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mmcirvin ([personal profile] mmcirvin) wrote2004-09-03 12:49 am
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New Scientist jumps the gun again

The mysterious ET signal probably isn't; looks like they quoted Wertheimer somewhat out of context. "Grand Vizier" on the Bad Astronomy board points out the major reason for doubt—the signal always seems to start at the same frequency, then drift from there, which would require advance knowledge of the relative motion of Earth and the sending planet:
It always 'resets' to 1420MHz? How can that conceivably be an ET signal? OK, only 3 shots so far, but if it keeps doing that it has to be an artefact.
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[identity profile] mmcirvin.livejournal.com 2004-09-03 06:12 am (UTC)(link)
Horowitz is an entertaining guy, one of the fastest-talking human beings I have ever met, and also the co-author of an excellent book on electronics that explained the behavior of a transistor by telling the reader to imagine it as containing a tiny Transistor Man who did certain things. The physics department had an annual party at which second-year graduate students collaborated on writing and performing a ridiculous puppet show; for it I wrote a sketch at which Horowitz started receiving signals from Transistor Man. I'm not sure how many people got it.
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