Mysterious Rods

[McQ]

Ever see those goofy specials on TV, or internet videos about those mysterious flying "Rods"? If you haven't, you're missing out on some fine examples of wishful thinking, power of suggestion, and just plain lack of critical thought and common sense. Oh, also a lack of basic knowledge of photography, even by the "experts".

Quick Wiki article on them:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_(cryptozoology)

For fun, I thought I'd try to capture some of these UFOs myself, so into the back yard I went with my trusty Nikon D3. In about ten seconds, I was able to turn some gnats and small flying insects into the mystery rods. For your amusement and viewing pleasure, here is a shot of them. I have not bothered to attach a shot at higher shutter speed, because it ruins the fantasy when you can clearly see the bugs!

Yeah, I was bored! LOL!

Rods!!!  (sorry for the size, but the board won't let me load anything bigger than 600 pixels wide) Full sized image will be linked to later.

[curiosityandthecat]

If you haven't, you're missing out on some fine examples of wishful thinking, power of suggestion, and just plain lack of critical thought and common sense. Oh, also a lack of basic knowledge of photography, even by the "experts".

It never ceases to amaze me that the most powerful intelligent machine in the known universe can be so dumb.

Btw, good to see another Nikon man. I drooled over the D3 when I was buying my D40x. (Can't afford to spend that kind of cash on a toy that has no return, hah.)

[McQ]

The D40x is a really nice camera. Unless you are a pro or very serious amateur (or fool with more dollars than sense), you'd never need the D3 anyway. I make money off of sports and nature photography, much of which is in low light, so the D3 is the best investment I could have made. My number of keepers went up by ten times for night games with it. ISO 12,500 works wonders!

Exposure time on this was 1/15", by the way.

Here is a link to the full-sized picture:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/ ... 130B-1.jpg

[curiosityandthecat]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but...

I do actually enjoy my D40x. Unfortunately, they removed the bracketing option, and I've just now become interested in HDR images. Talk about inconvenient! I used to be the staff campus photographer for the local newspaper, but when I took my position at the university I didn't have time to do that anymore, unfortunately. Plus, all my equipment was stolen. (Silver lining: gave me a reason to upgrade, teehee.)

I'm assuming the higher ISO on the D3 isn't too noisy? I normally keep mine set at 100 or 200, even in low light... I can't stand the noise.

Now I'm tempted to go see if I can find some rods, myself!  

[crocofish]

I had never heard of the "Rod" phenomenon until now.  But those are pretty cool looking rods in your higher resolution photo,  somewhat reminiscent "fairies" or the creatures in the Flow game.

The Straight Dope referenced by the Wikipedia article has a clear debunking of Rods.

[joeactor]

My wife says I have a Mysterious Rod... but it doesn't fly.  
(... at least I don't think it flies)

I'd like to see a new museum just chock full of these unexplained phenomenon.

Anyone catch the History channel special on "Crystal Skulls"?

If you don't want to waste two hours, here's a spoiler:
Overly rich collecter who owns the Hedges skull goes in search of another one, and doesn't find squat.
Throw in a bunch of hooey about having to reunite 13 crystal skulls to avert some world-wide catastrophe, and add in the bit about the Mayan calendar ending in 2012, and you've got an entire 2 hour special.

There were some credible debates about the authenticity of the Hedges skull.  He claimed he and his daughter found it in south america and it was made by the Mayans.  One specialist found papers showing he bought it at auction, and that a microscopic analysis of the surface showed modern tool marks.

Who knows?  You decide!
JoeActor

[curiosityandthecat]

...or the creatures in the Flow game.

Aah! I'm playing Flow right now, and you're right! Dead on!

[McQ]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but...

I do actually enjoy my D40x. Unfortunately, they removed the bracketing option, and I've just now become interested in HDR images. Talk about inconvenient! I used to be the staff campus photographer for the local newspaper, but when I took my position at the university I didn't have time to do that anymore, unfortunately. Plus, all my equipment was stolen. (Silver lining: gave me a reason to upgrade, teehee.)

I'm assuming the higher ISO on the D3 isn't too noisy? I normally keep mine set at 100 or 200, even in low light... I can't stand the noise.

Now I'm tempted to go see if I can find some rods, myself!  

No sweat! That feature should have stayed on the D40x. Too bad. The D3 has very little noise at high ISOs. I can go to 6400 without any noise. Above that it starts creeping in, but it also has excellent NR capabilities for higher ISO shots. It's sweet.

I had never heard of the "Rod" phenomenon until now.  But those are pretty cool looking rods in your higher resolution photo,  somewhat reminiscent "fairies" or the creatures in the Flow game.

The Straight Dope referenced by the Wikipedia article has a clear debunking of Rods.

