• Re: R.I.P. Erich von D?niken, 90

    From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jan 12 21:57:05 2026
    On 12 Jan 2026 19:50:05 GMT, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

    Haven't read him, but I had always assumed he was a guy who had found a
    grift and was milking it. So he actually believed this stuff?

    You can't deny he saw things in a different perspective.

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jan 12 21:58:12 2026
    On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 19:57:29 GMT, Scott Lurndal wrote:

    I suspect that EvD was more interested in the income from the
    books than the contents thereof.

    I've read several of them, but I don't think they were a bestseller
    (right?).

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jan 12 19:30:52 2026
    Stefan Ram <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
    |Young woman: Not the Bermuda Triangle either? Surely you're
    |not going to deny that . . .

    This is foolish. It's not the Bermuda Triangle where people are
    disappearing. It's the Golden Triangle. Just look what happened
    to Wang Xing, and that is the tip of the iceberg.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Jerry Brown@3:633/10 to All on Tue Jan 13 09:15:56 2026
    On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:57:05 -0500, William Hyde
    <wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:

    Christian Weisgerber wrote:
    RIP, Erich von D?niken (1935-2026), Swiss writer who became an
    international bestselling author by opportunistically writing about
    fringe and pseudoscience topics. He popularized the idea that early
    human cultures were visited by extraterrestrials who helped build
    monumental works and became revered as gods; a concept that was
    picked up numerous times by science fiction writers.

    I believe that SF writers got there first. But in those stories the
    aliens were more clever, passing on information rather than building
    useless objects.

    Still, given how stupid we are, perhaps aliens would also be dumb enough
    to think:

    "We need to help these poor people! Gimme three pyramids, stat!"

    I recall Arthur C Clarke saying[*] that they came very close to going
    with a pyramid-shaped monolith before choosing the slab, and how it
    might have had a deleterious effect on 2001's performance, due to the association with von Daniken.

    *: probably "The Lost Worlds of 2001"


    --
    Jerry Brown

    A cat may look at a king
    (but probably won't bother)

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Tue Jan 13 14:32:58 2026
    On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:57:05 -0500, William Hyde wrote:

    I believe that SF writers got there first. But in those stories the
    aliens were more clever, passing on information rather than building
    useless objects.

    Still, given how stupid we are, perhaps aliens would also be dumb enough
    to think:

    "We need to help these poor people! Gimme three pyramids, stat!"

    Maybe it was just us people being stupid. Too stupid to pass on
    information to?

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Tue Jan 13 14:39:00 2026
    On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 11:01:00 +0100, Mickmane wrote:

    Haven't read him either.

    Only came across all this stuff (besides flatmate in the 90s saying Daeniken spouted nonsense) after a Terraria update spoiler image with
    crazy hair guy, text saying "I'm not saying it's aliens, but... It's Aliens!" (The Terraria update featured marsian invasions.)

    <https://tenor.com/view/aliens-ancient-aliens-giorgio-gif-21799424>

    When I then noticed crazy hair guy in some "documentary" I got
    interested and watched that. (It's fascinating how I like watching that stupid show, and keep telling the people in it that they need to buy a brain. Yet, I keep watching it. Guess it has nice pictures. :) )

    I am pretty certain that crazy hair dude at least doesn't really believe any of it.

    You're talking about Giorgio A. Tsoukalos.

    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_A._Tsoukalos>

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Wed Jan 14 15:13:47 2026
    On 14 Jan 2026 09:31:53 GMT, Ignatios Souvatzis wrote:

    s|b wrote:

    You can't deny he saw things in a different perspective.

    Ahem. There's at least one case where he photographed, for one of his
    books, some graphics carved into stone in a cave in some South
    American mountain from a perspective that was impossible to view
    with your eyes if you stood there. Must have used some crane construction
    to hold the camera. Impossible to falsify if you didn't travel there yourself to view the original.

    Turned by 90 degrees(iirc), you might interpret it as an astronaut
    inside a flying machine. Viewed normally, it was some guy with
    decorative clothing crouching.

    Ask me 50 years ago if you want details.

    I'm guessing it's this one: <https://alienexplorations.blogspot.com/1979/11/erich-von-daniken-and-chariots-of-gods.html>
    <https://alienexplorations.blogspot.com/1979/02/von-danikens-mayan-rocket-man.html>
    So you're very right, he viewed things, deliberately, from a different perspective.

    Not really what I meant, but...

    He had some ideas about the Nazca lines as well: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_lines>

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mickmane@3:633/10 to All on Wed Jan 14 16:10:00 2026
    On 14.01.26, s|b <me@privacy.invalid> wrote:
    On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 11:01:00 +0100, Mickmane wrote:

    Haven't read him either.

    Only came across all this stuff (besides flatmate in the 90s saying
    Daeniken spouted nonsense) after a Terraria update spoiler image
    with crazy hair guy, text saying "I'm not saying it's aliens, but...
    It's Aliens!" (The Terraria update featured marsian invasions.)

    https://tenor.com/view/aliens-ancient-aliens-giorgio-gif-21799424

    Yup. That one! (Couldn't find the update post where I saw it when I went looking for it some years ago. Didn't know it's so famous an image.)

