinyls
Wild Thing

https://youtu.be/wqryDT5zQ18

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 11:24 PM (ZxPkt)

261 Mia Sara >>>>>>Molly Ringwald

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:17 PM (V4IXI)

Absolutely.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 24, 2026 11:24 PM (snZF9)

262 Are you people on Greenwich time?
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg

Nope - I'm GMT-6.

Posted by: Tonypete at March 24, 2026 11:24 PM (cYBz/)

263 The landscapers were supposed to take it out, but they just cut it down to the ground and it sprouted back.
I may just leave it for this year out of curiosity, to see if it's the rose- or just the root stock.
Posted by: sal
-----
If it was all the way to the ground, or within an inch or so, you'll be seeing primroses (the root stock). DAMHIK.

Posted by: buddhaha at March 24, 2026 11:25 PM (8snZr)

264 >> I thought I saw a UFO about 3 years ago but publius explained it was a Starlink satellite deployment.

The truth is out there. Seriously, I vaguely remember that, and I think we decided it was likely a Starlink train from your description.

Venus and even Sirius are famous for triggering UFO reports from people not familiar with the sky. When Venus gets near inferior conjunction on both sides and gets close and bright at sunset and sunrise, it will do it. Also, a nice conjunction with Venus and Jupiter or others will really do it.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 24, 2026 11:26 PM (w6EFb)

265 IMHO, we won't be visited by aliens until they discover how to travel faster than the speed of light
Posted by: JM in Illinois at March 24, 2026 11:23 PM (Bs2Ft

670 million MPH

The fastest manned spacecraft to date is 25k MPH.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:26 PM (V4IXI)

266 203 My daughter was the last one out in the living room. She just yelled goodnight, and went upstairs. Every single light has been left on down here. lol. Guess I will get up and go turn them all off.
Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 11:01 PM (OoFl2)
...............
I did this, too. She's too busy to turn off lights, Piper. Thinking about stuff.

Daddy also used to note all the hot water I used when I came home from college after Christmas. He could not believe me when I'd tell him I was colder in MS than out West. He'd argue back: snow. I'd say I was still cold on the farm and round and round we went. I'd dry my hair by the fireplace freezing. Neither of us won that deal as I still took hot baths, too. No care!

I knew I was finally a parent when I turned off the lights in my son's wake. Son the Elder.

He became a mixture of my husband's and my worst things in college. I once thought blood was going to shoot out of my ears I was so mad at him. No doubt our fathers were thrilled.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026 11:26 PM (WONhk)

267 plantar wart, bain of mankind

Dig it out with a knfe until it bleeds (it's no longer wart it's you) then fill it with iodine to kill the balance.
Rinse and repeat.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 11:27 PM (jmsL3)

268 Gun-shame. It is the newest thing."

Huh. That's odd. No one's ever said anything about my Weatherbys...

Posted by: man at March 24, 2026 11:27 PM (XuXeR)

269 Hello, Horde! 😊💕

Gonna add another item to the Bucket List - a trip to New York City to see the sights and some shows! Mr. TiFW DOES NOT want to go, so I am taking along a friend and her lovely daughter. They are very excited - we are using the money that we would have spent for Paul to go to treat them both for going along and "babysitting" me 😂😂😂

So far, we have 4 shows on our list, along with a bunch of touristy sights. Looking for a central hotel that is fancy for us gals. We are going over Mother's Day weekend, so we are going to try and find a fun MD Brunch to go to. There is a MD Brunch cruise that looks promising....

We are going to fly into Newark because it's considerably cheaper. What we save in airfare should pay for a lot of uber/taxi rides!

We are all VERY excited 🎉🎉🎉

Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, AoSHQ's Plucky Wee One - Eat the Cheesecake, Buy the Yarn. at March 24, 2026 11:29 PM (SRRAx)

270 n an infinite universe full of infinite possibilities the idea that life only exists on this rock seems kind of silly."

So we're really odd...

Posted by: man at March 24, 2026 11:29 PM (XuXeR)

271 Have you met Mrs thomas edison berserker? The queen of lumens? Slayer of light bulbs? Nobody leaves lights on like her.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March

I have, in fact! You can tell her she has a protégé.

Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 11:29 PM (OoFl2)

272 “I've always said we have tens of thousands of telescopes pointed at the sky 24/7 and not one has a definitive siting of an alien craft.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg”

That’s just proof of their superior cloaking technology.

Posted by: Ripley at March 24, 2026 11:30 PM (PTDkx)

273 I'm a follower of the Fermi Paradox.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:31 PM (V4IXI)

274 Strapping young lad is kinda what I call pandemonium metal. They got balls, but damn its chaotic.
Posted by: Berserker

That's a good term for it.

I like solo Devin better. When he's not doing his wackadoodle comedy albums, anyway. "Ocean Machine," "Terria" (both linked at #91), and "PowerNerd" are good. "Ziltoid The Omniscient" and the like go too weird.

Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 11:31 PM (VHUov)

275 267 plantar wart, bain of mankind

Dig it out with a knfe until it bleeds (it's no longer wart it's you) then fill it with iodine to kill the balance.
Rinse and repeat.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 11:27 PM (jmsL3)

Yikes! Or use the acid treatment and every step is painful for a week

Posted by: JM in Illinois at March 24, 2026 11:31 PM (RkMzg)

276 That’s just proof of their superior cloaking technology.
Posted by: Ripley at March 24, 2026 11:30 PM (PTDkx

So Romulans ?

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:32 PM (V4IXI)

277 >>So we're really odd...

What if we're the most advanced life in the entire universe and they are waiting for us to visit?

Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:33 PM (viF8m)

278 Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026

I could never say anything about hot water usage! I am so grateful for our tankless hot water heater.

Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 11:33 PM (OoFl2)

279 Eurogliders - Heaven

youtu.be/WHLxW-n-WT4

Posted by: Kindltot at March 24, 2026 11:33 PM (rbvCR)

280 >> The fastest manned spacecraft to date is 25k MPH.

Apollo 10 return trajectory, 24, 791 mph (11.08 km/s). Manned distance record was set by Apollo 13 on their ill-fated mission when they had to do a free-return of 248,655 miles. They had already made course corrections off of the free-return before the SM explosion, requiring the LM burn to put it back on -- if that had failed, they would've been fucked.

If Artemis II flies, it will break both by a smidge, return speed exceeding 25K mph by a little bit, and distance beyond the Moon an appreciable bit over Apollo 13.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 24, 2026 11:34 PM (w6EFb)

281 a trip to New York City to see the sights and some shows! "

Do try baked goods. There's something in the water (or not) that can't be imitated. A real bagel or knish (Yonah Schimmel's...yum) is a treat...

Also, it's pronounced "house - ton" street. Not Houston...

Posted by: man at March 24, 2026 11:35 PM (XuXeR)

282 So we're really odd...

What if we're the most advanced life in the entire universe and they are waiting for us to visit?
Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:33 PM (viF8m)

Based on universe expansion we are at least a billion years behind from theoretical life beginning on the first planets to form.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:36 PM (V4IXI)

283 What if we're the most advanced life in the entire universe and they are waiting for us to visit?"

We're number one!

Posted by: man at March 24, 2026 11:36 PM (XuXeR)

284 It’s way past bedtime! Classes to teach in the morning, and a dentist appointment for the kiddo, another step in our journey to braces!

Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 11:36 PM (OoFl2)

285 plantar warts are synonyms of Portuguese Man O' Wars, big part's on top but tentacles can run deep.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 24, 2026 11:37 PM (jmsL3)

286 The nuclear missile silos in the Western US had several well documented shutdowns in association with UFOs in the 1960s. They ordinarily used mains power electricity, diesel generator backup, and battery banks. In one incident, everything was down, inop, even the batteries were drained.

The problem with military, especially anything to do with aircraft, never mind nukes, it was a total career ender to start talking about UFOs. They were selected for stable individuals and constantly monitored for problems, alcoholism, psychological issues etc. “You didn’t see anything. Got that?”

Posted by: Chilliwack at March 24, 2026 11:37 PM (kEIJE)

287 277 >>So we're really odd...

What if we're the most advanced life in the entire universe and they are waiting for us to visit?
Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:33 PM (viF8m)

-----

Our galaxy is a hundred thousand light years across. There may be a wait. I'm watching some youtube videos on the scale of the universe; it's just beyond comprehension...

Posted by: JM in Illinois at March 24, 2026 11:38 PM (RkMzg)

288
Fastest spacecraft to date is the Parker Solar Probe which hit 430K mph (heliocentric). It dipped close to the Sun and needed to be hauling ass -- don't want to linger too close.

Now, that is just 0.064% c.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 24, 2026 11:38 PM (w6EFb)

289 "The myriads of planetary systems were all made to be eventually inhabited by many different types of intelligent creatures, beings who could know God, receive the divine affection, and love him in return."
—a Divine Counselor

https://youtu.be/3KFTm9vmZDI

G'nite, y'all.

Posted by: mindful webworker - so there y'go at March 24, 2026 11:38 PM (jrd4M)

290 We are going to fly into Newark because it's considerably cheaper. What we save in airfare should pay for a lot of uber/taxi rides!

We are all VERY excited 🎉🎉🎉

Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, AoSHQ's Plucky Wee One - Eat the Cheesecake, Buy the Yarn. at March 24, 2026 11:29 PM (SRRAx)

Almost in my neck of the woods.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 24, 2026 11:40 PM (snZF9)

291 I did LSD about 400 times and I'm completely normal. Except the other night when I seen punkin heads coming at me.

Posted by: Turn on, Tune In, Drop Out at March 24, 2026 11:41 PM (oftw2)

292 I could never say anything about hot water usage! I am so grateful for our tankless hot water heater.
Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 11:33 PM (OoFl2)

He would have loved one of those!

