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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 02/04/2007 : 08:41:18
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Optical SETI researchers confirm, decode first real ET message
Harvard, MA, February 4, 2007 (ANS) -- Researchers at Harvard University's Oak Ridge Observatory have announced that their optical SETI search program has found an extra-terrestrial signal from another intelligent galactic race. Using Harvard's new 72-inch, dedicated optical SETI Telescope, a pulsed laser signal was received late last year, and has now been decoded.
The laser signal, originating from the direction of the star HD 69830, itself lasted two seconds, and has been repeating ever since. HD 69830 is an orange dwarf star smaller than our sun, about 41 light-years away in the constellation Puppis, and is known to have at least three Neptune-sized planets and an asteroid belt. According to the Harvard astronomers, the signal was likely, but not certain, to have originated in the HD 69830 star system.
Harvard's 72-inch Optical SETI Telescope at Oak Ridge.
Physicist Paul Horowitz says, "Humanity is not alone. This, to put it simply, the greatest scientific discovery in the history of the human race." Many scientists agree with this grand and sweeping statement by Horowitz, on the condition that the discovery holds up to scientific scrutiny.
The grad student who first noticed the signal parameters wrote, "WTF?" on the margins of the signal printout, thus giving the message its informal name. After months of double-checking and decoding work, a detailed paper on the discovery has been published in the British journal Nature, along with a "preliminary" English decoding of the ET signal's message.
"The mathematical and logical methods used to encode this message -- while at the same time making it possible for us as an aliens species to read and understand it -- were breathtaking in both their simplicity and in their elegance. Linguists have told me that they suspect study of the method of encoding will open up vast new theoretical vistas of understanding in field of linguistics."
Harvard's 72-inch Paul Horowitz.
The "WTF?" raw data printout.
The preliminary translation of the extraterrestrial message in Nature runs to several pages, but begins as follows:
[Dearest/Most Esteemed/Feared?] [Fellow/Strange/Alien/Enemy?] Sentient(s):
Greetings. [I am/we are] [called/named/accused of being?] Gold-Bearing Person Number 419. It [is] [normal/natural/paranoid?] for you to wonder why [I/we] contact(ed) you for assistance in this [transaction/trade/exchange/game?] when [we?] have not met [prior/before]. [I/we] [plead/beg/threaten/ask/cajole?] that [you?] be [patient/credulous?] [as/because] [I/we] have no other choice than to do what [I/we] [am/are] doing, [since/as/because?] it is the only way out of this problem.
I am contacting you to assist me [with/in?] [the] transfer of the [sum/mass?] of 9,500,000,000 [metric tonnes?] of gold [I/we] [inherited/looted?] from [my/our] [late/dead/devoured?] [father/parent-clone?] which [he/it] made from the Deuterium [options trading/piracy/gambling?] [business/military campaign?]. Many [thanks/curses?] upon you if you can help [me/us] as [I/we] would compensate you with a [good?] [fraction/percentage] of the gold, which is negotiable after it has been successfully transferred and confirmed into your account.
[I/we] [am/are] waiting for your urgent reply. [My/our] photon receiver is in the same direction from which you received this message.
. . .
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 02/04/2007 20:49:03
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JohnOAS
SFN Regular
Australia
800 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 15:19:49 [Permalink]
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| Nice. However, your WTF/WFT transpositions put me off somewhat. Perhaps it's a more subtle joke than my tiny terrestrial mind can decode. |
John's just this guy, you know. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 15:30:55 [Permalink]
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Thanks, John! I think I fixed the "WFT" error, assumg there was just one. On the joke, it's always hard to set the bar just right. I was supposing, without evidence, that the ET message would seem familiar enough to people that they would make the connection and "get it." Hint: Try Googling the "419" part of the alien's name.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 02/04/2007 15:41:16 |
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Neurosis
SFN Regular
USA
675 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 16:49:50 [Permalink]
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| That was a great one Mooner. |
Facts! Pssh, you can prove anything even remotely true with facts.
