BBC Focus Magazine

[M Paul Lloyd]

I think everyone on Earth has got the message now about global warming - we really dont need any more info on the subject.

Um.... actually I haven't..... sorry.

Have you ever read Fortean Times Croatguy? It just seems to be so much more your thing?

[Croatguy]

Yeah, sure have. But I dont take anything serious in that mag. I dont believe in any conspiracy theories or UFO's.

[The Beige Avenger]

An intelligent, well researched, un-biased piece on some of the science-based conspiracy theories would certainly make for an interesting read... Most things on this kind of stuff is heavily prejudiced by the authors' own agendas.
Scientists would seek to disprove and ignore the unexplained, conspiracy theorists tend to ignore the rational explanation.

Structures on the moon for instance... Buzz Alrdin et al. claiming to have seen a UFO in space (the famous code phrase involving a question relating to the location of the later stage rockets supposedly meaning "ZZZzzzzzOOMmmGG! There's an alien!")... "They" in their ability to control the weather...

Or the more nefarious ones involving chemical sterilisation or using drugs to sedate the masses (religion doesn't work like it used to)...

Part of the problem is that there is usually a whole bunch of truth with a pinch of a lie... or a whole bunch of lies with a pinch of truth.

But then again, we wouldn't want the nice writers at focus to end up framed or taken care of...

Black helicopter ride anyone?


What's that... oooh, someone is shining a laser beam on my che

[Croatguy]

Beige Avenger, yeah I agree. I love reading articles that dismiss conspiracy theories with rational explanations and alternative theories. There should defnitely be more of that in Focus, to inform the general reader so he doesnt get led astray by any of these crackpot theories. There has only ever been one conspiracy theory that was ever true - the one that the Russians were stockpiling missiles in Cuba back in '62. Other than that - they are all false.

[The Beige Avenger]

Bold statement!

I'm sure there are a million and nine instances of a press-release issued from some government agency or conglomerate that didn't accurately reflect the truth. That is what a conspiracy is after all.

Not that I'm a big conspiracy guy, I just accept there's a lot of stuff going on out there that I've got no business in knowing


In any case, this stuff makes for a good read and gets people talking!

[M Paul Lloyd]

Conspiracies are used to cover things up, like the UFO stories that were used to hide the secret rocket research being conducted at the time.

[Ush]

How about the operant conditioning of the Western populace by way of the mass media, conspiracy or not?

[Shadowwolf]

In any case, this stuff makes for a good read and gets people talking!

It is but I'd doubt we would see much of it, Gov perpetrated 9/11, secret underground bases and human / alien collusion seem very far from science and tech. Far as I know there was an article at some time on the Moon landings in Focus, but the other science related ones revolve around the Mars face or the massive moon bases. But like the Moon landings, you will be hard pressed to reach a believer and at some point the claims start to get absurd, like blurs and fuzziness becoming massive alien moon bases.

Btw the Cuban Missile Crisis is not really a conspiracy theory as the term seems to mean these days, to call the smuggling of the nuclear weapons a conspiracy renders just about every secret action a conspiracy. Which is technically what the word means, however conspiracy and conspiracy theory are two very different things.

[The Beige Avenger]

Conspiracies are used to cover things up, like the UFO stories that were used to hide the secret rocket research being conducted at the time.

Were you not in the RAF? Do pilots like spinning yarns about UFOs? Bump into any foo-fighters?

[M Paul Lloyd]

Yes that's true Mr.A I was and no they don't, but I don't know of any conspiracy intended to decieve other than records of such observations of unkown phenominae made by WW2 bomber crews being classifed because it was thought they might be some sort of enemy device/weapon.

UFO's are real enough simply because anything travelling through the atmosphere that cannot be immediatly identified is one, but that doesn't mean they are full of little bug eyed aliens hell bent on abducting people, they could quite easily turn out to be weather balloons, birds, meteors or even the light from Venus reflecting off marsh gas......

The RAF has always applied a policy of complete denial with regard to any unidentified aerial obects regardless of what they might be, which unfortuneatly has only helped to fuel the idea that there is some great conspiracy.

[The Beige Avenger]

Yeah, I'm "sceptical" to say the least!

Anyhoos, sorry for the derailment...

[M Paul Lloyd]

No problem Mr.A, anyway I like scepticism.

[Croatguy]

Bold statement!

I'm sure there are a million and nine instances of a press-release issued from some government agency or conglomerate that didn't accurately reflect the truth. That is what a conspiracy is after all.

Not that I'm a big conspiracy guy, I just accept there's a lot of stuff going on out there that I've got no business in knowing


In any case, this stuff makes for a good read and gets people talking!

Yeah the CIA may be involved in some conspiracies like the Iran-Contra affair but its all speculation until there is solid evidence. People can say what they like with such conviction, but if there is no evidence I dont buy it. I used to really believe that Oswald wasnt a lone gunman but now I can consider that Oswald really was the assassin. Maybe Focus should put the issue to rest and confirm that it was Oswald Any conspiracy theory sure does make interesting reading.

[Shadowwolf]

Maybe but again the JFK assassination seems far removed from what Focus does, more likely to find critical investigations of popular myth and conspiracy in 'The Skeptical Inquirer' or Michael Shermers 'Skeptic' magazine.

[Vasmark]

Difficult without having one in front of me, short of a garfield strip how about an artical on
'heroes of the past' or better still 'forgotten heroes of the past' where it covers a major contributor to various fields of sci & tech who have been digracefully overlooked or lapsed into the dim recesses of history. Alan Turing comes to mind as an example a brilliant mind who helped to smash emigma and bring the war to an end 3 years ahead of where the analysts tell us it would (if that means anything, I believe that it does) not to mention the turing machine and his other contributions, but forgotten or not even heard of by the upcoming generations. mmm I like it.

[Thinker]

Hello all!

How about a section that shows us how to make something science related. They did that piece where you could make a potato bazooka, that was quite cool. More stuff like that!!!!!

[Shadowwolf]

H&S probably prohibits that sort of thing unless it is utterly benign.

[M Paul Lloyd]

I liked the 'what can you put in your microwave' now that was brilliant.... or was that 'what not to put in your microwave'?
Anyway I'm all for a bit of 'Boys Own' (sexism aside) Practical Mechanics type stuff, how about 'How to Build a Telescope' or an Orrery or a Spaceship?

[Thinker]

The reference section tells me you already know how to build a spaceship, MPL!

[M Paul Lloyd]

I know.............. I wrote it.

Hint, hint.