I loved him a lot and he loved me back, so the arguments were half hearted as he knew I would ignore him. Hilarous man and fun all of my life, that crazy Marine Southern Gentleman. I was his only daughter, which he was probably thankful for.

I think he liked a good argument now and then and missed me when I was out of state. No one else to argue with (mother and two brothers didn't).

Me and my ancient immune system need to go to bed. The 7mo baby girl who gave this to me is unfazed as I saw Her Royal Highness yesterday.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 24, 2026 11:41 PM (WONhk)

293 129 We are going to fly into Newark because it's considerably cheaper. What we save in airfare should pay for a lot of uber/taxi rides!

We are all VERY excited 🎉🎉🎉
Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, AoSHQ's Plucky Wee One - Eat the Cheesecake, Buy the Yarn. at March 24, 2026 11:29 PM (SRRAx)

See if you can find out who's buried in Grant's tomb....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 11:41 PM (QGaXH)

294 Posted by: JM in Illinois at March 24, 2026 11:38 PM (RkMzg)

In the Star Trek universe they are limited to just a parsec of our galaxy the Milky Way.

Depending what study you look at there are over 200 billion galaxies.

Mind blowing

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:41 PM (V4IXI)

295 Have you met Mrs thomas edison berserker? The queen of lumens? Slayer of light bulbs? Nobody leaves lights on like her.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March

I have, in fact! You can tell her she has a protégé.

Posted by: Piper at March 24, 2026 11:29 PM (OoFl2)

I'll never get her to turn lights off. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 24, 2026 11:42 PM (snZF9)

296 >>>“I've always said we have tens of thousands of telescopes pointed at the sky 24/7 and not one has a definitive siting of an alien craft.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg”

That’s just proof of their superior cloaking technology.

Posted by: Ripley

>Maybe they've always been here and we're just chattel. Does a pig know when he's going to slaughter for tasty bacon?

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at March 24, 2026 11:43 PM (Wnd0C)

297 “UFOs and Nukes” Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites - Robert Hastings.

Can download on the net for free. There is also a weird association with the cattle and livestock mutilations and the nuclear missile site anomalies. There was a rash of the cattle mutilations in the 60s and 70s, very very weird shit.

Posted by: Chilliwack at March 24, 2026 11:43 PM (kEIJE)

298
It takes some work to just being to get your mind wrapped around the scale of the observable universe. You can't see it all in one step. You need a series of relative comparisons, a long series of them, which works out to flyspeck on a flyspeck on a grain of sand on a virus particle, etc, etc.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (w6EFb)

299 Very excited and Newark have very rarely been in the same paragraph.

Posted by: Ironbound Ida at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (oftw2)

300 One of my favorite theories about UFO’s is that they’re not aliens at all, they’re human time travelers who are under strict orders not to interact with any of us. Sightseeing only.

And anybody who tries to become his own grampaw is in BIG BIG trouble.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (D4x+R)

301 >>Based on universe expansion we are at least a billion years behind from theoretical life beginning on the first planets to form.

This is where religion and science intersect. Hard to think of where any of the major religions, not just Judaism or Christianity, don't put the humanity on earth that was created by God in the entire universe He created not just first but uniquely mentioned. In the beginning and all that.

My Bible doesn't talk a lot about life being created a billion years ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (viF8m)

302 Rush
BTO/Guess Who (common menbers)
Bryan Adams
Triumph

Posted by: steven at March 24, 2026 11:46 PM (QOrsj)

303 >> they’re not aliens at all, they’re human time travelers

Another similar one is sometimes called "crypto-terrestrials". They are some species, some body who has been here, at least in the Solar System for a long time, observing and doing their own thing and they aren't too interested in "first contact". Could be native here from a very ancient age, or could be ETs who came here a long time ago.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 24, 2026 11:48 PM (w6EFb)

304 IMHO, we won't be visited by aliens until they discover how to travel faster than the speed of light
Posted by: JM in Illinois at March 24, 2026 11:23 PM (Bs2Ft

670 million MPH

The fastest manned spacecraft to date is 25k MPH.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg

That’s 0.0037% of the speed of light.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 24, 2026 11:48 PM (Jc4hv)

305 Just glanced at X:

Mossad Commentary
@MOSSADil
·
7m
B-52 bombers over Iran: airstrikes reportedly hit Alborz Industrial City in Qazvin, a key hub tied to regime-linked military production.

-----
It doesn't really seem like the bombing has stopped. Given the fact that it's not really clear who President Trump is negotiating with, I wonder if it's not more likely that the talk of negotiations is misinformation aimed at getting surviving parts of the regime to turn on each other?

Posted by: Methos at March 24, 2026 11:48 PM (vSvIl)

306 Scale of the Universe:

https://htwins.net/scale2/

Fun!

Posted by: JQ at March 24, 2026 11:49 PM (rdVOm)

307 I saw something very unusual a few years ago. It was in broad daylight. But I knew what it was. A747 was piggybacking one of our space shuttles, I guess back to Florida. Weird looking but I had seen that before on television. So, like I said I've seen that before so it wasn't shocking or anything just surprising.

Posted by: Case at March 24, 2026 11:49 PM (pvf3X)

308 One theory is that the aliens are already here, and have been for thousands of years. I guess that would explain away the need for faster than light travel and distances involved.

Some recent declassified reports indicate the apparent ability to fly underwater, or emerge from the ocean.

Posted by: Chilliwack at March 24, 2026 11:49 PM (kEIJE)

309 300 One of my favorite theories about UFO’s is that they’re not aliens at all, they’re human time travelers who are under strict orders not to interact with any of us. Sightseeing only.

And anybody who tries to become his own grampaw is in BIG BIG trouble.
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (D4x+R)

That's one of my pet theories too. Also time travel explains things like ghosts - beings from the future unable to communicate or interact with the physical world because it's their past and therefore unchangeable. Meaning you can't go back in time and interact or change things, just observe.

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 11:49 PM (QGaXH)

310 Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (viF8m

Does your Bible say it's silly not to believe there is other life beyond earth?

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:50 PM (V4IXI)

311 why create heaven and earth anyway

what is the object of the exercise?

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 11:52 PM (ZxPkt)

312 >>Does your Bible say it's silly not to believe there is other life beyond earth?

No, and I didn't say that. In fact I said just the opposite. What I said was we might be the most advanced civilization in the universe.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:52 PM (viF8m)

313 Louis Giglio does a religious (Christian) talk called “Indescribable” you can find on YouTube where he talks about the immensity of the universe in a way that is awe inspiring…. We can’t comprehend its size; it’s way too big to understand. Which should lead us to worship of God.

I’m too lazy to look up the reference but somewhere in the Psalms IIRC it says: The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork

Elon Musk is an amazing genius but if he thinks we can become a galactic species he’s being delusional

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at March 24, 2026 11:52 PM (xT8gx)

314
There is "about" Avogadro's Number of stars in the observable universe (give or take an order of magnitude depending on some assumptions 10^22 - 10^24 range).

Now, that's another contrast of scale and density. There are that number of water molecules in 1 mole of water, or 18g. That's a small volume.

This shows how incredibly sparse space is on the scale beyong clumps of matter.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 24, 2026 11:53 PM (w6EFb)

315 301
My Bible doesn't talk a lot about life being created a billion years ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (viF8m)

Oddly enough, a movie, 'The Matrix' shaped my thoughts on the subject of 'reality'. Perhaps everything we think of as the physical universe was created by the Almighty as a means of interacting with us. Since He can't interact with us directly, apparently, this is for our benefit.

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 11:54 PM (QGaXH)

316 Does your Bible say it's silly not to believe there is other life beyond earth?

No, and I didn't say that. In fact I said just the opposite. What I said was we might be the most advanced civilization in the universe.
Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:52 PM (viF8m)

In an infinite universe full of infinite possibilities the idea that life only exists on this rock seems kind of silly.
Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:24 PM (viF8m)

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 24, 2026 11:55 PM (V4IXI)

317 311 why create heaven and earth anyway

what is the object of the exercise?
Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 11:52 PM (ZxPkt)

To give man an interface to interact with God. (Hypothesis)

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 11:56 PM (QGaXH)

318 Very excited and Newark have very rarely been in the same paragraph.

Posted by: Ironbound Ida at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (oftw2)

This is fact.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 24, 2026 11:58 PM (snZF9)

319
286 The nuclear missile silos in the Western US had several well documented shutdowns in association with UFOs in the 1960s. They ordinarily used mains power electricity, diesel generator backup, and battery banks. In one incident, everything was down, inop, even the batteries were drained.”

This makes me remember one of the weirdest sights I ever saw, and again I won’t say what it was because I have no idea. When I did oilfield work I would often drive a long ways to get back home in the wee hours of the morning.
So I was driving across North Texas countryside about 2 am, clear sky, nice temperature, springtime like now. Nobody on the road but me. The road ran down into a little valley and up ahead I saw silhouetted against the horizon some high voltage transmission lines running across the valley, the road passed under them. (Cont’d in part 2).

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2026 11:58 PM (D4x+R)

320 >To give man an interface to interact with God. (Hypothesis)
----

to what end

Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 11:58 PM (ZxPkt)

321 This shows how incredibly sparse space is on the scale beyond clumps of matter.
Posted by: publius

A quick AI check tells me that the universe is approximately 99.99999999999999999958% empty.

Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 11:59 PM (VHUov)

322 If you want a Christian perspective on life on other planets, you could try the C. S. Lewis science fiction novels: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. The action takes place (mostly) on Mars, Venus, and Earth, respectively. Of course, Lewis was hardly the only Christian science fiction writer. But he was one of the most openly Christian science fiction writers I have read.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 24, 2026 11:59 PM (Jc4hv)

323 A quick AI check tells me that the universe is approximately 99.99999999999999999958% empty.
Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 11:59 PM (VHUov)

That's all filled by Dark Matter.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 25, 2026 12:00 AM (V4IXI)

324 One of my favorite theories about UFO’s is that they’re not aliens at all, they’re human time travelers who are under strict orders not to interact with any of us. Sightseeing only.

And anybody who tries to become his own grampaw is in BIG BIG trouble.
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (D4x+R)

That's one of my pet theories too. Also time travel explains things like ghosts - beings from the future unable to communicate or interact with the physical world because it's their past and therefore unchangeable. Meaning you can't go back in time and interact or change things, just observe.
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan
===

NetFux has a Thai miniseries titles "Don't Go home" or something like that. Starts out spookie ghosties and turns into technological paradox.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 25, 2026 12:01 AM (/lPRQ)

325 I was very excited to leave Newark.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 12:01 AM (Jc4hv)

326 311 why create heaven and earth anyway

what is the object of the exercise?
Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 11:52 PM (ZxPkt)

According to the Westminster confession of faith, God created the universe “for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness”

IOW, to demonstrate his glory

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at March 25, 2026 12:01 AM (xT8gx)

327 >>>Elon Musk is an amazing genius but if he thinks we can become a galactic species he’s being delusional

Posted by: LinusVanPelt

>Elon is a great facilitator. He's been subsidized and financed under great scrutiny and basically comes thru with results because of the resources and people he supports. Where it takes us is open, and other people, teams of people, will choose our destiny.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at March 25, 2026 12:01 AM (Wnd0C)

328 One of my favorite theories about UFO’s is that they’re not aliens at all, they’re human time travelers who are under strict orders not to interact with any of us. Sightseeing only.

And anybody who tries to become his own grampaw is in BIG BIG trouble.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (D4x+R)

Temporal wars are a bitch.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 12:02 AM (snZF9)

329 Physics as known today doesn't support traveling back in time. It does allow for traveling forward in time.

Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 25, 2026 12:03 AM (V4IXI)

330 yeah the scale of the universe is just ridiculous

flying at the speed of light, it will take you 2.5 MILLION YEARS just to get to Andromeda, the next galaxy over from us

it's nuts

Posted by: Don Black at March 25, 2026 12:03 AM (ZxPkt)

331 >> they’re not aliens at all, they’re human time travelers

Another similar one is sometimes called "crypto-terrestrials". They are some species, some body who has been here, at least in the Solar System for a long time, observing and doing their own thing and they aren't too interested in "first contact". Could be native here from a very ancient age, or could be ETs who came here a long time ago.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 24, 2026 11:48 PM (w6EFb)

Like the ones the Sumerians seemed to have written about a lot.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 12:05 AM (snZF9)

332 Any of you willing to admit you've seen a UFO?

I *am* a UFO. Only without the "flying" bit.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 25, 2026 12:06 AM (CHHv1)

333 329 Physics as known today doesn't support traveling back in time. It does allow for traveling forward in time.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 25, 2026 12:03 AM (V4IXI)

Well that's no fun! That means we'll never know how the pyramids were made and by whom and why; or how and why those giant figures observable from the air came to be or even if she really said 'let them eat cake' or if Shakespeare was one person or a committer or even if he was a guy.....I could go on.....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 25, 2026 12:06 AM (QGaXH)

334 Mid 1970's. One very dark night we saw a large rectangular shaped blue glow lowish in the western sky, it was quite pretty - turns out it was a missile launch from Vandenberg.

Posted by: 13times at March 25, 2026 12:06 AM (M+SOm)

335 A quick AI check tells me that the universe is approximately 99.99999999999999999958% empty.
Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 11:59 PM (VHUov)

That's all filled by Dark Matter.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg

No, it is filled with the Aether.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 25, 2026 12:07 AM (/lPRQ)

336 Fun!
Posted by: JQ
---

Back to battery life. I miss spoke about the charger. Before connecting the ground wire I put it on the charger for twenty minutes at 2amps.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 12:07 AM (jmsL3)

337 319 Don't leave us hanging, Tom.....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 25, 2026 12:07 AM (QGaXH)

338 Max Webster is a Rush offshoot, kinda.

Certainly Canadian. One good tune; Battle Scar. It rocks

Posted by: Zeera , Damn Right I voted for all of this! at March 25, 2026 12:07 AM (EP7Sw)

339 to what end
Posted by: Don Black
---

You're nic is showing.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 12:08 AM (jmsL3)

340 Neil Young? I'm of a mind with the old Bay Area dj (Dennis Erectus on KSJO?) who would announce, "The last hour of no Neil Young music has been brought to you by..."
More whining (or whinging for our Brit and Canuck morons) than singing. It's a wonder that his albums didn't thank his vocal coaches: Wily Coyote and Tom Cat.

Posted by: buddhaha at March 25, 2026 12:08 AM (8snZr)

341 I have linked this before, but here's a scale map of the solar system (assuming all the planets are lined up), where the moon is a single pixel:

https://is.gd/oxkZeY

You can hit the icon in the lower-right to travel at a leisurely light speed.

Or hit the arrows at the top to scroll to the next snarky message or planet--or the zodiac signs between them to go directly to a planet--at much faster than light speed.

Posted by: mikeski at March 25, 2026 12:08 AM (VHUov)

342 Part 2: So I’m about a quarter mile from these lines when is see something strange - on one side of the valley green tendrils are stretching UP from the lines to something about 100’ above them.
But the thing is, there was nothing visible there. I stopped my car and got out to watch, close enough to hear the electricity crackling.

And it was moving. As I watched, the end point of the electric tendrils slowly moved from east to west across the little valley. Judging by those, their end point seemed to be something about 50 yards long which was completely silent and invisible. After about 10 minutes the show reached the other side of the valley, and it just stopped; and everything was like nothing had ever happened.

Sure looked to me, though, like something had just drained a whole lot of power out of those transmission lines.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 25, 2026 12:08 AM (D4x+R)

343 to what end
Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 11:58 PM (ZxPkt)

"To glorify God and enjoy Him forever."(Chief end of man).

I was Presbyterian all of my life til a week ago when I converted to Roman Catholic. We had to memorize part of the catechism as well as Bible verses that are still with me.

On the other hand I can't remember what I had for dinner yesterday, but some things I remember.

Good night, sleep tight.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at March 25, 2026 12:08 AM (WONhk)

344 To give man an interface to interact with God. (Hypothesis)
----

to what end
Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 11:58 PM (ZxPkt)

Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
…

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 12:08 AM (Jc4hv)

345 >>Oddly enough, a movie, 'The Matrix' shaped my thoughts on the subject of 'reality'. Perhaps everything we think of as the physical universe was created by the Almighty as a means of interacting with us. Since He can't interact with us directly, apparently, this is for our benefit.

See this is why LSD was invented.

Seriously, perspective is everything. We don't know what's out there but the popular belief is that there are magical beings that life somewhere out there in the universe that are infinitely smarter than us and one of their major missions is to occasionally drop in here and do anal probes. Not a lot evidence that's happened but the belief persists.

There's no doubt life is out there in some galaxy but it could be plants or some lower life form. No reason we couldn't be at the top of the food chain. We've been looking and listening for a long time and nobody has called yet.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:10 AM (viF8m)

346 Because He could.

Posted by: The best reason to do anything at March 25, 2026 12:10 AM (2Ez/1)

347 335 A quick AI check tells me that the universe is approximately 99.99999999999999999958% empty.
Posted by: mikeski
---

Is the area between to solid objects nothing or is it something else?

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 12:10 AM (jmsL3)

348 Evening zhorde. Great pic up top. Breakfast Club movie poster hanging in my basement. Thanks for the ONT, Disco.

Posted by: scampydog at March 25, 2026 12:11 AM (41CYW)

349 Physics as known today doesn't support traveling back in time. It does allow for traveling forward in time.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg
----
At a speed of one minute per minute.

Posted by: buddhaha at March 25, 2026 12:11 AM (8snZr)

350 >>In an infinite universe full of infinite possibilities the idea that life only exists on this rock seems kind of silly.
Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2026 11:24 PM (viF8m)

Thanks for making my point, Roc.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:12 AM (viF8m)

351 Before connecting the ground wire I put it on the charger for twenty minutes at 2amps.

Posted by: Braenyard
---------

Thanks for the info. It's raining for the next few days, so not messing with the truck for a while. It's parked outside.

Posted by: JQ at March 25, 2026 12:12 AM (rdVOm)

352 yeah the scale of the universe is just ridiculous

flying at the speed of light, it will take you 2.5 MILLION YEARS just to get to Andromeda, the next galaxy over from us

it's nuts

Posted by: Don Black at March 25, 2026 12:03 AM (ZxPkt)

Yeah it just makes your head hurt thinking about the size and scale of the universe, not to mention all the weird shit going on in it. You see these pictures of one tiny piece of the sky and there are whole clusters of galaxies in them that are millions of light years away from each other. I managed to see andromeda with my telescope when I was into that stuff. It was weird, not real clear because the human eye can only process so much light, and my telescope was only 10", but it was there. I'm thinking thats just fucked up, I'm seeing something that happened 2.5 millions years ago. Crazy shit.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 12:12 AM (snZF9)

353 We've been looking and listening for a long time and nobody has called yet.
Posted by: JackStraw
---

That's what Musk said.~

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 12:13 AM (jmsL3)

354 I told Grok I want to buy a ticket to Mars.
Grok is not taking applications yet.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 12:14 AM (jmsL3)

355 No, it is filled with the Aether.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher

Das ist correctish.. oH weit...

