Crop circles

Shenshen

'Tis the season....

Now, crop circles have been appearing in the South of England since the late 1970s, and got a good amount of public interest and press coverage in the 80s.

Doug Bower and Dave Chorley owned up to making them in 1991, and since the knowledge became public they've started popping up the world over.
One of the more recent ones appeared in Raisting in Bavaria, and apparently, thousands of people have visited it - some just out of admiration for the workmanship, some to "feel close to the aliens who created it".

And that's where I can't help wondering : People have explained how they're being made. Youtube is full of people having filmed themselves while creating them and instructions on how to make them (two examples : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtkMrNrEMLM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_opN9ghPKQ), there have been full-blown documentaries of people making them for fun, yet some people still claim it's aliens?

Why?

Buzz Killington the third

Shenshen wrote: »

yet some people still claim it's aliens?

Why?

Lack of intelligence?

endacl

Some people are wilfully and willingly delusional. We have forums on here that testify to that fact.

Maximus Alexander

Because people be cray.

eamonnq

I think they are covering up for the aliens by pretending they made them.

SEPT 23 1989

Doug Bower and Dave Chorley are shapeshifters

Maximus Alexander

The moon landings never happened.
9-11 was an inside job.
MH17 was MH370.
Lizard people.

This is what you're dealing with. The really scary part is that out there, every day, when you're working, shopping, having a pint, these crazies are interacting with you and you can't even tell. They look just like regular people.

Philo Beddoe

The tendency of people who believe something without evidence to continue to believe when evidence to the contrary is provided is extremely widespread. In fact it's probably something we all do from time to time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True-believer_syndrome

Buzz Killington the third

Philo Beddoe wrote: »

The tendency of people who believe something without evidence to continue to believe when evidence to the contrary is provided is extremely widespread. In fact it's probably something we all do from time to time.

Sure there's still people searching for Nessy even years after the only photograph of 'the monster' was admittedly a hoax.

Oink

At this stage i've come to think that people pretend to believe in shoite like that as a hobby, like others play football. Deep down they can't possibly believe it, it just keeps them entertained in that sad little life they have.
Or else Darwin was wrong, and I will jump out the window before accepting that.

There. People arent THAT dumb. They just pretend for fun.

EDIT: and if there are €&@$£; out there who destroy farmers' crops for fun, I can't print here what I'd like to do to you, you <self-snip> pieces of <snippety snip>.

Nemeses

Philo Beddoe wrote: »

The tendency of people who believe something without evidence to continue to believe when evidence to the contrary is provided is extremely widespread. In fact it's probably something we all do from time to time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True-believer_syndrome

Sounds a bit like Religion believers or could that be defined as faith? :pac:

Maximus Alexander

Nemeses wrote: »

Sounds a bit like Religion believers or could that be defined as faith? :pac:

It's a little bit different because you can't conclusively disprove God. If you could, and people continued to believe, then yes it would be the same.

Shenshen

Philo Beddoe wrote: »

The tendency of people who believe something without evidence to continue to believe when evidence to the contrary is provided is extremely widespread. In fact it's probably something we all do from time to time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True-believer_syndrome

Interesting... I'll be reading up on that. I'm always curious on what makes humans tick.

I just find the notion so odd - surely when I see a traffic cone on the head of a statue in a public place, I would not assume aliens levitated it there. I would assume that there had been be bunch of probably slightly sozzled students in the vicinity the previous night.

It's a strange thing to me that people would cast aside the most obvious and easy explanation to go for a more complex and unlikely one.
I mean, what self-respecting alien would travel unimaginable distances to stomp a pretty pattern into our food?

Duckworth_Luas

Why can't people understand that even when it wasn't the Lizard People it was the Lizard People.

endacl

Nemeses wrote: »

Sounds a bit like Religion believers or could that be defined as faith? :pac:

Nah. If you can get a quorum to share your delusion, it ceases to be a delusion and must be 'respected'.

Kenny Logins

Because anomalies.

http://www.bltresearch.com/plantab.php

ScumLord

Because aliens are behind everything, haven't you ever seen Ancient Aliens? Do you think those aliens did all those things and just stopped? We all know the popular alien infrastructure projects like the pyramids but you might not know they're also behind arches, the number 3, swords and just about any large object carved out of stone.