    When I then noticed crazy hair guy in some "documentary" I got
    interested and watched that. (It's fascinating how I like watching
    that stupid show, and keep telling the people in it that they need
    to buy a brain. Yet, I keep watching it. Guess it has nice pictures.
    :) )

    I am pretty certain that crazy hair dude at least doesn't really
    believe any of it.

    You're talking about Giorgio A. Tsoukalos.

    Yeah, but I'd rather stick with crazy hair guy (people know who I mean,
    and he didn't mind the hair reference in some episode) than trying to
    spell the name correctly. :)


    --

    Mickmane


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Thu Jan 15 17:51:18 2026
    On Wed, 14 Jan 2026 16:10:00 +0100, Mickmane wrote:

    You're talking about Giorgio A. Tsoukalos.

    Yeah, but I'd rather stick with crazy hair guy (people know who I mean,
    and he didn't mind the hair reference in some episode) than trying to
    spell the name correctly. :)

    You could be talking about this guy: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074486/mediaviewer/rm1938112000/?ref_=tt_ov_i>

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mickmane@3:633/10 to All on Fri Jan 16 15:23:00 2026
    On 16.01.26, ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
    "Mickmane" <ATH@kruemel.org> wrote or quoted:

    Yeah, but I'd rather stick with crazy hair guy (people know who I
    mean, and he didn't mind the hair reference in some episode) than
    trying to spell the name correctly. :)

    People have long used messy or "wild" hair as a visual shorthand
    for a disordered or unusual mind, and phrases like "bird's nest
    in one's hair" grow out of that older association of tangled hair
    with neglect, eccentricity, and madness.

    Blame Albert Einstein, or someone before him?

    --

    Mickmane


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mickmane@3:633/10 to All on Fri Jan 16 15:24:00 2026
    On 16.01.26, s|b <me@privacy.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 14 Jan 2026 16:10:00 +0100, Mickmane wrote:

    You're talking about Giorgio A. Tsoukalos.

    Yeah, but I'd rather stick with crazy hair guy (people know who I
    mean, and he didn't mind the hair reference in some episode) than
    trying to spell the name correctly. :)

    You could be talking about this guy: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074486/mediaviewer/rm1938112000/?ref_=tt_ov_i

    LOL.

    Context matters, and here we were in the context of crazy ancient alien theories. :)

    --

    Mickmane


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Fri Jan 16 08:42:30 2026
    On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:23:00 +0100, "Mickmane" <ATH@kruemel.org>
    wrote:

    On 16.01.26, ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
    "Mickmane" <ATH@kruemel.org> wrote or quoted:

    Yeah, but I'd rather stick with crazy hair guy (people know who I
    mean, and he didn't mind the hair reference in some episode) than
    trying to spell the name correctly. :)

    People have long used messy or "wild" hair as a visual shorthand
    for a disordered or unusual mind, and phrases like "bird's nest
    in one's hair" grow out of that older association of tangled hair
    with neglect, eccentricity, and madness.

    Blame Albert Einstein, or someone before him?

    In one of his plays, Aristophanes portrays Socrates with some of the
    features of a "mad scientist", such as a robe and (IIRC) a funny hat.
    He might or might not also have had tangled hair (in the play).

    If you are thinking Aristophanes is rather far back there, consider:

    1. In one play, a country bumpkin sells two pigs in a bag to a
    desperate city dweller (desperate because the Peloponnesian War is
    hindering the supply chain). When he takes it home and opens it, the
    bumpkin's daughter pop out and run away. Hence "a pig in a poke" for
    buying something you cannot see.

    When I bought our new oil furnace, it quickly became apparent that I
    was, effectively, buying a pig in a poke. That is, all I really had to
    work on was a sales pitch. By a salesman who didn't know much about
    the product.

    To be fair, it was installed and it still works nearly 20 years later.
    But, still, lingering dissatisfaction with how it was sold makes me
    hesitant to move to a heat pump, which will, no doubt, involve Yet
    Another Sales Talk By Someone Selling Something He Knows Little About.

    Three of them, if it seems prudent to get three bids and compare them.

    2. /The Birds/, the play with Socrates in it per Wikipedia, is the
    first known instance of Cloud Cuckoo Land, the aerial kingdom of the
    birds.

    3. He also wrote /Lysistrata/, in which the women of Athens and Sparta
    try to stop the war by going on a sexual strike, only to find they
    their desire is stronger than that of their husbands. It's produced a
    number of plays and movies.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Bobbie Sellers@3:633/10 to All on Fri Jan 16 08:56:27 2026


    On 1/16/26 08:42, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:23:00 +0100, "Mickmane" <ATH@kruemel.org>
    wrote:

    On 16.01.26, ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
    "Mickmane" <ATH@kruemel.org> wrote or quoted:

    Yeah, but I'd rather stick with crazy hair guy (people know who I
    mean, and he didn't mind the hair reference in some episode) than
    trying to spell the name correctly. :)

    People have long used messy or "wild" hair as a visual shorthand
    for a disordered or unusual mind, and phrases like "bird's nest
    in one's hair" grow out of that older association of tangled hair
    with neglect, eccentricity, and madness.