Posted by: weft cut-Einstien at March 25, 2026 12:15 AM (diia5)

356 So far, we have 4 shows on our list, along with a bunch of touristy sights. Looking for a central hotel that is fancy for us gals. We are going over Mother's Day weekend, so we are going to try and find a fun MD Brunch to go to. There is a MD Brunch cruise that looks promising....

Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, AoSHQ's Plucky Wee One - Eat the Cheesecake, Buy the Yarn. at March 24, 2026 11:29 PM (SRRAx)

My theater district knowledge is way out of date. Russian Tea Room would have been my rec for MD brunch. Recall that I am old.

OTOH, the best Chinatown experience in the country is still 17 Mott Street. I've been to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore, and New Orleans. They all have their bright spots, but the absence of Wo Hop is apparent to anyone blessed to have dined there.

It is not fancy. Housed in a basement, it boasts no view (the better to focus your attention on the food). Simply the best steamed dumplings, won ton soup, beef/chicken/pork lo mien, and squid w/spicy salt (think Chinese fried calamari). It is one of the few places in Chinatown that has a line out the door, and it's been that way since I've been going regularly since the early 80's..

Posted by: Joe Kidd at March 25, 2026 12:15 AM (nbLIj)

357 There's no doubt life is out there in some galaxy but it could be plants or some lower life form. No reason we couldn't be at the top of the food chain. We've been looking and listening for a long time and nobody has called yet.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:10 AM (viF8m)

We might not have reach out far enough yet. If we were broadcasting for 100 years we only reached out 100 light years into space, and if somebody heard us it would take another 100 years to get a response.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 12:16 AM (snZF9)

358 It doesn't really seem like the bombing has stopped. Given the fact that it's not really clear who President Trump is negotiating with, I wonder if it's not more likely that the talk of negotiations is misinformation aimed at getting surviving parts of the regime to turn on each other?
Posted by: Methos at March 24, 2026 11:48 PM (vSvIl)

There is no unified Iranian government and military. The cohesion was destroyed in the first 12 hours and the "mosaic defense" was designed to keep fighting even if the center was killed or captured. The Iranian Revolutionary state was developed as nearly independent silos, and some of them are still functional, and some are still fighting since there is no one to tell them to stop.
We are fighting a Hydra, and the tactic may be to find someone who can convince them to lay down their arms for a better future.

Posted by: Just the Punchline at March 25, 2026 12:17 AM (rbvCR)

359 345 We've been looking and listening for a long time and nobody has called yet.
Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:10 AM (viF8m)

THAT, some would argue, provides further evidence of the aliens intelligence and good taste.....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 25, 2026 12:17 AM (QGaXH)

360 Physics as known today doesn't support traveling back in time. It does allow for traveling forward in time.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 25, 2026 12:03 AM (V4IXI)

Gödel showed Einstein that it was possible to create metrics that allow time travel. You can do it with a spinning black hole. The extreme angular momentum typical of a rotating black hole is absolutely necessary. This has not been confirmed by experiment.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 12:19 AM (Jc4hv)

361 That wasn't very funny , was it.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 25, 2026 12:19 AM (rbvCR)

362 why create heaven and earth anyway

what is the object of the exercise?
Posted by: Don Black at March 24, 2026 11:52 PM (ZxPkt)

To create a concrete frame of reference.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 25, 2026 12:19 AM (rbvCR)

363 The Lone Ranger has been captured by hostile indigenes. They have him tied to a stake, awaiting numerous unpleasantries the next morning.

He whistles for Silver and whispers something in his ear.

A few minutes later Silver comes back with a beautiful naked blonde on his back.

The Masked Man whispers again. Silver brings a smokin' hot brunette.

He tries a third time, and Silver shows up with a redhead.

Finally the Lone Ranger's had enough. "POSSE, YOU MORON! POSSE!"

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 25, 2026 12:20 AM (IG3/x)

364 The Pentagon is the greatest logistics engine on the planet, but I'd bet Bezos and Amazon could do it 75% cheaper.

If you're reaching out to populate the solar system, Musk and Bezos could shave years off of the timeline.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at March 25, 2026 12:21 AM (Wnd0C)

365 Is the area between to solid objects nothing or is it something else?
Posted by: Braenyard

Nature does abhor a vacuum. The empty space between galaxies has about one hydrogen or helium molecule per cubic meter. The rest of it is nothing at the macro (atomic) level.

Maybe there's "something" at the quantum level. Or some lower level we haven't discovered.

Posted by: mikeski at March 25, 2026 12:22 AM (VHUov)

366 >>Yeah it just makes your head hurt thinking about the size and scale of the universe, not to mention all the weird shit going on in it.

That's the thing about infinite. There is no end. And there is no end to the infinite number of possibilities for life.

Everything on earth is measurable in some way. Our lives are kind of built around measurements. But there is no end to universe and that is a tough concept to deal with.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:22 AM (viF8m)

367 The Tragically Hip should be #2 for Canada after Rush. Then BTO and Guess Who

Posted by: Happy at March 25, 2026 12:23 AM (QZkUY)

368 358 We are fighting a Hydra, and the tactic may be to find someone who can convince them to lay down their arms for a better future.
Posted by: Just the Punchline at March 25, 2026 12:17 AM (rbvCR)

Reminds me of WWII Germany as opposed to Japan. Japan we had someone with authority to tell the military to lay down their arms and surrender. Had we taken out the Emperor prior to that surrender order going out, we'd probably still be fighting them.

Germany - I don't think Hitler ever gave a surrender order. They just surrendered on their own as I recall.

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 25, 2026 12:23 AM (QGaXH)

369
We might not have reach out far enough yet. If we were broadcasting for 100 years we only reached out 100 light years into space, and if somebody heard us it would take another 100 years to get a response.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division
---

They are on the way monitoring our transmissions and modifiying their assault weapons as they travel.

They are coming.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 12:23 AM (jmsL3)

370 We are fighting a Hydra, and the tactic may be to find someone who can convince them to lay down their arms for a better future.

Reminds me of that Imperial Japanese Army officer that was still fighting the 1970s on some remote Pacific island. They had to find his wartime superior officer in Japan and fly him out to the island to convince the guy that the war was over.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 12:24 AM (Jc4hv)

371 We've been looking and listening for a long time and nobody has called yet.
Posted by: JackStraw

THAT, some would argue, provides further evidence of the aliens intelligence and good taste.....
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan

Obligatory meat:

https://is.gd/MjORcc

Posted by: mikeski at March 25, 2026 12:25 AM (VHUov)

372 https://tinyurl.com/3k8zxvtj

dogs escape

Posted by: ploome at March 25, 2026 12:25 AM (AExpd)

373 hydrogen or helium molecule

Atom. Not molecule. I blame it being almost midnight.

Posted by: mikeski at March 25, 2026 12:26 AM (VHUov)

374 >> Is the area between to solid objects nothing or is it something else?

That is spacetime. Generally dubbed the vacuum. Not just WTF that actually is, well, it's something. Empty spacetime is something.

There is mindblowing shit about the "vacuum" that I only vaguely recall what little I actually knew. You've heard of Hawking radiation. Well, via the Equivalence Principle, there is also Unruh radiation.

Take a path of flat Minkowski spacetime. Completely empty. Now, construct an accelerating reference frame. That accelerating (Rindler observer, if you want to sound sophisticated like you know what you're talking about, which I don't

) observer no longer sees a vacuum, but an actual EM radiation field. When you add all the other quantum fields in there (color and the other shit) he may see other shit.

We can say that Unruh is entirely "coordinate artifact", I think, since that's just an accelerating coordinatization of flat spacetime. Yet, Hawking, existing with "real gravity", real curvature, is thus real.

Even when I could remember this shit, I still didn't understand this, other than it was mind blowing.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 12:26 AM (w6EFb)

375 Thoughts:
A) never watched The Breakfast Club.
2) that claw would never have been able to deal with my silver maple stump.
iii) there is no iii

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at March 25, 2026 12:26 AM (5qe7C)

376 Oddly enough, a movie, 'The Matrix' shaped my thoughts on the subject of 'reality'. Perhaps everything we think of as the physical universe was created by the Almighty as a means of interacting with us. Since He can't interact with us directly, apparently, this is for our benefit.
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 11:54 PM (QGaXH)

There is a theory that the Matrix is a reframing of the Gnostic heresy, but I never heard that one. Interesting.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 25, 2026 12:27 AM (rbvCR)

377 Gödel showed Einstein that it was possible to create metrics that allow time travel
———

And then when Gödel’s wife became sick, she could no longer take care of him. Like, feed him dinner. He died of starvation as a result. True story.

