# UFOs and Other Weirdness **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999 "2012-03-16T20:35:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/1 "2012-03-16T20:35:32Z")
Any good as-yet-unexplained UFO/Cryptozoology et al stories lately? Seems like we’ve been repeating stories from the 70s for the past thirty years with very little good new stuff to wonder at. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/2 "2012-03-16T20:49:26Z")
Yesterday’s UFO stories were bolstered by grainy and/or blurry photos from cheap low-rez cameras. Today’s cameras are high speed/high resolution autofocus wonders that eliminate the possibility of passing off planes, birds and balloons as mysterious objects in the sky. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/3 "2012-03-16T21:13:07Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Today’s cameras are high speed/high resolution autofocus wonders that eliminate the possibility of passing off planes, birds and balloons as mysterious objects in the sky. Which is why today’s UFO pictures are grainy and/or blurry photos. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/4 "2012-03-16T21:41:18Z")
If there were UFOs we’d know because the damn aliens would start a Twitter feed. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/5 "2012-03-16T21:42:21Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Yesterday’s UFO stories were bolstered by grainy and/or blurry photos from cheap low-rez cameras. Today’s cameras are high speed/high resolution autofocus wonders that eliminate the possibility of passing off planes, birds and balloons as mysterious objects in the sky. And almost everyone has a camera handy, on their phone. Pictures, videos, everything is only a few seconds away, in your pocket. If there actually were UFOs I would expect a major upswing in realiable photos. Instead we have fewer. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/6 "2012-03-16T21:42:48Z")
You people are no fun. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/7 "2012-03-16T21:45:17Z")
Did you hear the one about the Marianas Trench? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/8 "2012-03-16T22:17:24Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > And almost everyone has a camera handy, on their phone. Pictures, videos, everything is only a few seconds away, in your pocket. > > If there actually were UFOs I would expect a major upswing in realiable photos. Instead we have fewer. Also, we have photoshopping, which can be mastered by children below the age of 10. Thus, it’s easier to fake things so they look more convincing. Because of that, people are a lot more skeptical when confronted with supposed photographic “proof” of a UFO or anything else of a paranormal nature. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/9 "2012-03-16T23:19:31Z")
I saw a purported [UFO pic](http://io9.com/5893017/is-this-a-picture-of-ufos-shooting-laser-beams-at-an-airplane) the other day, that was clearly just reflections on a window. ---
**Author:** ![CALIBURN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@CALIBURN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CALIBURN)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/10 "2012-03-16T23:29:04Z")
didnt some strangeness go down a few years back at chicago’s O’hare airport? ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ufos-and-other-weirdness/615999/11 "2012-03-16T23:48:56Z")
> [@CALIBURN](#): > > didnt some strangeness go down a few years back at chicago’s O’hare airport? [Yes.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_O'Hare_International_Airport_UFO_sighting)