    Blame Albert Einstein, or someone before him?

    In one of his plays, Aristophanes portrays Socrates with some of the
    features of a "mad scientist", such as a robe and (IIRC) a funny hat.
    He might or might not also have had tangled hair (in the play).

    If you are thinking Aristophanes is rather far back there, consider:

    1. In one play, a country bumpkin sells two pigs in a bag to a
    desperate city dweller (desperate because the Peloponnesian War is
    hindering the supply chain). When he takes it home and opens it, the bumpkin's daughter pop out and run away. Hence "a pig in a poke" for
    buying something you cannot see.

    When I bought our new oil furnace, it quickly became apparent that I
    was, effectively, buying a pig in a poke. That is, all I really had to
    work on was a sales pitch. By a salesman who didn't know much about
    the product.



    To be fair, it was installed and it still works nearly 20 years later.
    But, still, lingering dissatisfaction with how it was sold makes me
    hesitant to move to a heat pump, which will, no doubt, involve Yet
    Another Sales Talk By Someone Selling Something He Knows Little About.

    Three of them, if it seems prudent to get three bids and compare them.

    Or seek for consumer information on Heat Pumps online.
    Like this: Heat pumps consumer information
    Consumer Reports?
    <https://www.consumerreports.org ? Product-Reviews ? Heat-Pumps>


    2. /The Birds/, the play with Socrates in it per Wikipedia, is the
    first known instance of Cloud Cuckoo Land, the aerial kingdom of the
    birds.

    3. He also wrote /Lysistrata/, in which the women of Athens and Sparta
    try to stop the war by going on a sexual strike, only to find they
    their desire is stronger than that of their husbands. It's produced a
    number of plays and movies.

    Aristophanes was the best.

    bliss


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Sat Jan 17 08:55:30 2026
    On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 08:56:27 -0800, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:



    On 1/16/26 08:42, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:23:00 +0100, "Mickmane" <ATH@kruemel.org>
    wrote:

    On 16.01.26, ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
    "Mickmane" <ATH@kruemel.org> wrote or quoted:

    Yeah, but I'd rather stick with crazy hair guy (people know who I
    mean, and he didn't mind the hair reference in some episode) than
    trying to spell the name correctly. :)

    People have long used messy or "wild" hair as a visual shorthand
    for a disordered or unusual mind, and phrases like "bird's nest
    in one's hair" grow out of that older association of tangled hair
    with neglect, eccentricity, and madness.

    Blame Albert Einstein, or someone before him?

    In one of his plays, Aristophanes portrays Socrates with some of the
    features of a "mad scientist", such as a robe and (IIRC) a funny hat.
    He might or might not also have had tangled hair (in the play).

    If you are thinking Aristophanes is rather far back there, consider:

    1. In one play, a country bumpkin sells two pigs in a bag to a
    desperate city dweller (desperate because the Peloponnesian War is
    hindering the supply chain). When he takes it home and opens it, the
    bumpkin's daughter pop out and run away. Hence "a pig in a poke" for
    buying something you cannot see.

    When I bought our new oil furnace, it quickly became apparent that I
    was, effectively, buying a pig in a poke. That is, all I really had to
    work on was a sales pitch. By a salesman who didn't know much about
    the product.



    To be fair, it was installed and it still works nearly 20 years later.
    But, still, lingering dissatisfaction with how it was sold makes me
    hesitant to move to a heat pump, which will, no doubt, involve Yet
    Another Sales Talk By Someone Selling Something He Knows Little About.

    Three of them, if it seems prudent to get three bids and compare them.

    Or seek for consumer information on Heat Pumps online.
    Like this: Heat pumps consumer information
    Consumer Reports?
    <https://www.consumerreports.org ? Product-Reviews ? Heat-Pumps>

    The last email I got on this issue was from a heat-pump installer who
    had a large number on hand was trying (in May, IIRC) in interesting
    people in having them installed during the warm months. Note that
    these were units already on hand, and (IIRC) all the same brand,
    although there may have been different models.

    It's not as if I can order one from Amazon and install it myself, you
    know. And a reliable installer is very important, as is a reliable
    energy company to service the unit as required. Then there are the
    special discount programs up here. This can limit the choices
    available.

    2. /The Birds/, the play with Socrates in it per Wikipedia, is the
    first known instance of Cloud Cuckoo Land, the aerial kingdom of the
    birds.

    3. He also wrote /Lysistrata/, in which the women of Athens and Sparta
    try to stop the war by going on a sexual strike, only to find they
    their desire is stronger than that of their husbands. It's produced a
    number of plays and movies.

    Aristophanes was the best.

    I really enjoyed reading his plays.

    And not because they were the last set of four, and the first three
    were all Very Serious Dramas.

    What was it Mozart says in /Amodeus/ about the ancient heros? "They
    act like they sh*t marble" or something like that.

    Not that many of them weren't worth reading. Just unremittingly
    serious.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)