Posted by: Chilliwack at March 25, 2026 12:28 AM (5dzh4)

378 I guess I'm an open minded skeptic on the UFO subject. I know there's possible evidence of ancient aliens, but I think it's more than a coincidence that more recent sightings coincide with the advent of flight and wonder it there's a connection of some sort.....
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 24, 2026 11:18 PM (QGaXH)

In ancient times, people watched the sky a lot. No electric lights, no TV, no internet. They had names for all the stars. Nowadays, people scarcely look at the sky, so anything that doesn't fit their preconceived notion of how the sky is supposed to look gets branded as a UFO.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 25, 2026 12:28 AM (8zz6B)

379 Very excited and Newark have very rarely been in the same paragraph.

Posted by: Ironbound Ida at March 24, 2026 11:44 PM (oftw2)

This is fact.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 24, 2026 11:58 PM (snZF9)

Unless describing one's departure. FWIW, Ironbound remains a hidden gem...

Posted by: Joe Kidd at March 25, 2026 12:28 AM (nbLIj)

380 here's my thoughts, fwiw

a universe appeared
we don't know how
but it has conditions that allow for life to happen
and it takes a little under 5 billion years to go from newly formed rocky planet, to intelligent beings having basic space travel

good night
watch out for those flying saucers

Posted by: Don Black at March 25, 2026 12:28 AM (ZxPkt)

381 373 hydrogen or helium molecule

Atom. Not molecule. I blame it being almost midnight.
Posted by: mikeski at March 25, 2026 12:26 AM (VHUov)

It's getting late for me too even though I'm on the left coast.

Thank you everyone for an interesting and thought provoking discussion.

Good Night All.

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 25, 2026 12:28 AM (QGaXH)

382 We are fighting a Hydra, and the tactic may be to find someone who can convince them to lay down their arms for a better future.
Posted by: Just the Punchline
----------

Or to discover where they are and bomb the hell out of them.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 12:29 AM (jmsL3)

383 Physics as known today doesn't support traveling back in time. It does allow for traveling forward in time.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg
----
At a speed of one minute per minute.

In flat space time (special relativity) this is always true for you using a clock that that is co-moving with you. But how time passes elsewhere is a different story, especially if your speed approaches the speed of light.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 12:29 AM (Jc4hv)

384 >> He died of starvation as a result. True story.

Indeed. And read the story of him getting his citizenship, sponsored by Einstein and someone else. At the hearing, he went off a rant that he'd found a logical flaw in the US Constitution. Einstein did a face palm. The judge was just amused, saying boy these mathematical geniuses are really nuts, ain't they.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 12:30 AM (w6EFb)

385 We are fighting a Hydra, and the tactic may be to find someone who can convince them to lay down their arms for a better future.
Posted by: Just the Punchline at March 25, 2026 12:17 AM (rbvCR)

Some accounts on X are reporting about horrible infighting happening inside the remaining Iranian leadership. No one agrees on who is in charge, who can negotiate, or whether they even should negotiate. The sources say they’re all at each others throats over it.

Oh but no way could Trump be smart enough to have foreseen this happening. Not at all.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 25, 2026 12:30 AM (D4x+R)

386 M. John Harrison wrote a sci-fi book named Empty Space. It's not empty.

Posted by: 13times at March 25, 2026 12:31 AM (M+SOm)

387 A quick AI check tells me that the universe is approximately 99.99999999999999999958% empty.
Posted by: mikeski at March 24, 2026 11:59 PM (VHUov)

The universe is an incredible volume of absolutely nothing garnished with a smear of Hydrogen, and a mere smattering of other, more complicated stuff.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 25, 2026 12:32 AM (rbvCR)

388
Suppose you and I start out at some place and agree to meet at another destination later in the day. We get to there later, we compare odometers and find they are different. You travelled a longer distance than I did. We would not find that surprising. You simply took a different, longer path than I did.

Now, that's how time works as well. That blows Newtonian intuition away, granted, but it's the exact same thing. We take different paths through spacetime, and thus accumulate different proper times along the way.

I don't think of the Twin "Paradox" as time travel because of this. One twin just takes a shorter path, and thus less time.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 12:33 AM (w6EFb)

389 In ancient times, people watched the sky a lot. No electric lights, no TV, no internet. They had names for all the stars. Nowadays, people scarcely look at the sky, so anything that doesn't fit their preconceived notion of how the sky is supposed to look gets branded as a UFO.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

Light pollution obscures most of the sky.
Get far enough into the boonies and a high elevation it is quite impressive to see that stars have color.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 25, 2026 12:33 AM (/lPRQ)

390 Hydrogen

an element which, given enough time, can come to investigate its own existence

Posted by: Don Black at March 25, 2026 12:35 AM (ZxPkt)

391 Everything on earth is measurable in some way. Our lives are kind of built around measurements. But there is no end to universe and that is a tough concept to deal with.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:22 AM (viF8m)

If you could travel 1 light year per second it would take 1000 years to reach what they think is the edge of our universe, and it might not actually be the edge. Its only where our actual limits to "see" bring us. The shit could go on forever.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 12:36 AM (snZF9)

392 329 Physics as known today doesn't support traveling back in time. It does allow for traveling forward in time.
Posted by: Harry Vandenburg at March 25, 2026 12:03 AM (V4IXI)

That reminds me, today (Tuesday the 24th) was the 75th birthday of Dougie Thomson, bass guitarist of Supertramp, as I mentioned in the Tech Thread. There I linked to "School," which Brave AI offered as one of the best examples of his playing, but here I will link to another one on that list. Sci-fi authors use this title as a euphemism for when a time-traveler gets stuck in the past, his time machine is kaput, and he has to...

Supertramp - Take The Long Way Home (Live In Paris '79) [4K]
https://youtu.be/RKgXNt6MhwQ

Posted by: SciVo at March 25, 2026 12:36 AM (Sy6m/)

393 The universe is an incredible volume of absolutely nothing garnished with a smear of Hydrogen, and a mere smattering of other, more complicated stuff.
Posted by: Kindltot

Which is why in astrophysics, there's hydrogen, and there's helium, and there's "metals" (everything from lithium on up.)

Posted by: mikeski at March 25, 2026 12:37 AM (VHUov)

394 Pubs, I have a question about sky viewing conditions.

In a given location, all things being equal, can the sky be “darker” or better star gazing due to factors I’m not aware? Let’s say it’s the new moon, sky is as dark as it’s gonna get.

Is it seasonal, or periodic somehow?

Posted by: Chilliwack at March 25, 2026 12:37 AM (5dzh4)

395 there is no end to universe and that is a tough concept to deal with.
Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:22 AM (viF8m)

**********

I have no problem with that. The concept of there being no beginning is what I can't fathom.

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at March 25, 2026 12:38 AM (Vvh2V)

396 >Get far enough into the boonies and a high elevation it is quite impressive to see that stars have color.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher
-----

long ago, I enjoyed camping in the Utah deserts, where night is so dark and starry, you can experience starlight. Very soft and faint, but it's a thing.

Posted by: Don Black at March 25, 2026 12:39 AM (ZxPkt)

397 Democrats flip President Trump's state house district that republicans won by 19 points in 2024.

Posted by: exodus 21:22-25 at March 25, 2026 12:39 AM (hZjMx)

398 Light pollution obscures most of the sky.
Get far enough into the boonies and a high elevation it is quite impressive to see that stars have color.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 25, 2026 12:33 AM (/lPRQ)

When I used to go out to the sturgis rally every year we camped the first 2 years. We camped in the black hills and when I looked up at the night sky it was like looking at the sun through a screen door. The stars were practically touching each other and you couldn't make out the constellations because of all the stars. The milky way was so dense it looked like a gas cloud. I'll never forget that.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 12:40 AM (snZF9)

399 Sure looked to me, though, like something had just drained a whole lot of power out of those transmission lines.
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 25, 2026 12:08 AM (D4x+R)

Friend of mine in Alberta, a pilot, and good observer, saw corona discharges on an HVDC power that runs near his place. He called to the power company to report it. Response: "that's funny, that line has not even been energized yet."

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 25, 2026 12:41 AM (8zz6B)

400 Read up on the Nebra Sky Disk. It was found by some amateur collectors digging around, at first thought to be a forgery. But it’s very old.

Doesn’t make any sense to me. Used for determining Solstice?

Posted by: Chilliwack at March 25, 2026 12:41 AM (5dzh4)

401
Germany - I don't think Hitler ever gave a surrender order. They just surrendered on their own as I recall.
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 25, 2026 12:23 AM (QGaXH)

Admiral Doenitz gave the order to surrender, but by that time there was nothing much left to fight with. No gas, no food, no resupply, and everyone was trying to surrender to the Americans to avoid the Russians. The "werewolf" plan was not done because of the shock of losing, and then the Allies gave them the Communists to chase instead of insurgency.
There was a rumor of a resurgent Nazi party by old SS troops in the west in the 50's, but supposedly they all got told to knock it off, and the prosecution of them was declined because the court found there were so many government agents acting as provocateurs among them it was found impossible to figure out if it was an organic movement or created by the security services.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 25, 2026 12:42 AM (rbvCR)

402 I like The Breakfast Club. Bender's bit about how screws fall out because the world is an imperfect place still cracks me up (and resonates with me).

But I prefer Sixteen Candles for this general kind of 80s movie. Weird Science is inferior to both but fun.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at March 25, 2026 12:43 AM (yjflf)

403 >>If you could travel 1 light year per second it would take 1000 years to reach what they think is the edge of our universe, and it might not actually be the edge. Its only where our actual limits to "see" bring us. The shit could go on forever.

Unless someone can come up with a plausible explanation of what comes after the edge of the universe, and in all of human existence nobody has, then the universe goes on forever. Infinitely.

Seriously, think about it. If there is an end to what we call the universe, what's on the other side?

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:43 AM (viF8m)

404 >> Is it seasonal, or periodic somehow?