After watching ancient aliens I think it's unlikely humans have the skills to carry out most large scale industrial projects because we have no experience in building these large projects. It's quite likely everyone you see working on a building site is infact an alien and construction cranes are actually anti-gravity devices in disguise. The crop circles are probably the same, the people pretended they did these circles using earthly means are just covering up the alien conspiracy to do something awful to the human race at some unknown date in the future.

BeerWolf

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Because people be cray.

kylith

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

It's a little bit different because you can't conclusively disprove God. If you could, and people continued to believe, then yes it would be the same.

Not exactly. You can't prove a negative, i.e., you would have to have documented evidence of the creation of every crop circle that ever has been, which is clearly impossible, in order to prove that aliens didn't make any. This is why the Burden of Proof is based on the people proposing the idea, e.g. all they have to do is produce evidence of one crop circle being created by aliens to give credence to their claims. This is the same for gods - you can't prove that there are no gods, but the believers have to put forward just one piece of evidence to prove that gods exist.

There is, imo, no difference between believing in gods and believing that aliens make crop circles - both have zero evidence supporting them and believers in both wilfully ignore all the evidence that they're probably wrong.

Kenny Logins

kylith wrote: »

Not exactly. You can't prove a negative, i.e., you would have to have documented evidence of the creation of every crop circle that ever has been or ever will be, which is clearly impossible, in order to prove that aliens didn't make any. This is why the Burden of Proof is based on the people proposing the idea, e.g. all they have to do is produce evidence of one crop circle being created by aliens to give credence to their claims. This is the same for gods - you can't prove that there are no gods, but the believers have to put forward just one piece of evidence to prove that gods exist.

There is, imo, no difference between believing in gods and believing that aliens make crop circles - both have zero evidence supporting them and believers in both wilfully ignore all the evidence that they're probably wrong.

I find it funny that in the case of crop circles it's the science that is preventing people from accepting that they are man-made. See the anomalies I posted above.

kylith

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I find it funny that in the case of crop circles it's the science that is preventing people from accepting that they are man-made. See the anomalies I posted above.

Can you tell me:
What does BLT stand for, in relation to that site?
What scientific qualifications does Ms. Talbott have?
Am I correct in thinking that that site is just the teensiest biased in favour of crop circles having a non-terrestrial origin?

I see nothing on that site to indicate that those plants have been subjected to anything more alien than 'bending'.

preston johnny

Farmers make them with a Protractor

Dravokivich

I need to mow my lawn, tempted to do something with it now and submit it to them BLT lads, see if they'll send anyone down to figure out how the aliens did it.

beano345

There's a want in people to believe be it religion,the loch ness monster or conspiracy theories.

Maximus Alexander

kylith wrote: »

Not exactly. You can't prove a negative, i.e., you would have to have documented evidence of the creation of every crop circle that ever has been, which is clearly impossible, in order to prove that aliens didn't make any. This is why the Burden of Proof is based on the people proposing the idea, e.g. all they have to do is produce evidence of one crop circle being created by aliens to give credence to their claims. This is the same for gods - you can't prove that there are no gods, but the believers have to put forward just one piece of evidence to prove that gods exist.

There is, imo, no difference between believing in gods and believing that aliens make crop circles - both have zero evidence supporting them and believers in both wilfully ignore all the evidence that they're probably wrong.

I don't really agree to be honest. Despite not being religious myself, there is a difference here. Science can't, and indeed currently doesn't even attempt to, provide an alternative explanation for where the universe came from. Sure, we broadly explain what happened following the big bang, but in physics even the concept of what is before that is meaningless, since time didn't exist. There is a gap here which religion can fill, rightly or wrongly.

Crop circles have a clear, demonstrable and surprisingly simple explanation. To persist with the belief that they are created by aliens in spite of this is a different kind of crazy to religious faith.

ScumLord

kylith wrote: »

Can you tell me:
What does BLT stand for, in relation to that site?

It stands for Bacon Lettuce and Tomato.

What scientific qualifications does Ms. Talbott have?

But they utilize an "optical microscope". Haven't you ever heard the saying "seeing is believing"? Science.

