# Lets open the floor for comments on this about Egyptair flight 990.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 16, 1999, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964 "1999-11-16T02:35:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/1 "1999-11-16T02:35:00Z")
Could something like this really be true? [If true…this is very scary…](http://www.sightings.com/politics5/990new.htm) * * * If you can’t convince them, confuse them. Harry S. Truman ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/2 "1999-11-16T02:47:00Z")
And, of course, the same paranoid government agencies that have no compunction about murdering over 200 people simply resort to hacking to shut this site down (unsuccessfully) rather than just visiting the authors and arranging for their cars’ brakes to fail or their houses to burn down around them. OK. * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/3 "1999-11-16T03:02:00Z")
Banks: please tell me that you were just joking with your comment above about that site being true. That stuff is hilarious. I especially liked the “particle beam” theory. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/4 "1999-11-16T03:06:00Z")
Monty… I did preface it with the word “If”… * * * If you can’t convince them, confuse them. Harry S. Truman ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/5 "1999-11-16T03:25:00Z")
So, terrorist operatives apparently working for the government BROKE in to a government base and, both with and against the government’s wishes, proceeded to kill several hundred people with a “particle beam.” Of course, how exactly does the beam work? Do the quarks punch a hole through things? Does antimatter annihilate what it strikes? Please. Then, of course, they make page after page of assertions. If you look, you’ll notice that none of them have ANY sort of citation… You know, it would be really easy and effective to, say, cite the sources and then forward it as an e-mail to lots of people (hell, I could post it here and e-mail it to several hundred friends). It would quickly percolate all over the world and a lot of people could actually check it… What’s the government (and their fascist operatives, who work against the wishes of the government…) going to do, kill several thousand people worldwide? Ok, let’s just blow up Britain, and AOL headquarters, and oh, a few hundred liberal universities… Don’t believe anything that makes any claims that doesn’t have actual, reputable sources to back it up, or at least plausible arguments (a PARTICLE BEAM? Give me a break). If someone wanted to unearth a conspiracy, posting it on a site like THAT would not be the way an intelligent person went about it. This isn’t even plausible, and has no sources. It’s yet another piece of worthless shit. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/6 "1999-11-16T03:32:00Z")
Surgoshan… So…we the american people…know everything our “government” as at its disposal? Was not “the manhattan project” Kept secret? * * * If you can’t convince them, confuse them. Harry S. Truman ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/7 "1999-11-16T04:16:00Z")
“Masonic/Illuminati sacrifice”? All I can say is “17/23.” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/8 "1999-11-16T08:56:00Z")
Ya know, Banks, I just spent ten minutes out of my life, ten minutes that I’m _never going to get back_, reading that tripe. My decision to read it. My fault. But you’ve just sacrificed any credibility you may have been entitled to with me. From this point on, your links are _persona non grata_ on my computer. Nice going. I hope you never have any worthwhile links to put up, because I’m just going to have to give 'em a miss. Anyway, in answer to the question you posed in your OP,…no. ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/9 "1999-11-16T09:17:00Z")
True, banks, but did the Manhattan project involve the killing of 200 civilians, foreign civilians, citizens of country we aren’t at war with, and then the covering up of said killing? So many people would be required fo the accusations in that “article” and the nature of the act would make it impossible, wouldn’t it? I don’t know why those people put that trash up (look at it, that’s what it is), but I dislike them already. ---
**Author:** ![danielnsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c89c15/32.png) [@danielnsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danielnsmith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/10 "1999-11-16T15:30:00Z")
That is a complete joke! Beyond joke, totally lacking any sense of realism. Whoever wrote that drivel was obviously smoking something illegal and obviously harmful to brain cells. It would be nice if some conspiracy group would visit this John A. Quinn and remove him from the gene pool permanently. I may not be the brightest person on The Straight Dope, but at least I’m smart enough not to even buy into this bullsh\*t. ---
**Author:** ![Randall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@Randall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randall)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/11 "1999-11-16T17:20:00Z")
Please. I’m with Kaylasdad on this one…I can’t believe I bothered to read it to the end. NOTE that the testimony of this so-called German pilot was not presented in any manner except as hearsay; the guy’s name nor even his actual statement is nowhere to be found. Note further that whoever wrote this seems to have only the most marginal knowledge of aviation, that wild suppositions are made which a less informed reader would take as accepted truth but are in fact simply wrong; (the idea that a jet would be intact in any fashion, after hitting the ocean, for example…sheesh. Hitting water at high speed is just as traumatic to a craft of any kind as hitting the ground) Note also that all of this nonsense seems to be drawn from the alleged stop, by the jet, at a military airbase, on its flight from west to east. Suddenly said stop has become two or three stops. Okay. Note also the almost humorous tying in with the Kennedy crash. I swear when I read stuff like this I think it’s just somebody goofing the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 1999, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/12 "1999-11-17T06:08:00Z")
Let me get this straight . . . the US government intentionally fires a particle beam at a civillian target TWICE and _ **then** _ has to spend all this time and effort to come up with a big lie to cover their butts? Wouldn’t a MIB worth his Raybans have his story straight _before_ firing his pocket size Elucidium Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator? * * * Will work for sig line. ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 1999, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/13 "1999-11-17T06:18:00Z")
Wow, I was going to post my proof that this was real and that Banks wasn’t just an easy mark or a thoughtless drone, but then this freaky particle beam (maybe even the collective unconscious thoughts of America’s scientists focused into a ray of some sort) came shooting into my house and made it all disappear. It can all be substantiated by several reputable sources, however I can’t mention any of them, because they either don’t really exist or they would likely sue me for misusing their data. But it’s true, really, I swear on a stack of Art Bell autobiographies. * * * Well, shut my mouth. It’s also illegal to put squirrels down your pants for the purposes of gambling. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/14 "1999-11-16T19:57:00Z")
phouka wrote: > [@](#): > > Wouldn’t a MIB worth his Raybans have his story straight _before_ firing his pocket size Elucidium Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator? That’s **Illudium** PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/15 "1999-11-16T20:05:00Z")
kaylasdad99 wrote: > [@](#): > > Ya know, Banks, I just spent ten minutes out of my life, _ten minutes_ that I’m never going to get back, reading that tripe. It was on a website called [www.sightings.com](http://www.sightings.com) , the web page has pictures of Bigfoot decorating the left margin, the story links the demise of Flight 990 with the demise of JFK Jr.'s plane … and you STILL read it all the way to the end?! Sorry, but it’s a little hard to feel sympathetic here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 1999, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/16 "1999-11-17T02:48:00Z")
Geez people! Lighten up. Did I say I believed it?? I just thot it was worth commenting on. After Waco and Ruby Ridge…nothing our “government” does would surprise me. * * * If you can’t convince them, confuse them. Harry S. Truman ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 1999, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/17 "1999-11-17T03:00:00Z")
Yeah, they may have done something pretty bad there, Banks, but it did make the news, didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 1999, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/18 "1999-11-17T03:05:00Z")
Surgoshan… as for waco…It’s finally coming out after 6 years. * * * If you can’t convince them, confuse them. Harry S. Truman ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 1999, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/19 "1999-11-17T03:40:00Z")
I stopped reading it as soon as I noticed the fuzzy pictures of Bigfoot and UFO’s in the left margin. * * * Fighting my own ignorance since 1957. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 1999, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964/20 "1999-11-17T03:44:00Z")
Jab1… They are discovering new species of animals every year… who knows? * * * If you can’t convince them, confuse them. Harry S. Truman [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-open-the-floor-for-comments-on-this-about-egyptair-flight-990/16964.md?page=2)