It is. You've got your basic "seeing", which has to do with the state of the atmosphere. Is turbulence and temperature variations and all that afoot big time, or is everything nice and stable.

Winter, as a general rule, can offer the best seeing, with colder denser air. When it's clear. Then you got things that interplanetary dust (Zodiacal light), not to mention terrestrial dust, jet stream behavior, and all that.

So, there are sesonal factors that affect seeing, and then just random factors than come and go.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 12:43 AM (w6EFb)

405 We are fighting a Hydra, and the tactic may be to find someone who can convince them to lay down their arms for a better future.
Posted by: Just the Punchline at March 25, 2026 12:17 AM (rbvCR)

Some accounts on X are reporting about horrible infighting happening inside the remaining Iranian leadership. No one agrees on who is in charge, who can negotiate, or whether they even should negotiate. The sources say they’re all at each others throats over it.

Oh but no way could Trump be smart enough to have foreseen this happening. Not at all.
Posted by: Tom Servo

I do not have a man inside but would think it very likely that the Iranian "Mosaic" closely resembles traditional state/province boundaries.
Limit comm between these areas, eliminate IRGC within select mosaics, and let the 'Immortals' take control.
Move onto the next.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 25, 2026 12:44 AM (/lPRQ)

406 Reminds me of that Imperial Japanese Army officer that was still fighting the 1970s on some remote Pacific island. They had to find his wartime superior officer in Japan and fly him out to the island to convince the guy that the war was over.
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 12:24 AM (Jc4hv)

Hiroo Onoda. He had been trained as a stay behind agent, and he did that for 30 years. He returned to the home islands, and found it so changed and not respectable next to the 40's that he emigrated to Brazil to live with a Nisei community there.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 25, 2026 12:45 AM (rbvCR)

407 The successor government to Hitler's (the "Flensburg" government headed by Adm. Donitz) formally surrendered, and of course the military surrendered twice (once in Rennes - Jodl - and the next day at Templehof - all the Allies represented, Zhukov in charge).

There was real concern in the Japanese leadership about whether a surrender order would be complied with - one reason an imperial radio address - unprecedented event - was done. And there were a few cases of insubordinate post-announcement attacks on Allied forces, though fortunately not many.

And the Allied (US, really) concern about Japanese military insubordination regarding surrender was of course much more intense. This didn't really dissipate until a little bit into the occupation, when it was clear that there would be no major trouble. Quite the opposite in fact, Japanese cultural respect for order, authority, and compliance making it easily the best place to occupy of any.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 25, 2026 12:45 AM (U/Byj)

408 Secretary of Energy: we're planning to have three new nuclear reactors go critical by July 4.

Now, we just need to do that a couple of dozen more times.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 25, 2026 12:46 AM (IG3/x)

409 Germany - I don't think Hitler ever gave a surrender order. They just surrendered on their own as I recall.
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at March 25, 2026 12:23 AM (QGaXH)

Admiral Doenitz surrendered, and I believe he was in Hitler's chosen line of succession.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 25, 2026 12:46 AM (8zz6B)

410 It’s interesting that what we would call UFOs from say the 1890s tended to sound like balloons or dirigibles. I guess you see what you think could be up there, and that changes with the times. I suspect the earliest report of flying saucers (from the 1950s?) was probably a lenticular cloud. If you don’t know what you’re looking at, they can really look like a flying saucer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticular_cloud

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 12:47 AM (Jc4hv)

411 Seriously, think about it. If there is an end to what we call the universe, what's on the other side?
Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:43 AM (viF8m)

That's why there's so many songs about rainbows

Posted by: Kermit the Frog at March 25, 2026 12:49 AM (w/O5Q)

412 https://tinyurl.com/3k8zxvtj

dogs escape
Posted by: ploome at March 25, 2026 12:25 AM (AExpd)

Are you THE ploome that I used to see on LGF?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 25, 2026 12:50 AM (8zz6B)

413 >>I have no problem with that. The concept of there being no beginning is what I can't fathom.

This is where I fall back on the Bible. I'm a terrible Christian but this makes sense to me as much as anything. I don't pretend to understand God either.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth"

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:51 AM (viF8m)

414 >>>Pubs, I have a question about sky viewing conditions.

In a given location, all things being equal, can the sky be “darker” or better star gazing due to factors I’m not aware? Let’s say it’s the new moon, sky is as dark as it’s gonna get.

Is it seasonal, or periodic somehow?

Posted by: Chilliwack

>I happen to live in a place where you can drive down a highway where there is no town for 40 miles around, only coyotes. If you get out of the vehicle, you can see the Milky Way in all of it's splendor with the naked eye. Ambient light is a factor.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at March 25, 2026 12:51 AM (Wnd0C)

415 We've no idea what lies beyond the portion of our visible physical universe; our view cone. And plank time/length bar proper backward investigation.

Posted by: 13times at March 25, 2026 12:52 AM (M+SOm)

416 There were concerns with “werewolf” attacks in Germany even after surrender for some years into the Occupation. A werewolf attack would be Germans fighting a guerrilla war against the Occupation. Hence the strong efforts to de-Nazify Germany after the war.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 12:52 AM (Jc4hv)

417 Tallk of the edge of the universe is like15th century talk of the edge of world.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 12:52 AM (jmsL3)

418 >> Unless someone can come up with a plausible explanation of what comes after the edge of the universe, and in all of human existence nobody has, then the universe goes on forever.

That is the limitation of the human mind's imagination, based on Euclidean, flat spatial geometry.

Consider a 2-sphere, the the 2 dimensional surface of a sphere of some finite radius. That is 2D space is closed, finite size, yet no boundary. You can go off in an direction and come back to where you started.

Now, you can have the same with a 3D space, the "surface volume" of a hypersphere, dubbed a 3-sphere.

Now you object, but there's that third dimension for the 2-sphere! It's curved around in that 3D space, that explains it.

Now, here's the key insight. You don't need that higher dimensional space at all. It's just a crutch. You can have that closed 2-sphere geometry existing all of itself. There is no measurement you can make, confined to the surface that can prove or disprove the existence of the higher embedding space.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 12:53 AM (w6EFb)

419 > A werewolf attack would be Germans fighting a guerrilla war against the Occupation.

Didn't the last Japanese holdout stay out in the jungle until the '70s? As I recall, they had to find his old commanding officer and have him come out to relieve the soldier from his post.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 25, 2026 12:53 AM (IG3/x)

420 Hiroo Onoda. He had been trained as a stay behind agent, and he did that for 30 years. He returned to the home islands, and found it so changed and not respectable next to the 40's that he emigrated to Brazil to live with a Nisei community there.
Posted by: Kindltot

He could have moved to Honolulu if he wanted that Japanese Old World feel.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 25, 2026 12:54 AM (/lPRQ)

421 The Pursuit of Happiness is third, behind Rush and Guess Who, out of Canadian bands for me.

Posted by: Azjaeger at March 25, 2026 12:55 AM (3/XaG)

422 Which is why in astrophysics, there's hydrogen, and there's helium, and there's "metals" (everything from lithium on up.)

Posted by: mikeski at March 25, 2026 12:37 AM (VHUov)

Stars do a lot of the heavy lifting. The heavier the star the more elements they create. Our sun converts hydrogen into helium, and will probably stop there because it isn't massive enough to create enough pressure from collapse to heat things up to go farther. Massive stars have the mass to convert helium to carbon, then carbon , then neon/magnesium, then sulfer, and eventually to iron. Iron is where it stops and then fooom. Star goes super nova and blows all the shit across the area. A bonanza of elements.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 12:58 AM (snZF9)

423 UFOs are just tachyon waves from poorly tuned FTL drives passing backwards through our time.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at March 25, 2026 01:02 AM (wLsnt)

424 >> Star goes super nova and blows all the shit across the area. A bonanza of elements.

There is quite a devil in those details of where the elements heavier than iron come from. Astrophysicists would just sort of wave their hands that supernova did it.

Turns out they can't make enough. This was known as the gold mystery. What made all the gold in the universe? Turns out the answer is neutron star mergers mostly, but that wasn't enough. They recently discovered magnetar flares account for the rest of it.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:02 AM (w6EFb)

425 Iron is where it stops and then fooom. Star goes super nova and blows all the shit across the area. A bonanza of elements.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 12:58 AM (snZF9)

I believe the current model is that elements heavier than iron are formed in supernovas, and then newly-forming stars hoover up all the good stuff scattered by the supernova explosions.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 25, 2026 01:04 AM (8zz6B)

426 In a given location, all things being equal, can the sky be “darker” or better star gazing due to factors I’m not aware? Let’s say it’s the new moon, sky is as dark as it’s gonna get.

Is it seasonal, or periodic somehow?

You want to be on a mountain top (less air above you), far from sources of light pollution, with a dry climate, and a laminar flow of air straight up, if possible. They do studies before they site observatories. It turns out that the study done for Kitt Peak in Arizona was during an anomalously “quiet” time period in terms of seeing conditions. It has not quite lived up to the study that put all those telescopes there. Of course, space is the best place to put a telescope these days, but that has its own difficulties.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 01:05 AM (Jc4hv)

427
So, that piece of gold jewelry or coin you have? About an 80% chance it was born in the throws of a "hypernova", two colliding neutron stars throwing off a big, but relatively small total amount of mass off in their death throes of becoming a black hole.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:05 AM (w6EFb)

428
411 Seriously, think about it. If there is an end to what we call the universe, what's on the other side?
Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 12:43 AM (viF8m)

No “other side” because what we call our universe is just a four dimensional bubble inside a higher multidimensional reality. Things like time are artifacts of this universe, but work differently, or may not exist at all outside of it.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 25, 2026 01:07 AM (D4x+R)

429 >>That is the limitation of the human mind's imagination, based on Euclidean, flat spatial geometry.

