I got to thinking about this after reading the paranormal thread, thinking about the X-files (huge fan, what can I say), and things like that.

Wtf DO you think is out there at Area 51 that's so fucking touchy? I mean, it IS a little weird. Sure the government develops secret shit, but that can't be the only place. I mean, the security sure seems disproportionate, even compared to other facilities. Is it just that the place has a mythology about it now? Or do they really have, if not alien, superdupersecretwickedcool stuff that we don't know about? Do you think the president gets to know? Or is it like Independence Day, where they keep it hidden from him?

Me, I'm not sure. I mean, I know aliens must logically exist somewhere, but I'm not sure they've secretly visited us, and even less convinced that the government would be smart enough to know what to do with their technology, let alone keep it all secret. It could just be a hush-hush new generation of weapons systems or airplanes or something like that (would explain the weird lights people see around there.) Honestly, I have yet to see a really good Area 51 theory in entertainment (Independence Day and the X-F "Dreamland" arc come the closest.)

All I know is, if (God forbid) I ever end up in Las Vegas, I will be far more interested in the airport and private jets that shuttle employees to and from Groom Lake every day than I am in the casinos or food. I'd also totally go camp out on top of the mountain out there that overlooks the facility. (If there's still access to it--I've heard that the government has actually closed off more land around the facility, and that you can't get up to that observation point anymore.)





"Use of deadly force authorized" ...


http://science.howstuffworks.com/area-51.htm/printable

anorexorcist wrote:

That and Cthulu, I bet they have Cthulu in their.

Seriously though, I wonder what kind of weapons? I've always wondered if we haven't secretly been able to better harness the military application of atomic (or particle) power. I mean, the guys over at CERN are doing amazing things. When they turned on their particle accelerator they basically said, "yeah we don't know what's going to happen. It could cause a black hole or otherwise completely destroy the world." I didn't of course, but if I was in charge of weapons development, that kind of power would be very, very interesting.

I kind of doubt its extraterrestrial too. Our government sucks too much at lying for that. It must be some crazy shit though. I mean, those Cammo Dudes don't fuck around.

Well, the LHC broke down in September of '08. At the time, they said they could have it up and running again by June or July of this year, but the cost is somewhere around 20 million Euro. That wasn't such a big deal (relatively speaking) then, but given the current financial crisis, I wonder if it won't be put on hold further.

That's got my brain working in another direction though...I wonder if what's out at Area 51 isn't super secret because its necessarily *proprietary* and tactical (like a weapons system), but if they're doing something that would be unacceptable to the public if they found out. My worst case, nightmare scenarios are saying things like, "genetic manipulation, human experiments, cloning, sentient AI," but it could be something a little more mundane, but politically volatile--fetus stem cells, say. (I have no idea what they would be doing with them, just an example. Still, the security seems a little extreme for simple political ass covering, doesn't it?

EDIT: But here's the thing about WMDs. We have them already. Everybody knows it. they know the location of plenty of nuclear missile silos and shit. I wouldn't guess they may be hiding some there for a rainy day, but...it's GOT to go deeper than that, imho.

anorexorcist wrote:

Cthulu ARMY. Maybe cloning? More George W.'s? X Men? Watchmen? Neo? I want to know damnit.

God I know. I wonder how one gets assigned there. They must not be allowed to say where they're stationed, right? I mean what, conversations like:

Guy: So, what do you do?

MiB: R&D for the military.

Guy: No kidding, I'm ex-Air Force. What base you at?

MiB: uuuuh...Area 51?

No chance. I assume the people's families must know...I wonder how that works out.

I don't get the whole commuter plane/bus thing for them. Wouldn't it make more sense to have them live on the site? Not imprisoned there obviously, but daily comings and goings seem awfully inconvenient for a place that tight.

Yeah, Roswell is fascinating. You run into the same issue as Area 51: no matter how super duper secret the "experimental technology" or whatever was, shit like that has happened before. The response to Roswell was...different. It wasn't quite the rumored Blue Beret UFO crash retrieval team, but it was close. WHAT was so special about that ONE incident? Granted the government lies and covers up stupid shit no one cares about, but still. Roswell was weird. So is Area 51.

with Roswell, again, I'm hesitant to say aliens. I know they must exist, but the odds of Contact being covered up so effectively, in my mind, are nil. It was no fucking weather balloon, I can tell you that.

As for the tanker idea, I think you'd be shot and killed before you could get anywhere near it lol. Way too much desert and open road between the gate and the actual structures. You'd have better luck by taking a page from Al Quaeda and using an airplane. Sure you'd be shot out of the sky, but if you aimed right you still might be able to do some damage.

Oh, and to the secret government agent who is reading this because the buzzword Al Quaeda and/or Area 51 set off your little alarm: fuck you. Tell us what the hell is going on! If you do, you get cake. Promise.

Tyop wrote:

SoldierHawk wrote: I mean, the guys over at CERN are doing amazing things. When they turned on their particle accelerator they basically said, "yeah we don't know what's going to happen. It could cause a black hole or otherwise completely destroy the world." They said nothing like that. They obviously don't know whether they will find what they're looking for when they start colliding particles; that's why they have to do the experiment. But they know with virtual certainty that it's not going to destroy the earth and have said so repeatedly. The same events that happen in the LHC occur naturally thousands of times a day on earth and any other astronomical body in the observable universe. If what is going to be done in the LHC posed any danger at all, we would have been dead a long time ago. SoldierHawk wrote: Well, the LHC broke down in September of '08. At the time, they said they could have it up and running again by June or July of this year, but the cost is somewhere around 20 million Euro. That wasn't such a big deal (relatively speaking) then, but given the current financial crisis, I wonder if it won't be put on hold further. The financial crisis isn't likely to cause any delays. As you already said, 20 or 30 million Euro aren't such a big deal for a decade-long multi billion Euro project, even in the current situation. If anything is going to delay the start, it's the caution they will exercise in turning the machine on again. The new LHC Chief said a couple of days ago that they will double- and tripe-check everything to prevent any further screw-ups. That could possibly delay things. As for Area 51, I doubt there's anything particularly mysterious going on. Everybody knows that they have been testing military aircraft for a long time there and that's all there really is to it. Everything else is just accumulated myths.

No, you're right lol. I was exaggerating in order to make a point and I probably shouldn't have. They *have* said its safe. (Although, they HAVE also said they don't entirely know what's going to happen, and given some of the theories are about what could, I *do* believe playing with something like that is a more dangerous than they let on.) Not, you understand, that I am in any way, shape or form against them working with it--I find it to be one of the neatest things happening in science right now. (At least until the manned mission to Mars gets started.)

I hadn't heard the LHC chief's quote. Its good to know things are still going forward, although I *do* find it kind of odd that it is given the penny pinching climate we're in. Then again, I'm sure those guys have lots of private donors and things like that too.