- Homer Simpson
[God] is an infinite nothing from nowhere with less power over our universe than the secretary of agriculture.
- Prof. Frink
Lisa: Yes, but wouldn't you rather know the truth than to delude yourself for happiness?
Marge: Well... um.... [goes outside to jump on tampoline with Homer.] |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 16:54:00 [Permalink]
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LOL
quote:
Harvard's 72-inch Paul Horowitz
The translation is a gem. |
Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 20:29:35 [Permalink]
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"2 out of 3 Skeptics (Who Responded) Get It!"
Hoo-rah, and thanks! I was worried that one was completely unintellible.
I worry that someday I will wake up with another dream-inspired idea and write something I think is brilliantly hilarious, but that the whole world finds to be indistinguishable from the ravings of our verlch or cosmicbrat. (Shudder.)
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Neurosis
SFN Regular
USA
675 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 20:34:18 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
"2 out of 3 Skeptics (Who Responded) Get It!"
Hoo-rah, and thanks! I was worried that one was completely unintellible.
I worry that someday I will wake up with another dream-inspired idea and write something I think is brilliantly hilarious, but that the whole world finds to be indistinguishable from the ravings of our verlch or cosmicbrat. (Shudder.)
I think one would need to have gotten that annoying spam letter in order to truly appreciate it.
Also, do we want to adopt Brat just yet? Really.... ok. |
Facts! Pssh, you can prove anything even remotely true with facts.
- Homer Simpson
[God] is an infinite nothing from nowhere with less power over our universe than the secretary of agriculture.
- Prof. Frink
Lisa: Yes, but wouldn't you rather know the truth than to delude yourself for happiness?
Marge: Well... um.... [goes outside to jump on tampoline with Homer.] |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 20:42:48 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Neurosis
quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
"2 out of 3 Skeptics (Who Responded) Get It!"
Hoo-rah, and thanks! I was worried that one was completely unintellible.
I worry that someday I will wake up with another dream-inspired idea and write something I think is brilliantly hilarious, but that the whole world finds to be indistinguishable from the ravings of our verlch or cosmicbrat. (Shudder.)
I think one would need to have gotten that annoying spam letter in order to truly appreciate it.
Also, do we want to adopt Brat just yet? Really.... ok.
Well, you folks certainly adopted me, after all. The "secret dictatorship" guy.
Yes, one would have needed to have received a Nigerian Letter to understand that gag. I set the bar kinda high that time, but I could not think of a way of doing the gag properly while explaining it at the same time. One of the paradoxes of humor.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 02/04/2007 20:47:59 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 21:46:07 [Permalink]
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Oh, and I planted an astronomical flaw in the story. Just in case anyone picks up the story and spreads it as the gospel, I will be able to point at that flaw, which makes the story impossible.
Anyone catch the flaw?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2007 : 23:31:41 [Permalink]
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I dunno, but Wiki called it that. Like a red dwarf, but citrus-colored or -flavored? There is an entry for star HD 69830 in Wiki, BTW. Neat star system. But there's Something Wrong about it, too, at least as presented in my story.
Oops, ack! They do call it a "red dwarf" in Wiki. Nope, I read sloppily. That was a star near HD 69830, called a red dwarf. I think I picked up the "orange dwarf" elsewhere, but am not sure. Anyway, that qualifies as an error, not a deliberate insertion of a flaw.
Edited to correct my false "correction."
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 02/04/2007 23:57:06 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2007 : 03:26:51 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
"2 out of 3 Skeptics (Who Responded) Get It!"
Hoo-rah, and thanks! I was worried that one was completely unintellible.
419 in the name was a give away... |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2007 : 16:04:58 [Permalink]
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Just bumping this to reveal the "astronomical error" I'd mentioned: Star HD 69830 is in the southern hemisphere, so would not be observable from Harvard's Oak Ridge telescope.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 04/02/2007 16:05:35 |
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SETI searchers receive "WTF?" Signal