No, that's reality not math.

Unless all of what we know as the universe exists inside the mind of some space giant, who was somehow created by something, everything has an end. Even math problems for that matter. Or unless all we know is just ideas we transmit to each other we exist as real beings and communicate by talking and typing. Otherwise we wouldn't need this place. Or some of you have taken way more drugs than me.

There are two options. The universe has some sort of end in which case there is something on the other side or the universe is infinite. Something can't keep expanding into an area that doesn't exist. And if it exists what's up with over there?

I'm wide open an explanation of what's on the other side but this isn't a math problem, it's a reality problem.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:07 AM (viF8m)

430 I believe the current model is that elements heavier than iron are formed in supernovas, and then newly-forming stars hoover up all the good stuff scattered by the supernova explosions.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 25, 2026 01:04 AM (8zz6B)

yeah I read that too, but its the collapse onto the iron core that creates the shock waves that tear it apart, and then like you said it creates the other elements and helps create other stars. I think one of the king shit stellar nurseries is in the orion nebula. Its supposed to have a high concentration of young stars.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 01:09 AM (snZF9)

431 >> No, that's reality not math.

There is no reason reality has to be Euclidean. That's an imposition of the human mind on reality.

Reality doesn't have to be infinite. It can be closed with no boundary. Math is the tool to see that is possible.

By saying it must have an end, your are imposing your own mind on reality, no the other way around.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:11 AM (w6EFb)

432 >>No “other side” because what we call our universe is just a four dimensional bubble inside a higher multidimensional reality. Things like time are artifacts of this universe, but work differently, or may not exist at all outside of it.

So what started the bubble?

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:11 AM (viF8m)

433 >>By saying it must have an end, your are imposing your own mind on reality, no the other way around.

Same question. If there is no end how could there be a beginning?

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:13 AM (viF8m)

434 So what started the bubble?
Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:11 AM (viF8m)

I blame the refried beans. - God

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 25, 2026 01:14 AM (8zz6B)

435 >> If there is no end how could there be a beginning?

There was a definitely a beginning. Don't know about an end. But that's for our little bubble of expanding universe, FLWR type spacetime. There is a t = 0 there.

But that's just the current model. Could there have be a "before" t = 0? Yep, there could. But current physics can't address that (there are some ideas, of course).

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:16 AM (w6EFb)

436 >>I blame the refried beans. - God

I'm starting to think I'm the one who didn't take the brown acid.

I've recently learned I live in a bubble that's actually a math problem.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:18 AM (viF8m)

437 There are two options. The universe has some sort of end in which case there is something on the other side or the universe is infinite. Something can't keep expanding into an area that doesn't exist. And if it exists what's up with over there?

I'm wide open an explanation of what's on the other side but this isn't a math problem, it's a reality problem.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:07 AM (viF8m)

There is a third option; Space is finite, but has no “outside” because space itself is curved. Space time itself is created by energy and matter, as it expands space expands. If it shrinks (and the theory that says it will is in question now, but I digress) but if it contracts, then space itself will contract until it all collapses into an infinitesimal point where this universe will drop out of physical existence as we understand it, and either go back to where it came from, or recycle.

This universe is not all that there is. In fact it is most probably only a tiny, tiny part of all that there is.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 25, 2026 01:19 AM (D4x+R)

438 I think I will go with my faith and not try to figure out the universe. We are put here for a reason and we will be taken for a reason. I'm good with that. Hope to see my family and friends who have passed again. Maybe we are not meant to know everything about everything.

Posted by: Case at March 25, 2026 01:19 AM (pvf3X)

439 I always kind of have to laugh when I hear all of the star historians tell us what happened in the past. Not that I don't respect what they do, but these are not current events.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at March 25, 2026 01:19 AM (Wnd0C)

440 And there's about a 10% chance that gold came from a magnetar flare.

Now, to talk about scale and mind blowing density and all that. The magnetic field of a magnetar is so large, so mind bogglingly YUGE it's near the quantum limit of a how strong such a field can be (well, that's sort of a tricky thing).

The energy density of that field in the vacuum works out to be many times greater than the mc^2 energy density of a chunk of lead.

It comes out to be about 200 Tsar Bombas of energy packed into every mL of space around the magnetar. That is magnetic field energy in the vaccuum. 50 MT of energy in every cubic centimeter.

How about that to blow your mind.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:23 AM (w6EFb)

441 So what started the bubble?
Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:11 AM (viF8m)

as always, malinvestment and the perception of concealed value. Sometimes fraud if you want to be brutally honest.

Wait, what?

Posted by: Kindltot at March 25, 2026 01:24 AM (rbvCR)

442 Find the end of the earth and
find the secret to the end of the universe.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 01:24 AM (jmsL3)

443 So, that piece of gold jewelry or coin you have? About an 80% chance it was born in the throws of a "hypernova", two colliding neutron stars throwing off a big, but relatively small total amount of mass off in their death throes of becoming a black hole.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:05 AM (w6EFb)

I'm trying to remember all this shit. I remember at 1.4 solar masses a star will usually go neutron star, but at some point if it has enough mass it goes straight to black hole. I don't remember that number. It wasn't big, like 3 or 4 maybe. So are 2 neutron stars massive enough to actually go hypernova?

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 01:25 AM (snZF9)

444 The energy density of that field in the vacuum works out to be many times greater than the mc^2 energy density of a chunk of lead.

It comes out to be about 200 Tsar Bombas of energy packed into every mL of space around the magnetar. That is magnetic field energy in the vaccuum. 50 MT of energy in every cubic centimeter.

How about that to blow your mind.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:23 AM (w6EFb)

Man. If one of those came wheeling by the Solar System, we would witness the Rapture of the Suburbans.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 25, 2026 01:27 AM (8zz6B)

445 >> So are 2 neutron stars massive enough to actually go hypernova?

My bad. I was mixing up kilonova with hypernova. :eyeroll: Something nagged me when I typed it, but I didn't pay it any attention.

So kilonova are the main source of gold (and others), not kilonova.

Now, the progression of what happens when a star dies vs its mass is a complicated thing indeed, and they don't really understand it at all. If you're interested I can try to dig up some reading links.

Anyway, at some point, you can get collapse straight to a black hole. Get bigger, and there's some range where no remnant would be left behind at all, it would blow itself to smithereens. Get bigger yet, and there's a point where there would be hardly any explosion at all, so massive it would be, a black hole would form and just suck everything in before any explosion could even begin to get out.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:31 AM (w6EFb)

446 >>There is a third option; Space is finite, but has no “outside” because space itself is curved.

Ok. How does space exist into something that doesn't exist?

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:34 AM (viF8m)

447 How about that to blow your mind.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:23 AM (w6EFb)

After reading about the black hole merger GW150914 that generated 36 septillion yottawatts of power which exceeded the total light output of all observable stars in the known universe...nothing blows my mind. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 01:35 AM (snZF9)

448 expand

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:36 AM (viF8m)

449 441 So what started the bubble?
Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:11 AM (viF8m)

I kinda figure some vast intelligence, in some realm beyond our understanding, pondered the options for a long passage of what might have been time, and finally commanded “Let there be Light.”

And there was light.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 25, 2026 01:36 AM (D4x+R)

450 There are two options. The universe has some sort of end in which case there is something on the other side or the universe is infinite. Something can't keep expanding into an area that doesn't exist. And if it exists what's up with over there?
-
Someone earlier mentioned the model of a 2D person living on the surface of a balloon that's being inflated. All 2D guy can see is "space" in his immediate vicinity seems to be getting bigger. He can't see far enough to recognize that a path in a given direction loops back to where he is, and if the expansion is fast enough relative to any speed he can achieve, he has no hope of travelling the path in order to discover that fact.

And he has no hope of perceiving the actual direction of expansion, outward in 3D space, because he only sees in 2D.

Posted by: Methos at March 25, 2026 01:38 AM (vSvIl)

451 >>And there was light.

Back to Genesis.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 25, 2026 01:39 AM (viF8m)

452 The Aztecs invented the vacation!

Posted by: Phil at March 25, 2026 01:40 AM (qmOsv)

453 After reading about the black hole merger GW150914 that generated 36 septillion yottawatts of power which exceeded the total light output of all observable stars in the known universe...nothing blows my mind. lol
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 01:35 AM (snZF9)

So if we took Stacey Abrams, and loaded her into the Large Hadron Collider, and goosed her up to .97C, and collided her with Whoopi Goldberg, how many yottawatts would we get?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 25, 2026 01:41 AM (8zz6B)

454 >> After reading about the black hole merger GW150914 that generated 36 septillion yottawatts of power which exceeded the total light output of all observable stars in the known universe...nothing blows my mind

That's one of the grand ironies. Gravity is the weakest of the forces (or another way to put this is the mass to charge ratios of the elementary particles are very low), yet gravitational radiation can produce the most energetic outbursts of all.

If you figure it in terms of mass conversion to energy, you have some large number of solar masses of mass being converted to energy in seconds. And that energy is gravitational radiation.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:44 AM (w6EFb)

455 So what started the bubble?
Posted by: JackStraw

I kinda figure some vast intelligence, in some realm beyond our understanding, pondered the options for a long passage of what might have been time, and finally commanded “Let there be Light.”

And there was light.
Posted by: Tom Servo

The alternative, just as hard to understand, as explained by Terry Pratchett:

"In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded."

