ufo

Just as Bigfeet tend to emerge during the summer period, so it is with UFOs.

It is natural to be skeptical. If these strange phenomena really did exist, why haven't their captains exposed themselves on our streets? Why haven't they sat down with Katie Couric and Oprah?

And yet two events have conflated to, yet again, send a frisson of excitement through the bones of those who seek extraterrestrial contact.

First, as reported by Reuters, a top Russian astronomer, Andrei Finkelstein, director of none other than the Russian Academy of Sciences' Applied Astronomy Institute, declared that we would … Read more

Area 51 is one of the most enduring mysteries and sources of speculation in American history.

Located inside the Nevada Test and Training Range, the flat, dry lake bed known as Groom Lake has been the home to some of the nation's most advanced espionage and weapons technology, hair-raising tales of Cold War brinksmanship, and possibly much worse, according to a new book about the top-secret military base.

In writing "Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base," Annie Jacobsen combed through thousands of pages of declassified material on American spy plane development, nuclear testing at Area 51, and the history of the CIA and Air Force's control of the base.

In the course of her research, she interviewed dozens of men who worked or lived at Area 51 and are only now talking to one another and the public about their time there. She also interviewed one anonymous source who suggested a deeply dark side of the research conducted at Area 51: human experimentation and psychological warfare (and, of course, a high-level cover-up).

I interviewed Jacobsen, along with Jim Friedman, who was a senior field administrator at Area 51 for 13 years, and TD Barnes, a radar specialist who lived and worked at Area 51, in Nevada near the edge of the enormous testing range and base. We drove up to the gate at Area 51, talked at length about the planes and other technologies developed there and dug into the controversy surrounding the most shocking parts of Jacobsen's book.

The interviews and footage originally aired on CBS' "The Early Show," and these three videos are extra footage and longer interviews about the topics covered in the book. First, a journey down the long Nevada highway and desolate dirt road that leads to the back gate at Area 51: the most intimidating gate you've ever seen. When we got there, there was broken glass on the ground, an ominous camera gazing down at us, and absolutely no one in sight. But I could feel the weight of eyes on me with every moment we were there (and I expected a blow-dart in the back at any second!). … Read more

I'm about to disappoint a few hardened alienists here, though I'm trying to do it with the finest of intentions.

For I've just learned of a new book called "Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base." It offers a radically different theory as to what happened that strange, stormy day in Roswell, N.M., in 1947.

Stories of the hush-hushedness of America's reaction have created legends that will live forever. That these were aliens crash-landing into our lives is, perhaps, the most beloved explanation of a strange phenomenon in … Read more

The British government has released 8,500 pages of previously classified documents detailing its decades-long effort to respond to the public's insistence that UFOs exist.

Among other disclosures, the files reveal that the House of Lords held the only full debate on UFOs in the history of the British Parliament and that the country thought it was possibly facing an alien invasion in 1967. The papers also include messages from the British government to the prime minister of Grenada responding to that nation's attempts to sponsor a debate on UFOs at the United Nations in 1977-78.

The documents … Read more

Somehow, freaky sci-fi movies don't seem to be favored by Oscar voters.

However, I think I may have found some subject matter that Peter Guber, the great Golden State Warriors owner and producer of "The Kids Are Alright," might want to get a budget behind.

Apparently, the United States already knows quite a lot about UFO technology. Apparently, there are secret "black ops" installations somewhere in--oh, I'm guessing Arizona--where new forms of energy have been created using technology that has been gleaned from those up there, rather than us down here.

Please, you know … Read more

The reviews are in, and they're just what we expected: the iPhone 4 on Verizon is really good at making phone calls. But that might not be reason enough to leave AT&T: find out why. Plus, UBB is going down in Canada (we hope), UFOs are real (for as long as the Internet will let us believe it), and we finally get around to your thoughts and comments in the Meatback loop. It's everything we hoped it would be. Oh, and I bought a MacBook Air, no big deal. What? What's the big deal? --Molly

What should you do if you see an unidentified flying object?

Should you panic? Should you inform the authorities? Should you relax, take out your cell phone, and film it, while simultaneously thinking: "At last!"?

Well, the San Antonio Spurs' Manu Ginobili happened upon a mysterious flame in the sky last week. While the Spurs' Head of Security filmed it, Ginobili stood and watched and wondered what it might be.

Then he investigated and reported, at considerable length, to his more than 340,000 fans on Facebook.

Writing in his native Spanish, Ginobili said he availed himself of &… Read more

Should you have not yet gotten over the WikiLeaks revelations that all of the world's countries are suspicious of each other, regularly try to talk each other into doing nasty things, and secretly bad mouth each other on the playground, I have some more bracing news.

Some of the as yet unreleased cables discuss UFOs.

You see, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, who reportedly may soon be arrested, has given a new interview to the Guardian.

Replying to readers' questions in a live chat, Assange offered many pungently direct assertions. But for some, none was greater than his discourse on UFOs. … Read more

Somehow, with all the strange, otherworldly people standing for office in American elections Tuesday, one ballot measure has not received quite the enormous importance that it deserves.

No, I am not thinking of Proposition 19 in California, the one supported by significant members of the tech world, the one that hopes to legalize the sale of marijuana.

This ballot measure, addressed to voters in Denver, is called Initiative 300 and it is adorned by perhaps the most ridiculous question ever asked in a political campaign: "Are you ready for the truth?" The truth that proponents of this measure … Read more