Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (17892)	11/28/2011 11:40:06 AM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

Hollywood and the Curse of Mars By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers At NASA and in Hollywood right now, eyes are trained on Mars. November 26 will see the launch of NASA’s much-hyped, $2.3 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, the purpose of which is to land and operate a rover called Curiosity on the surface of the Red Planet. The rover’s task: to discover whether or not Mars is now, or has ever been, hospitable to life. Meanwhile, over in Tinseltown, Disney is hoping that its own substantial Mars-related investment will pay off: the forthcoming mega-movie, John Carter. The movie – a lavish, big-screen adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series of science fiction adventure novels – will chronicle the exploits of John Carter, a 19th Century American Civil War veteran who, upon being mysteriously transported to Mars, discovers it to be a thriving and diverse world populated by 9 ft tall, green, four-armed warriors called Tharks, as well as more human-looking "red" Martians. *Empire* magazine has described *John Carter* as “one of the more complicated productions you’ll ever see," noting that "the film combines location shooting, studio sets, [and] live action and digital creations.” Disney has invested almost $300 million in the movie, placing great faith in its director Andrew Stanton (*Finding Nemo, Wall-E), as well as its much-loved source material, and the word “franchise” will no doubt have been used liberally by Disney bigwigs overseeing the project since its inception. In light of its colossal budget, however, the movie will need to do some serious box-office if it is to survive past its first instalment, let alone go on to become Disney’s next Pirates* or *Narnia. In addition to the usual hurdles strewn along a movie’s road to success – bad reviews, box-office competition, poor filmmaking (though that’s usually irrelevant), misjudged marketing, classification issues, uncontrollable, politically sensitive national or international events (Hollywood suffered badly in the aftermath of 9/11, for example), John Carter* faces another, almost insurmountable, obstacle: the dreaded ‘Martian Curse.’ Lost in Space The Martian Curse is typically referred to in the context of Earth’s numerous failed Mars missions, the most recent of which is the Phobos-Grunt. The purpose of this Russian-led mission was to land a probe on the mysterious Martian moon Phobos and scoop up rock samples for return to Earth. It was hoped that the samples would yield new insights into the origin of Phobos, which is thought by some to be an extraterrestrial space station. However, for reasons as yet unknown, the spacecraft was unable to fire its engines following its launch on November 9 of this year has been stuck in low Earth orbit ever since. Hope for the mission’s recovery has now been completely extinguished. The failure of Phobos-Grunt should come as little surprise. Of the 39 international Mars missions to date as listed by NASA on its Mars Exploration Program website (excluding the Phobos-Grunt, which has yet to be officially counted among the ‘dead’) a staggering 22 are declared as outright failures.

To: Giordano Bruno who wrote (17892)	11/28/2011 11:42:40 AM
From: average joe	Respond to of 69300

Cowboys & Aliens is part of a bizarre UFO theory By Annalee Newitz, Nov 25, 2011 4:49 PM This week a conference on UFOs, science and consciousness was held in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is the city where gamechanging SF movie District 9 takes place, but apparently that movie has less hold on locals' imaginations than recent flop Cowboys & Aliens does (see io9's glowing review of Cowboys & Aliens here). One of the conference organizers told attendees that aliens have been coming to Earth for millennia to mine for gold. From South Africa's News 24: "There's a battle for Earth by some interesting dark forces," said author, scientist and researcher Michael Tellinger, who organised the conference. "All the governments in the world are puppets and instruments to implement the will of a small group of individuals. The royal political bloodline goes back thousand of years." He said the royal political bloodline was a small group of families whose origins could be traced to the first of mankind and who were inevitably in contact with the aliens. He said the South African government was one of the most important puppets of these extra-terrestrials. This was because the country was rich in gold and diamonds. "We are at the heart of this global control because of our mineral resources." All speakers on the first day of the conference agreed that, like humans who had the potential to be both good and bad, so too was the population of galactical beings. Extra-terrestrials were also not dissimilar to politicians, who pushed their own agenda for material gain. "They came to Earth looking for gold. We are all still obsessed with gold." Tettinger said research showed that the extra-terrestrial "Annunaki" (reportedly also known as the Jedi, the Nephilim, the Watchers or the Watchmen and referred to in the Bible in Genesis) came to Earth around 300 000 years ago to look for gold. They were also responsible for cloning their own genetic structures and creating mankind. This is definitely my new favorite alien conspiracy theory. UPDATE: Apparently this idea about aliens mining for gold predates the movie Cowboys & Aliens. So the flick, um, corroborates Tettinger's theory.