Posted by: mikeski at March 25, 2026 01:47 AM (VHUov)

456
This blows your mind. Where is the mass in black hole? It's "elsewhere", nothing but an even horizon, and massive curvature left behind. Yet let two of them merge, and some of that "mass" gets spewed out as gravitational radiation. The mass of the merged black hole is less than the sum of the original two. Did it get out from behind the event horizon? Nope, it did not. And that shows how this notion of mass and energy and what you mean by the total doesn't work out exactly as you think it ought to. That is quite a complex thing in General Relativity.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:47 AM (w6EFb)

457 The universe could be finite but unbounded, just as a two dimensional surface shaped like a sphere has a finite area but no “edge” inside the 2-D space. So we could live in a finite universe with no edges: a four dimensional spacetime with no boundaries. That does not preclude a higher dimensional space in which our 4-D spacetime is embedded (doesn’t require it - but doesn’t preclude it, either).

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 01:47 AM (Jc4hv)

458 OSINTdefender
@sentdefender
3h
Per a report from the Wall Street Journal, Iran has responded to the Trump administration’s proposal for a ceasefire with demands that far surpass the characterization of maximalist. Iran has demanded the closure of all U.S. bases in the Gulf region, a new Strait of Hormuz framework, that would allow Iran to charge fees for vessels that transit, the end of all sanctions on Iran, an end to Israeli operations against Lebanese Hezbollah, and no discussion on Iran’s ballistic missile program. Such demands have been called ridiculous and unrealistic by U.S. officials
---

Guess he's just going to "bomb their little hearts out'.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 01:49 AM (jmsL3)

459
Another crazy non-Newtonian thing those mergers do with gravitational radiation is the asymmetry gives the center of a mass a kick. Two black holes merge and the center of mass kicks off, pushing against the gravitational radiation it's emitting.

They've seen this when galaxy mergers. The two central black holes merge and the merged product gets a high speed kick away from the center, flying off to the side.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:49 AM (w6EFb)

460 Get bigger yet, and there's a point where there would be hardly any explosion at all, so massive it would be, a black hole would form and just suck everything in before any explosion could even begin to get out.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:31 AM (w6EFb)

Its some stupid number, maybe 30 or 50 solar masses, or some shit. So massive it just becomes a black hole at it's collapse. I have a shit ton of books on this stuff, and rarely did my head not hurt after reading them. I go nuts trying to squeeze an extra 5hp from a harley engine and then I read about shit like this. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 01:53 AM (snZF9)

461 3h
The Japanese Joint Staff has announced that the Japanese Air Self Defense Force Southwestern Air Defense Force scrambled fighters to deal with a suspected intrusion into Japanese airspace over the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Likely Chinese aircraft.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 01:55 AM (jmsL3)

462 458 OSINTdefender
@sentdefender
3h
Per a report from the Wall Street Journal, Iran has responded to the Trump administration’s proposal for a ceasefire with demands that far surpass the characterization of maximalist. Iran has demanded the closure of all U.S. bases in the Gulf region, a new Strait of Hormuz framework, that would allow Iran to charge fees for vessels that transit, the end of all sanctions on Iran, an end to Israeli operations against Lebanese Hezbollah, and no discussion on Iran’s ballistic missile program. Such demands have been called ridiculous and unrealistic by U.S. officials
---

Guess he's just going to "bomb their little hearts out'.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 01:49 AM (jmsL3)

Have you ever had an Ex Wife or Girl? When you havee a position of power? when you have Won?

Yeah, this is exactly how they act.

Posted by: Romeo13 at March 25, 2026 01:56 AM (mP0Kj)

463
Now, imagine death by strong gravitational radiation. If you were close enough to one of those mergers, the radiation could be quite strong.

Imagine you're floating around in space, in your spacesuit. A high frequency short wavelength gravitational wave passes through you. Your head is compressed with some ridiculous g-force equivalent while your feet are being stretch apart with the same ridiculous g forces, and hump after hump of that passes over you.

You'd be simultaneously crushed and spaghettified, but wouldn't move much. Sort of like imagining some shock wave of pressure and rarefaction passing through, but orders of magnitude stronger and pure gravitational acceleration, not pressure of "stuff".

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:56 AM (w6EFb)

464 I go nuts trying to squeeze an extra 5hp from a harley engine and then I read about shit like this. lol
Posted by: Berserker
-------

Hell, I'm still looking up words from tonight's discussion...

What a *stellar* bunch of Morons!

Posted by: JQ at March 25, 2026 01:57 AM (rdVOm)

465 They've seen this when galaxy mergers. The two central black holes merge and the merged product gets a high speed kick away from the center, flying off to the side.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 01:49 AM (w6EFb)

They say in about 4 billion years our galaxy is going to collide with the Andromeda galaxy. Thats going to be some shit. I can't imagine the power of Sagittarius A star meeting Andromeda's galaxy center. They'll be pulling up lawn chairs all across the universe for that one.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 01:59 AM (snZF9)

466 Big problem with a finite universe is that there's probably no one out there. So there's no signage and you're cruising along and just run plumb into the end and bruise your sternum or something.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at March 25, 2026 02:00 AM (yjflf)

467 Per CNN, the updated number of injured U.S. forces since the conflict in the Middle East began is 290, with the killed in action remaining at 13

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 02:00 AM (jmsL3)

468
That reminds of something else. The "Gravitational Wave of Death". This is a type of gravitational shock wave. Now, there's no known process that could create one that is known about, but it's a solution to the General Relativity.

Think of it as a propagating little burst of curvature that moves through space. It passes over you, you get crushed/ripped instantly. You can't see it coming, because it's moving at light speed, and no information about it can get to you before it does.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 02:02 AM (w6EFb)

469 >>So there's no signage and you're cruising along and just run plumb into the end and bruise your sternum or something.
---------

Nah... I told ya all before: There's the Bar at the End of the Universe, and then... a Denny's or something!

Posted by: JQ at March 25, 2026 02:02 AM (rdVOm)

470 If you measure the speed with which pain nerve pulses travel you can show that if you fall into a sufficiently large black hole and die (eventually) of tidal gravitational forces that you will be dead before you feel the pain of your death. However since pressure nerve pulses travel faster than pain nerve pulses, you will “feel” that you are going to die, just before you do.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 02:03 AM (Jc4hv)

471 Hell, I'm still looking up words from tonight's discussion...

What a *stellar* bunch of Morons!

Posted by: JQ at March 25, 2026 01:57 AM (rdVOm)

About 30 years ago I was doing an engine for a friend of mine. We were doing a stroker kit. We were out in the garage from the after noon until 4:00 in the morning when we finished. We went inside and made coffee, and I cracked open one of my books on stellar mechanics and was relaxing while he was on the phone with his wife telling her he's leaving soon. He says "yeah we're done, now this lunatic is reading a book about atoms" lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 02:04 AM (snZF9)

472 Nah... I told ya all before: There's the Bar at the End of the Universe, and then... a Denny's or something!

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at March 25, 2026 02:05 AM (Jc4hv)

473
Andromeda's black hole is much bigger than ours. The Milky Way suffers from black hole micropenis you might say.

And there was something interesting recently about that merger. It may not happen. They refined some measurements and the uncertainty is such it may just be a close pass at first. We'd dance around for a few billion or so more years and eventually merge, but not a direct collision.

It's a matter of probablity. The direct collision could still happen, it's just not as likely as they originally thought.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 02:06 AM (w6EFb)

474 >>The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
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See? I can't even remember *that*. And I didn't bring a towel... so screwed...

Posted by: JQ at March 25, 2026 02:07 AM (rdVOm)

475
Either way, the nigh sky about 4B years from now would be quite spectacular, as you'd see the spiral of Andromeda looming large near our own plane of the Milky Way.

Sun won't be a red giant by then, but life on earth will be impossible. Sun will be too hot, oceans will have boiled.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 02:09 AM (w6EFb)

476 Per CNN, the updated number of injured U.S. forces since the conflict in the Middle East began is 290, with the killed in action remaining at 13
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 25, 2026 02:00 AM (jmsL3)

And how many of those casualties are the result of enemy action?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 25, 2026 02:10 AM (8zz6B)

477 That reminds of something else. The "Gravitational Wave of Death". This is a type of gravitational shock wave. Now, there's no known process that could create one that is known about, but it's a solution to the General Relativity.

Think of it as a propagating little burst of curvature that moves through space. It passes over you, you get crushed/ripped instantly. You can't see it coming, because it's moving at light speed, and no information about it can get to you before it does.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at March 25, 2026 02:02 AM (w6EFb)

I bought a book on general relativity. I cracked it open somewhere in the middle, saw nothing but a bunch of mathematical formulas resembling hieroglyphs, closed it back up, and never looked at it again. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 25, 2026 02:11 AM (snZF9)

478
Per a report from the Wall Street Journal, Iran has responded to the Trump administration’s proposal for a ceasefire with demands that far surpass the characterization of maximalist. Iran has demanded the closure of all U.S. bases in the Gulf region, a new Strait of Hormuz framework, that would allow Iran to charge fees for vessels that transit, the end of all sanctions on Iran, an end to Israeli operations against Lebanese Hezbollah, and no discussion on Iran’s ballistic missile program. Such demands have been called ridiculous and unrealistic by U.S. officials
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Guess he's just going to "bomb their little hearts out'.

Posted by: Braenyard

===============

Guess that's what he planned all along. Kharg Island, here we come!

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at March 25, 2026 02:11 AM (XJ22o)

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