SETI Researcher Quashes Signal Rumors

brainstyle writes "According to Dan Wertheimer of SETI the whole ET signal excitement is more hype than science. I told myself it was in all likelihood nothing special, but I'm still disappointed. Darn."

This is not a cover-up. I repeat – This is no

[SeanTobin]

Wow... check out these segments from the article:

Astronomers deny ET signal report

Astronomers have moved swiftly to quell speculation they may have received a deep-space radio signal

It's all hype and noise

We have nothing that is unusual. It's all out of proportion.

It's not much of anything at all. We're not investigating it further.

At the moment, we have no candidates that we are particularly excited about

It's all hype. We don't have anything we are excited about.

we have no candidates that we are particularly excited about and the new 'signal' is not a priority.

it is not surprising that a signal like this occurs purely due to chance.

not new and definitely not a signal

With that much denial in one news report, you know it has to be a cover-up :).

et?

[fred911]

No phone home?? darn!

I was all ready

[hax0r_par]

to believe this too. When will the aliens come so that we may bring rise to the war on inter-galactic terrorism?

And how interesting..

[AnswerIs42]

That when I first clicked the "Read More".. I see this:

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

Instead of the story..

Don't be too quick to judge!

[Weaselmancer]

Dan, did you try to map the signal to a 3 dimensional shape? A cube maybe??

oh well

[Second_Infinity]

I guess I'll have to take the signs and flares off my roof now. :(

I for one

[jcook793]

I for one say good riddance to our alien radio-emitting overlords.

And the signal says...

[Shadow Wrought]

First Post.

Obviously not intelligent.

Should be safe

[nizo]

We should be fine as long as the signal isn't a countdown.

message was real...

[Anonymous Coward]

It offers a free ipod.

And the cover-up begins.

[DarkHand]

A mention of a possible signal and someone comes out to vehemently deny it? Tinfoil time!

Well

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, retract my welcome of our new alien overlords.

Re:Don't be too quick to judge!

[kidgenius]

Ah...you too are a firm believe in The Time Cube [timecube.com]. But, if you believed, you should know that you cannot fully understand the Time Cube! :-)

Re:Don't be too quick to judge!

[garcia]

They can't get him off the ground into LEO because of the incoming hurricane. Once they can get a shuttle out of the hangar and off the ground he will broadcast his 3D findings from Mir.

not just a good idea, it's the law

[kippy]

Wait, lasers are faster then radio waves? The congress just amend some fundamental laws of physics?

Re:And how interesting..

[TopShelf]

see... it is a cover-up!!!

Re:F^%$# aliens, where are you?

[ePhil_One]

F^%$# aliens, where are you?

In secret underground bases under the Arizona desert, why do you ask?

Delay tactic

[SunSaw]

My sources indicate that the message was along the lines of "take me to your leader", but the folks over at the SETI project want to wait until after the US election in November before replying. BTW, here's a sample of the results [berkeley.edu] that users have submitted.

Alone

[HogGeek]

Like most of the geeks on this site, I'm afraid we are really all alone...

Re:Maybe not radio?

[Big_Al_B]

NPR? Well they're probably just saying that because, in their experience, no one is listening. :^)

It's most likely the ...

[JediDan]

warning beacon [amazon.com]. I've been wondering when it would drift close enough to be detected.

STAY AWAY! Mostly Harmless (but they're getting worse).

Yeah, redundant, but...

[MyHair]

I, for one, welcome nobody.

Re:This is not a cover-up. I repeat – This is

[Devar]

Let me be the first to say, that I for one welcome our newly-covered-up alien overlords!

1420 MHz

[jmanforever]

I picked up this signal on my modified home satelite dish, and was able to decode the following:

"4ll Ur B4s3 r B3l0ng 2 Us"

Traitors

[Anonymous Coward]

when we're all enslaved by aliens, the SETI nitwits will be remembered as traiters to the human race.

These are not the droids you are looking for

[goombah99]

They know its not a real signal because it said so.

In other news...

[d41d8cd98f00b204e980]

A giant gyroscope-like device is being build on Okaido, Japan.

Re:Don't be too quick to judge!

[LittleGuy]

Dan, did you try to map the signal to a 3 dimensional shape? A cube maybe??

They did, and results were disturbing.

Decoded, the signal resolved into the datastream of a Usenet flamewar decades ago, culminating in the invokation of Godwin's Law.

swamp gas

[minus_273]

He continued: "With Seti@home having analysed some 50 trillion frequency bands, it is not surprising that a signal like this occurs purely due to chance."

it was all swamp gas, move along now, nothing to see here

Re:This is not a cover-up. I repeat – This is

[the_Bionic_lemming]

"The signal is moving rapidly in frequency and you would expect that to happen if you are looking at a transmitter on a planet that's rotating very rapidly and where the civilisation is not correcting the transmission for the motion of the planet," Korpela says.

The bionic Lemming says :

A navigational Beacon? Rotating on a repair facility? Made to cover as much of an area as possible in times of distress?

Or do the aliens have Software written by their version of Microsoft - and they accidentally have a port opend that's now spewing out their version of Viagra spam?

Darn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Shouldn't that be shazbot?

Re:This is not a cover-up. I repeat - This is no

[fbg111]

I for one welcome our new non-existant alien overlords.