Am I correct in thinking that that site is just the teensiest biased in favour of crop circles having a non-terrestrial origin?

You're clearly part of the alien conspiracy.

kylith

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

I don't really agree to be honest. Despite not being religious myself, there is a difference here. Science can't, and indeed currently doesn't even attempt to, provide an alternative explanation for where the universe came from. Sure, we broadly explain what happened following the big bang, but in physics even the concept of what is before that is meaningless, since time didn't exist. There is a gap here which religion can fill, rightly or wrongly.

Crop circles have a clear, demonstrable and surprisingly simple explanation. To persist with the belief that they are created by aliens in spite of this is a different kind of crazy to religious faith.

I know what you're saying, it's easier to gather substantial evidence disproving crop circles than gods, but when it comes to proving a negative my point stands - it's not up to anyone to provide conclusive proof that aliens didn't create crop circles, it's up to those putting forward the claim to prove that they did.

Potatoeman

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Because anomalies.

http://www.bltresearch.com/plantab.php

I watched a documentary on C4 a few years ago about that and the guys claiming they hoaxed them could not reproduce that.

kylith

ScumLord wrote: »

It stands for Bacon Lettuce and Tomato.

Mmmmm, sandwich institute...

But they utilize an "optical microscope". Haven't you ever heard the saying "seeing is believing"? Science.

Ah, an OPTICAL microscope. Well, that changes everything!:pac:

You're clearly part of the alien conspiracy.

Well, I should hate to be part of a mundane conspiracy.

endacl

Potatoeman wrote: »

I watched a documentary on C4 a few years ago about that and the guys claiming they hoaxed them could not reproduce that.

I watched a documentary on National Geographic channel (or was it Discovery? Same difference. They've both gone to shyte in recent years....) that showed evidence for mermaids.

TV documentaries are there to entertain these days. Not so much to inform...

endacl

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Because anomalies.

http://www.bltresearch.com/plantab.php

Jebus! That's fierce sciencey language altogether on there. I'm convinced!

Kenny Logins

kylith wrote: »

Can you tell me:
What does BLT stand for, in relation to that site?
What scientific qualifications does Ms. Talbott have?
Am I correct in thinking that that site is just the teensiest biased in favour of crop circles having a non-terrestrial origin?

I see nothing on that site to indicate that those plants have been subjected to anything more alien than 'bending'.

I really have no idea. They appear to have a website though, maybe you should look there? :pac:

To me, it's as scientific as a shampoo advert, but I can see that sites like this is where the doubt comes from, and that's why I linked to it.

Potatoeman

endacl wrote: »

I watched a documentary on National Geographic channel (or was it Discovery? Same difference. They've both gone to shyte in recent years....) that showed evidence for mermaids.

TV documentaries are there to entertain these days. Not so much to inform...

They did not go the aliens route. They got the guys claiming they done them to do one and they broke the stalks. No one could explain the bending. Weird.

LordSutch

I've heard so many stories that crop circles appear very quickly, too quickly to have been created by human hands, but what are the facts?

Do they really appear that quickly? or has there always been a possibility that they are created overnight by two or more very 'creative' people?

Shenshen

LordSutch wrote: »

I've heard so many stories that crop circles appear very quickly, too quickly to have been created by human hands, but what are the facts?

Do they really appear that quickly? or has there always been a possibility that they are created overnight by two or more very 'creative' people?

I remember a while back seeing a documentary about a group of people who were given a challenge to make one - design it, and then get it in a field between midnight and 4am to make sure they wouldn't be seen.

It was fairly large, and your typical circle-fractal design. I think they were maybe 5 lads and they got it done in time without too many problems.

And really, for those designs all you need is a few sticks and some length of string. They look complex, but when you break them down into their individual elements, they are simpler than many baroque garden layouts.

Good guide to it here : http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Crop-Circle

Duggy747

"The moon landings are fake and I'll tell you why. I saw this film, you may not have heard about it, Capricorn One......"

They're skeptical of everything but as soon as David Icke / Alex Jones / NaturalNews / etc say something it immediately gains traction and has credibility.

The conspiracy theories get so nutty that conspiracies develop about conspiracy theorists who themselves spread conspiracy theories, it's like a never ending loop.