I was glad to see that Wiki's entry had that. If it didn't, I was going to add it. Just the other night, there was a special on rods on either Sci-Fi, or History channel. I forget which. It kills me to sit through those and watch the "experts" say it can't be bugs, because "some of the pictures and video show bugs in them, and the Rods look totally different." Duh! Some bugs fly fast, some fly slow. Some are big, some are small. Anyway......

And the game "Flow" is so enjoyable. I downloaded it to my laptop. I wish it were longer, or that there was a Flow2.

[McQ]

My wife says I have a Mysterious Rod... but it doesn't fly.  :shock:

Couldn't bring myself to watch the special. I spent so much time reading about them, and have seen other specials on them, that I couldn't justify the time I would never get back! Thanks for the recap!

[MariaEvri]

I have wathed national geographic's "is it real" about ghosts, and they mentioned something about rods (or something evry similar to those)
a scientist's explanation, was that, if the place is dusty, and you use a flash on your camera, then the dust on the foreground (the one not - focused) will look like small round bright spiritual orbs
http://www.diepart.com/mediac/400_0/med ... 1/orbs.jpg

as for the crystal skulls, I did read an article on a magazine that deals with paranormal stuff, a woman used to own a crystal skull and she claimed it actually spoke to her (it even had a "common" name like ehm.. jack? steve? I dont remember). The article claimed that there was another one somewhere in the world and it should be found

and out of subject, I too am a Nikon fan, i currently own a d200

[McQ]

I have wathed national geographic's "is it real" about ghosts, and they mentioned something about rods (or something evry similar to those)
a scientist's explanation, was that, if the place is dusty, and you use a flash on your camera, then the dust on the foreground (the one not - focused) will look like small round bright spiritual orbs
http://www.diepart.com/mediac/400_0/med ... 1/orbs.jpg

as for the crystal skulls, I did read an article on a magazine that deals with paranormal stuff, a woman used to own a crystal skull and she claimed it actually spoke to her (it even had a "common" name like ehm.. jack? steve? I dont remember). The article claimed that there was another one somewhere in the world and it should be found

and out of subject, I too am a Nikon fan, i currently own a d200 lol

I have a D200 as well. Great camera. Nikon makes a line of winners, for sure.

I've seen those "Orbs" specials too. That's even sadder. People leave basic logic way behind on those. That's another thing easy to re-create with any point and shoot camera. Dust does wonders to them. Also, an errant camera strap can look super spooky too. I let my camera strap dangle in front of the lens so that when I took a picture of my son, it appeared to be a mysterious loop flying around his head. Took, oh....three seconds to do it.

[joeactor]

Couldn't bring myself to watch the special. I spent so much time reading about them, and have seen other specials on them, that I couldn't justify the time I would never get back! Thanks for the recap!

Here's a good article on evidence against two of the "Crystal Skulls":
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080523_crystal

Fakey!
JoeActor

[McQ]

Couldn't bring myself to watch the special. I spent so much time reading about them, and have seen other specials on them, that I couldn't justify the time I would never get back! Thanks for the recap!

Here's a good article on evidence against two of the "Crystal Skulls":
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080523_crystal

Fakey!
JoeActor

Nice find, Joe. Hey, if nothing else, the skulls are cool sculptures. Someone was having a good time making them, and they had skill.

[Vichy]

It never ceases to amaze me that the most powerful intelligent machine in the known universe can be so dumb.

A powerful computing machine without a good program is bound to produce nonsense, the principle of 'garbage in -> garbage out' applies just as much in human learning and knowledge as much as in our more simplistic computer sciences.  Also, most people do not have the inclination to be critical, and no matter how effective your cranium is you have to use it in order to get any effect.  Most people, so to speak, leave it on 'standby' and only check for viruses with great reluctance.

[McQ]

It never ceases to amaze me that the most powerful intelligent machine in the known universe can be so dumb.

A powerful computing machine without a good program is bound to produce nonsense, the principle of 'garbage in -> garbage out' applies just as much in human learning and knowledge as much as in our more simplistic computer sciences.  Also, most people do not have the inclination to be critical, and no matter how effective your cranium is you have to use it in order to get any effect.  Most people, so to speak, leave it on 'standby' and only check for viruses with great reluctance.

I like the GIGO analogy. It's true. It is very easy to notice how children are born with a natural curiosity. They explore, they ask "Why?" all the time. But what do we parents do? We tell them to stop asking so many questions. Ugh! What do most Americans tell the two year old who constantly asks, "Why?" They say, "Stop it! Just because, that's why!"

Public schools are not much better here either. They squelch curiosity. They actively prevent children from questioning things, ESPECIALLY authority. It sucks. And that wears down on most kids and makes them just give up on questioning anything. Voila! A society full of sheep, even if they don't know it.