Something for your perusal.

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Alferd Packer
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Something for your perusal.

Post by Alferd Packer »

OK, so I got a book on Area 51 for Christmas. Skeptical, I gave it a shot. So far, it's presenting a fascinating history of the base at Groom Lake, much of which has been its use by the military for testing the U-2, SR-71, and the F-117A.

Then, of course, comes the UFO part, specifically, Bob Lazar. I don't know how familiar you all are with this guy, but he claims to have worked for five months at a facility at Papoose Lake, 15 miles south of Groom. There, he alleges, he was part of a team reverse-engineering alien spacecraft engines.

I'm not calling the veracity of his claims into question, rather I am submitting Lazar's account of the alien spacecraft's propulsion mechanism. Here goes:

Lazar says the the spacecraft propelled themselves via energy generated by an element that does not occur naturally on earth, 115 on the periodic table. He asserts that one of the peculiar properties of 115 is that its strong nuclear force extends beyond the perimeter of the atom.

He says that that character of matter found in a given solar system reflects the conditions under which it was created. Since most systems in the Milky Was have more and/or larger stars than out ours, he asserts that the elements found in these systems are more massive than those found in Sol.

The way the propulsion actually worked was as follows: a chunk of element 115 is placed in a particle accelerator and hammered with protons. Some of element 115 becomes 116 for a few instants and then decays, in so doing releasing antimatter. This collides with matter in a nearby reactor. The resulting energy release is then converted to electricty with a thermoelectric generator. Then, taking advantage of the strong nuclear force properties of 115, the SNF is amplified by this energy, aimed at a distant location, and warps spacetime sufficiently that the ship is pulled to its location without any apparent passage of time.

Now, I was reading this, and the bullshit alarms were buzzing in my head, but I wanted to see what you guys thought. Is this at all possible, and I don't mean is in the same realm of possibility that a live monkey will jump out of my ass tomorrow morning. :lol:
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Post by TrailerParkJawa »

At least now I know where the idea for "Elerium-115" in XCOM UFO DEFENSE might have come from.

Kudos, to the creators of the game for pulling all sorts of UFO Trivia and melding into a good game.

As for this guy, I dont believe a word he says.
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Post by Captain tycho »

I read some books by this guy before.
Either he's totally nutters or he's telling the truth.
(Psss....he's nutters, BTW.)
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Post by NecronLord »

*slams fist on red button*

KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG

BULL ALERT

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Re: Something for your perusal.

Post by Darth Wong »

Alferd Packer wrote:Lazar says the the spacecraft propelled themselves via energy generated by an element that does not occur naturally on earth, 115 on the periodic table. He asserts that one of the peculiar properties of 115 is that its strong nuclear force extends beyond the perimeter of the atom.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA What a dumb-ass.

The strong nuclear force is an extremely short-ranged but extremely powerful force. If it extended beyond the perimeter of the atom in any significant degree, nuclear fusion would be effortless, and virtually spontaneous.
He says that that character of matter found in a given solar system reflects the conditions under which it was created. Since most systems in the Milky Was have more and/or larger stars than out ours, he asserts that the elements found in these systems are more massive than those found in Sol.
Super-huge elements are correlated to star size? So, when Sol gets bigger in billions of years, the solar system is suddenly going to start sprouting impossibly huge-nuclei elements? What's this guy smoking?
The way the propulsion actually worked was as follows: a chunk of element 115 is placed in a particle accelerator and hammered with protons. Some of element 115 becomes 116 for a few instants and then decays, in so doing releasing antimatter.
Actually, it would decay with alpha or beta particle radiation and some EM radiation. The notion of a nucleus spontaneously emitting a chunk of antimatter is beyond absurd.
This collides with matter in a nearby reactor. The resulting energy release is then converted to electricty with a thermoelectric generator. Then, taking advantage of the strong nuclear force properties of 115, the SNF is amplified by this energy, aimed at a distant location, and warps spacetime sufficiently that the ship is pulled to its location without any apparent passage of time.
Wow, this guy is on some powerful drugs. Just when you think it can't get any worse, he tops himself. The strong nuclear force is "amplified" by electricity, aimed at a distant location, and used to warp spacetime? This fucking idiot has been watching way too much Star Trek.
Now, I was reading this, and the bullshit alarms were buzzing in my head, but I wanted to see what you guys thought. Is this at all possible, and I don't mean is in the same realm of possibility that a live monkey will jump out of my ass tomorrow morning. :lol:
It is in precisely the same realm of possibility as live monkeys flying out of your ass tomorrow morning. UFOlogists prey on the stupid and irrational, and this assclown is no exception.
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Post by Zoink »

You look out the window. You see your neighbor'ss kitchen light go out. You think hard and come up with these theories:

(a) The light burnt
(b) Somebody turned the light out
(c) Aliens turned the light out
(d) Mark Hammell turned the light out
(e) Your neighbor turned the light out

Now using Occam's Razor, rate the theories as most to least likely.

---------------

Now as a bonus rate the following regarding UFOs, Area 51, and Bob Lazar's claims:

(a) Bob Lazar is a liar
(b) Bob Lazar is an idiot
(c) Bob Lazar is mental
(d) An alien spacecraft is at Area 51 and Bob Lazar worked on it.
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Post by Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi »

Also, wouldn't elements with really large atomic numbers be unstable, and unable to be found in nature? All of the really big elements on our periodic table were created in a lab, were extremely radiocatcive, and had extremely short half-lives, I believe.

That guy's surely a pseudoscientific bullshitter, preying on the gullible. When you know what that guy is saying is all bull, then that means you got a good science education.
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Post by Andrew J. »

I'm only a sophomore, and I could tell right away this was stupid. The worst thing was probably the "decaying into antimatter" bit.
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Post by Alferd Packer »

Good, my bullshit alarms didn't miss anything big. Yeah, the book went on to point out the holes, both scientific and chronological, in Lazar's tale. When asked about the description of the propulsion system, he usually says something to the effect of "O WELL DA PHYSIC OV DA ALEENS IS SUPAR ADVANCED WE R SO FAR BEHINDE DER TECKNOWLOGEE"

All in all, the book talks more of the government's ludicrous denial of the base's existence and all the strange things that that spawned than little gray men and all that bloobity blah blah.
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Post by TrailerParkJawa »

Is'nt this the guy that was let go from the company for lying on his resume about his educational credentials? Or at the very least he was claiming degrees he never had.
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Post by Alferd Packer »

Among other things. He says he has degrees from Caltech and MIT, but both schools have no record of his attending. Still, he is reportedly very intelligent, somewhat famous before all the alien BS for building jet-powered cars.
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance--that principle is contempt prior to investigation." -Herbert Spencer

"Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." - Schiller, Die Jungfrau von Orleans, III vi.
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