Hehehe! Accounting for geographic differences, so that's the newest.
Account for precession or ignore precession, recognise a 13th zodiac sign or not, constellation of planets now and during birth (horoscope) or just the Sun's during birth ('normal' astrology), inclusion of Uranus and Neptune, not to mention Pluto... for me the trained astronomer, the fact that you can find a school of astrology for any prediction makes it ridiculous enough. Then there are the crooks, the psychology of interpreting Delphic vagueness as fitting for oneself, twin studies...
At least the astrology fans calling the Astronomy Department at my university were neither as numerous nor as obnoxious as UFO enthusiasts (ya' know, all of us actual and former and trained astronomers are part of the Grand Conspiracy To Hide The Truth Out There and so on). *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
But the silly thing with asking astronomers is that people who operate giant remote-controlled telescopes that capture one small spot of the sky for ten minutes on a CCD and then spend most of their time (or, all of their time) post-processing and writing articles are MUCH LESS likely to observe a flying saucer than a common citizen looking up the sky on the walk home from work. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Tho', among the most frequent UFO sightings are Venus or Jupiter after longer cloudy periods. Amateur astronomers can handle that... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
...last year in Fyffe alabama, they had all these UFO sightings. And apparently everyone in the town saw these UFOs. So I asked them what it was like. And this guy said "oh man, it was incredible, people wuz coming from miles around to look at 'em. Lotta people came armed". People are bringing shotguns...to UFO sightings. Kinda brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "You ain't from round here, are ya boy ?". I said to this guy "Why did y'all bring shotguns ?" The guy said "Well, we didn't want to be abducted" I'm thinking "Yea, and leave all this" Dude, if I lived in Fyffe, I'd be on my hands and knees every morning praying for abduction. And believe me, I would not be picky. Greyhound...Abduct me." But I said "what do you mean...abducted ?" He said "Well, they abduct people and perform scientific and medical experiments on 'em" I said "Well maybe we'll get lucky and it's some kind of sterility/dentistry programme they got going. Maybe they come down, castrate you, straighten your teeth and split. A sorta clean up the universe pact" He said "Huh ?" I tell ya, that's starting to to depress me about UFOs. The fact that they cross galaxies to visit us and they end up in places like Fyffe, Alabama.Maybe these aren't super-intelligent beings, maybe they're like hillbilly aliens. Some intergalactic Joad family. "Oh, we don't wanna land in New York or LA. Nah, we just had a long trip - we're gonna kick back and whittle some. We're gonna enter our spaceship in the tractor pull...hu-huh" Being invaded by rednecks. that's my greatest fear.
People are bringing shotguns...to UFO sightings. Kinda brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "You ain't from round here, are ya boy ?". I said to this guy "Why did y'all bring shotguns ?" The guy said "Well, we didn't want to be abducted" I'm thinking "Yea, and leave all this" Dude, if I lived in Fyffe, I'd be on my hands and knees every morning praying for abduction. And believe me, I would not be picky. Greyhound...Abduct me." But I said "what do you mean...abducted ?" He said "Well, they abduct people and perform scientific and medical experiments on 'em" I said "Well maybe we'll get lucky and it's some kind of sterility/dentistry programme they got going. Maybe they come down, castrate you, straighten your teeth and split. A sorta clean up the universe pact" He said "Huh ?"
I tell ya, that's starting to to depress me about UFOs. The fact that they cross galaxies to visit us and they end up in places like Fyffe, Alabama.Maybe these aren't super-intelligent beings, maybe they're like hillbilly aliens. Some intergalactic Joad family. "Oh, we don't wanna land in New York or LA. Nah, we just had a long trip - we're gonna kick back and whittle some. We're gonna enter our spaceship in the tractor pull...hu-huh"
Being invaded by rednecks. that's my greatest fear.
This one is for the books! Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.
We saw a strange set of lights a few miles away over the lake, and I asked him to take the canoe with me to go check it out.
He didn't want to. That was so cute.
The professor, whose full-time job was being director of the local planetarium, brought a very nice telescope to class with him one evening about three weeks into the class. There was a particularly good view of Saturn available at the time, and so after class he set up the telescope and, one by one, each of us (about 150 students) peered through it at the planet. I was tremendously impressed with the sight myself, as were most of the other students. I stood nearby for a while afterward listening as my classmates oooohed and aaahed and wowed as they took their turns.
But then there was this pretty girl, talking to several boys. In a ditzy voice right out of Central Casting, she said -- and I am not making this up, she said it in the third week of a college-level astronomy course:
"So, are all of the stars planets then?"
There was an uncomfortable silence. And then one of her male companions -- and I swear I am not making this up -- said in response:
"Uh, I think the difference is that a planet reflects light, but a star makes its own light. But you might want to ask him." "Him" being the professor.
Sigh.
I must ask for an upgrade of my cultural reference library on this BTW:
In a ditzy voice right out of Central Casting *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Ditzy, I assume you know? Stupid and airheaded. "Central Casting" is a Hollywood-inspired term -- basically, if you're looking for the stereotypical villain or ingenue or another one-dimensional fill-in-the-blank character, Central Casting will send over someone to fit the bill. Central Casting is actually a real casting company for extras, stand-ins and so on, but the name has come into wider use for stereotyped characters....
