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Public Split on Alien Invaders and Spooky Specters
space.com ^ | 11/03/05 | Seth Shostak

Posted on 11/03/2005 6:37:47 PM PST by KevinDavis

Monday night was Halloween, so I spent a couple of hours dosing the neighborhood kids with carbohydrate treats. Most of the diminutive petitioners at my door were intent on being scary, and therefore dressed themselves as ghouls, goblins, or politicians.

I enjoyed these juvenile impersonators, but it never occurred to me to believe that these kids were mimicking real entities (excepting, of course, the politicians). However, my skeptical mood seems to be out of synch with that of my neighbors. A just-released Gallup poll notes that 37% of Americans believe that "houses can be haunted." Our counterparts in Canada and Britain share this level of belief in a demon-infested world, and roughly a quarter of those surveyed reckon that folks can hear from, or communicate mentally, with the dead.

Neither the decided dearth of exhibits on haunting science at the local museum, nor the absence of refereed journals on ectoplasmic studies in the university library seem to matter. The lack of celebrity interviews with dead people in Time or Newsweek is irrelevant. A large chunk of the populace believes—and that’s that.

Now you could contend that all of this is pretty harmless. Honestly, if people like to think that spirits are bunking down in the condo next door, so what? The housing market’s still strong.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; et; seti; space
Please note this article is not talking about illegal aliens....
1 posted on 11/03/2005 6:37:48 PM PST by KevinDavis
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To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; sionnsar; anymouse; RadioAstronomer; NonZeroSum; jimkress; ...

2 posted on 11/03/2005 6:38:15 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: ALASKA; ActionNewsBill; airborne; albertp; andysandmikesmom; areafiftyone; aruanan; ...

UFO Ping! Let me know if you want on or off this list!


3 posted on 11/03/2005 6:38:46 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: KevinDavis

"Please note this article is not talking about illegal aliens...."


You've never seen Men in black?


4 posted on 11/03/2005 6:40:38 PM PST by cripplecreek (Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
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To: cripplecreek; All

Yes I did...


5 posted on 11/03/2005 6:41:58 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: KevinDavis

Thanks for the note. I was just about to respond in an inappropriate way. I am very emotional about the alien invader issue (you FReepers who have been abducted by our space friends know the anal probe treatment is no fun).


6 posted on 11/03/2005 6:42:11 PM PST by BipolarBob (I'm really BagdadBob under the witness protection program.)
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To: BipolarBob

"(you FReepers who have been abducted by our space friends know the anal probe treatment is no fun)."


Not to mention expensive.


7 posted on 11/03/2005 6:45:15 PM PST by cripplecreek (Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
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To: KevinDavis

bump


8 posted on 11/03/2005 6:49:37 PM PST by lowbridge
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To: KevinDavis
Demon....space alien....

Six in one hand.......

9 posted on 11/03/2005 6:52:04 PM PST by txroadkill
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To: cripplecreek

X E N U !


10 posted on 11/03/2005 6:53:10 PM PST by The Worthless Miracle
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To: cripplecreek
"(you FReepers who have been abducted by our space friends know the anal probe treatment is no fun)."

Not to mention expensive.

You can get a discount on certain holidays.

11 posted on 11/03/2005 6:53:12 PM PST by lowbridge
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To: KevinDavis

----Please note this article is not talking about illegal aliens....----

Being an undead extraterrestrial is no excuse for not going through the proper immigration channels like everyone else. TANCREDO IN '08!!!

-Dan

12 posted on 11/03/2005 7:00:24 PM PST by Flux Capacitor (Trust me. I know what I'm doing.)
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To: KevinDavis

I've seen many members of that percentage while doing contracts with corporations. ...saw some of the same in graduate programs in a university, too.


13 posted on 11/03/2005 7:05:31 PM PST by familyop ("Let us try" sounds better, don't you think? "Essayons" is so...Latin.)
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To: KevinDavis
Here's a spectre you can believe in....

BOO!


14 posted on 11/03/2005 7:06:07 PM PST by TADSLOS (Right Wing Infidel since 1954)
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To: cripplecreek
Not to mention expensive.

Imagine those without insurance. I'm surprised the Democrats haven't pushed for coverage yet.

15 posted on 11/03/2005 7:17:57 PM PST by scott7278 (Before I give you the benefit of my reply, I'd like to know what we're talking about.)
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To: Flux Capacitor
----Please note this article is not talking about illegal aliens....----

Being an undead extraterrestrial is no excuse for not going through the proper immigration channels like everyone else.

That's funny.

16 posted on 11/03/2005 8:35:49 PM PST by phantomworker (All roads lead back to Rome. Boldness has genius, power &magic in it..Begin your dissertation now!!)
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To: KevinDavis
"Get this: the respondents believe in ghosts, but don’t think NASA put people on the moon."

Because Bush "lied"! /sarc

17 posted on 11/04/2005 5:16:56 AM PST by manwiththehands (Big Lie #1: "Islam is a peaceful religion"; Big Lie #2: Bush "lied")
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To: BipolarBob

"We have reached the limits of what we can learn by anal probing"

18 posted on 11/04/2005 6:02:18 AM PST by Mr. K (Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help...)
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To: KevinDavis

Danke. I'm swearing off of Shostak, so I'm not clicking the link. SETI must really be slow these days, ol' Seth has all sorts of time to write non-SETI articles.


19 posted on 11/04/2005 7:16:27 AM PST by Frank_Discussion (May the wings of Liberty never lose a feather!)
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