Information from anywhere else is from a source that's a paid shill of the government, Big Pharma, the elite, Ilumminati, NWO, etc.

It's more interesting to be convinced of this than to acknowledge basic truth, however bland it may be, and to hell with the actual facts.

Bog Standard User

devore doesnt really exist...boards is just a means for aliens to collect data about us and our trolls/ rants

Potatoeman

Duggy747 wrote: »

"The moon landings are fake and I'll tell you why. I saw this film, you may not have heard about it, Capricorn One......"

They're skeptical of everything but as soon as David Icke / Alex Jones / NaturalNews / etc say something it immediately gains traction and has credibility.

The conspiracy theories get so nutty that conspiracies develop about conspiracy theorists who themselves spread conspiracy theories, it's like a never ending loop.

Information from anywhere else is from a source that's a paid shill of the government, Big Pharma, the elite, Ilumminati, NWO, etc.

It's more interesting to be convinced of this than to acknowledge basic truth, however bland it may be, and to hell with the actual facts.

Watergate was a conspiracy theory until they found proof.

Philo Beddoe

Nemeses wrote: »

Sounds a bit like Religion believers or could that be defined as faith? :pac:

The effect is the same, yes, but it doesn't even have to be anything supernatural. Just look at the number of people who believe every bit of pseudoscientific nonsense they're told about health and nutrition.

Look at the way the average conspiracy theorists thinks. Or don't, if you want to keep your sanity.

darkpagandeath

Yes aliens that have interstellar travel/interdimensional would only have one way of communicating with humans, symbols in fields. Or abducting drunk Rednecks, Or people who are clearly delusional. There is other intelligent life in the universe you have to just play the odds on that, But coming here and doing all the nonsense people come up with. I’m sorry just no.

Philo Beddoe wrote: »

The effect is the same, yes, but it doesn't even have to be anything supernatural. Just look at the number of people who believe every bit of pseudoscientific nonsense they're told about health and nutrition.

Look at the way the average conspiracy theorists thinks. Or don't, if you want to keep your sanity.

A lot of people believe pylons shoot out death rays. :pac:

Potatoeman

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Yes aliens that have interstellar travel/interdimensional would only have one way of communicating with humans, symbols in fields. Or abducting drunk Rednecks, Or people who are clearly delusional. There is other intelligent life in the universe you have to just play the odds on that, But coming here and doing all the nonsense people come up with. I’m sorry just no.



A lot of people believe pylons shoot out death rays. :pac:

Not everyone believes its aliens. If a prank I would like ro know how they manage to bend the stalks without breaking them. No one seems to know.

The_Valeyard

I feel sorry for the farmers. All those crops wasted.

darkpagandeath

Potatoeman wrote: »

Not everyone believes its aliens. If a prank I would like ro know how they manage to bend the stalks without breaking them. No one seems to know.

That only happens in a very small number of them, That's the ones that are considered genuine. Theory's from ball lightning to EM fields take your pick.

knird evol

darkpagandeath wrote: »

That only happens in a very small number of them, That's the ones that are considered genuine. Theory's from ball lightning to EM fields take your pick.

Don't you mean Death Rays ?

ScumLord

darkpagandeath wrote: »

That only happens in a very small number of them, That's the ones that are considered genuine. Theory's from ball lightning to EM fields take your pick.

Aliens or a lad with a stick makes more sense than Lightning or electromagnetic fields.

Diabhal Beag

endacl wrote: »

Some people are wilfully and willingly delusional. We have forums on here that testify to that fact.

A disgusting jab at the frisbee forum.

endacl

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

A disgusting jab at the frisbee forum.

Apologies. I really thought I'd left it vague enough to not cause offence.

I withdraw my disgusting jab.

Potatoeman

darkpagandeath wrote: »

That only happens in a very small number of them, That's the ones that are considered genuine. Theory's from ball lightning to EM fields take your pick.

Thats whats interesting. I would like to know how that happens. Its a very odd phenomena. Conspiracy theories have a tin foil hat impression these days but there are some interesting unexplained events.

I dont like the attitude many people have to things they cant explain themselves because a minority scream aliens. For example a UFO is any unidentified flying object but most people jump to aliens.