Conspiracy Theory

[Anonymous Coward]

no contact with extraterrestrials had been made

How many millions of light years are the signals for this anomaly occurring? I am buying stock in tin foil because there is no way they could have sent a response back and got a confirmation that the single was received in a few hours. Run for the hills, they're covering up something :^/

Re:1420 MHz

[Anonymous Coward]

Im sorry, i think youve picked up the AIM datastream instead

Re:Should be safe

[cephyn]

Or a cookbook.

Re:This is not a cover-up. I repeat – This is

[molo]

A navigational Beacon? Rotating on a repair facility? Made to cover as much of an area as possible in times of distress?

Maybe a hollow sphere or ring rotating for artifical gravity? ie. DEATH STAR. /me runs

-molo

What if we get busted for signal theft?

[markana]

Or at the very least told we have to move along and vacate this planet? After all, we're receiving the signal *outside* of their planet...

I'm just waiting for the Galactic police to show up.

Re:This is not a cover-up. I repeat – This is

[Agent Green]

It was really a couple guys on a polished part of the dish cracking open a Pepsi...

Re:I decoded the signal

[Lispy]

No, it said:
Nmap run completed -- 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 62.359 years

Re:Should be safe

[cpeikert]

Not to worry; the cookbook's title is "How to Cook for 40 Humans."

Cover Up exposed.

[commodoresloat]

The message has been found and translated. A text of the translation follows.

Hello,
I am Mr Buck Francisco, General Manager(Treasury) of Land
Bank, Helopkino, in the Alpha Centauri System.This is an urgent and
very confidential business proposition.

On earth date June 6, 2000,an alien Oil consultant/contractor with
the Alpha Centauri Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,
Mr. Darth Vader made a numbered time(Fixed) Deposit for
twelve earth months, valued at US$26,500,000.00,
(Twenty-six Million, five hundred thousand of your Earth US Dollars).

Upon maturity,I sent a routine notification to his forwarding
address but got no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and
finally we discovered from his contract employers, the Centauri
Petroleum Corporation that Mr.Darth Vader died from a spaceship
accident.On further investigation,I found out that
he died without making a WILL,and all attempts to trace his next
of kin was fruitless.

I therefore made further investigation and discovered that
Mr.Darth Vader did not declare any kin or relations in all his
official documents,including his Bank Deposit paperwork in my
Bank. This sum of US$26,500,000.00 has carefully been fixed in my
bank for safekeeping.

No one will ever come forward to claim it.According to Helopkino
Law,at the expiration of 5 (five) earth years, the money will revert to the
ownership of the Government if nobody applies to claim the fund.

Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a Alien to
stand in as the owner of the money which was fixed deposited in my
bank. I am writing you because I as a public servant,i cannot operate
an alien account.

I want to present you as the owner of the funds so you can be able to
claim them with the help of my attorney. This is simple.I will like
you to provide immediately your full names and address so that the
Attorney will prepare the necessary documents which will put you in
place as the beneficiary of the funds.

The money will be moved out for us to share in the ratio of 80% for
me and 20% for you. The paperwork for this transaction will be done
by the Attorney.If you are interested, please reply immediately via
my SETI@home address and Upon your response,I shall then provide you
with more details and relevant documents that will help you understand
the transaction.Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest
assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of
us because I shall require your assistance to invest my share in real
estate within your country.

Due to the nature of confidentiality in this Transaction our
communication can only be via SETI.

Awaiting your urgent reply via my email Above.

Thanks and my regards.
BUCK FRANCISCO.

Bummer

[lifes a cluster]

Guess I'll unpack my bags then :(

Re:This is not a cover-up. I repeat – This is

[multiOSfreak]

Perhaps 1420 is the start-of-message signal?

Perhaps the aliens need just 1 4:20 until their normal supplier comes through? :)

After all, the alien head does seem to be a pervasive symbol of the 420 crews.

Re:Don't be too quick to judge!

[Anonymous Coward]

You're only confused because you are educated stupid. You are too blind to experience four corner time cube.

Ping

[Xybot]

...Your Ping Reply was 1,123,589,647,125,665 Seconds .....DISCONNECTED

Re:Don't be too quick to judge!

[drinkypoo]

Clearly you do not understand TIME CUBE.

Re:This is not a cover-up. I repeat – This is

[commodoresloat]

hyperadvanced godlike race beaming lasers at us accross the galaxy.

You mean....

Aliens with frickin' lasers on top of their heads?

Rue the Day....

[Anonymous Coward]

I have every reason to believe these SETI scientists were threatened into silence by someone, probably govt officials. The announcement yesterday of a possible signal (in their words "The Best signal candidate in six years of looking") and the subsequent turnaround today of saying "We don't have any signals whatsoever that are of any interest" screams coverup. That being said, the scientists that were bullied into silence will rue the day that they chose to be silenced rather than scream this discovery from the hilltops.

For these scientists to deny the greatest discovery in the history of human existence ever happened and was just "all hype and noise" is a crime against humanity as far as I'm concerned. In the fullness of time when the truth finally does come out (from a more open govt NOT the US and given that, SETI was just a dream, never to be realized) in maybe 15 years or so, these men will be looked upon as traitors to the human race. I hope they are happy with what they've done.