Proof the moon landing was faked

[Chocodile]

Curators at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, where the rock has attracted tens of thousands of visitors each year, discovered that the "lunar rock", valued at £308,000, was in fact petrified wood. The rock was given to Willem Drees, a former Dutch leader, during a global tour by Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin following their moon mission 50 years ago.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/scie...n-is-fake.html

[Burpy]

How can wood be scared shitless?

Why is the article from 2009?

[Budget Player Cadet]

Actually, proof that Armstrong was a cheap bastard who didn't want to give away a moon rock.

[PSXer]

How did petrified wood get on the moon?

[Cochrane]

Originally Posted by PSXer

How did petrified wood get on the moon?

Just Asking Questions?

[Jaglavak]

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion, after the US Embassy in the Hague gets done with their investigation. Five bucks says they find that missing moon rock. They get downright shirty about that sort of thing.

[Lungfish]

I smell a new scandal for the Republican Party to blame Obama for: Moonrockgate.

[BJMoose]

Originally Posted by Burpy

Why is the article from 2009?

Probably has something to do with how long it took that fricking page to load.

Originally Posted by Budget Player Cadet

Actually, proof that Armstrong was a cheap bastard who didn't want to give away a moon rock.

You're pretty sharp for a noobie.

Originally Posted by PSXer

How did petrified wood get on the moon?

Did it occur to you that the Moon might actually be made of petrified wood?

[Harry]

Consider that the article appears in the Telegraph, that bastion of journalistic integrity, where, on the same page, is a link to an article that postulates the Big Bang created another, parallel universe, where time goes backwards. Another glass of Kool-Aid, anyone? I'm buying this round.

[Jaglavak]

I bet you there actually is natural petrified wood on the moon. Blasted off the earth by a good size space rock. Geologists have found moon rocks and Mars rocks on earth.

[Harry]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

I bet you there actually is natural petrified wood on the moon. Blasted off the earth by a good size space rock. Geologists have found moon rocks and Mars rocks on earth.

I know NASA has its budget cutbacks and other problems, but I'll bet that before anyone gave away any "Moon Rocks," someone checked to make sure they actually were rocks. I also suspect that any petrified wood found on the moon would have become a Big Story, in real news media.

[Dragonlady]

It's not like the astronauts actually owned any rocks themselves. Anything they gave away was given to them to give.

[Harry]

That was the point I was trying to make. Thank you for clearing that up.

[Jaglavak]

Originally Posted by Harry

I also suspect that any petrified wood found on the moon would have become a Big Story, in real news media.

Oh, for sure. That's the kind of thing that won't get found until robots explore every square yard.

Theoretically NASA has an accounting of every gram that was brought back. They even track the tiny chunks that were sent to university labs. The labs have to account for any fraction that gets used up in their experiments, and return the rest. But obviously there are some gaps by now.

[Flying Saucerian]

Should note, it's likely petrified wood on the moon would be a big deal mainly because it would suggest the moon once had trees. So, is the Telegraph the UK answer to The Weekly World News or something more respectable?

[Mako]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

Theoretically NASA has an accounting of every gram that was brought back..

Fortunately for the purposes of debunking the clownshoes-insane theory of this thread, that isn't true at all.

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

But obviously there are some gaps by now.

No shit. My theory is that they lost theirs and substituted it with something that looked similar to avoid embarrassment.

[BJMoose]

Or someone stole it.

[Budget Player Cadet]

Originally Posted by Flying Saucerian

Should note, it's likely petrified wood on the moon would be a big deal mainly because it would suggest the moon once had trees. So, is the Telegraph the UK answer to The Weekly World News or something more respectable?

It's honestly hard to tell. I mean, they play at being a "real" news site, but at the same time they post phenomenally stupid shit. Same deal with the Daily Mail - occasionally there's a real news story, and the rest of the time the quality is somewhere between "bad" and "BAT-BOY LIVES!"

EDIT: oh, and thanks BJMoose

[Mako]

Originally Posted by Budget Player Cadet

It's honestly hard to tell. I mean, they play at being a "real" news site, but at the same time they post phenomenally stupid shit. Same deal with the Daily Mail - occasionally there's a real news story, and the rest of the time the quality is somewhere between "bad" and "BAT-BOY LIVES!"

Okay, here's the thing. UK newspapers - all of them - have a tactic wherein they draw in the reader, outrage them, then cast them off. Here's how it works:

Paragraph 1) Outrageous story summary. Usually involving inflammatory language and journalistic speculation.

Paragraph 2-X) Actual story, with facts (if known) strung through hyperbole, scandal and the current value of the protagonists' houses. Most readers leave once they reach the bit where they learn that the subject of the story lives in a house cheaper than their own. In other words, just before the truth is revealed.

Last paragraph) After the reader's endurance has been exceeded, just enough genuine facts to avoid the paper being sued are put in, with the full and certain knowledge that it will never be read except by their legal team.

As an aside, the "BAT BOY LIVES" type stories are entirely fictitious, or are written about people whose "If you pay me that I can buy enough drugs to be happy and am too stoned/stupid and won't sue you" value has been ascertained.

[Quasi]

Practical joke maybe?

Maybe ol' Buzz (and where did he get that name?? ) thought to himself, "They stay so high in Amsterdam, I doubt they'll notice right away".

[BJMoose]

His sister called him Buzzer, for Brother. It stuck. (I once worked with a guy who had the same nickname for the same reason.)

In fact, he legally changed his birth name of Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. to Buzz Aldrin.

[GIGObuster]

From the article:

Researchers [at] Amsterdam's Free University were able to tell at a glance that the rock was unlikely to be from the moon, a conclusion that was borne out by tests.

What I can see so far is that the researchers already knew what a moon rock is supposed to be and they where the ones that blew the whistle.

So, it is most likely the real moon rock was swapped for this fake somewhere on earth. Occam's razor still is telling us that the moon landing was real.

[GIGObuster]

Of course, seeing that the article came from 2009 it is likely that there were follow ups already, and sure enough:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/...oon-rock_N.htm

Apollo moon rocks lost in space? No, lost on Earth

The Amsterdam case appears to be not fraud but the result of poor vetting by the Rijksmuseum.

Spokeswoman Xandra van Gelder said the museum checked with NASA after receiving the rock in 1992 from the estate of the late Prime Minister Willem Drees. NASA told the museum, without seeing it, that it was "possible" it was a moon rock.

But it weighed a whopping 89 grams (3.1 ounces). In addition, its gold-colored cardboard plaque does not describe it as a moon rock.

The U.S. ambassador gave Drees the rock during an Oct. 9, 1969 visit by the Apollo 11 astronauts to the Netherlands. Drees's grandson, also named Willem, told the AP his grandfather had been out of office for more than a decade and was nearly deaf and blind in 1969, though his mind was still sharp.

"My guess is that he did not hear well what was said," said the grandson. "He may have formed his own idea about what it was."

The family never thought to question the story before donating the rock, to which it had not attached great importance or monetary value.

[Anacanapuna]

Originally Posted by Mako

Okay, here's the thing. UK newspapers - all of them - have a tactic wherein they draw in the reader, outrage them, then cast them off. Here's how it works:

Paragraph 1) Outrageous story summary. Usually involving inflammatory language and journalistic speculation.

Paragraph 2-X) Actual story, with facts (if known) strung through hyperbole, scandal and the current value of the protagonists' houses. Most readers leave once they reach the bit where they learn that the subject of the story lives in a house cheaper than their own. In other words, just before the truth is revealed.

Last paragraph) After the reader's endurance has been exceeded, just enough genuine facts to avoid the paper being sued are put in, with the full and certain knowledge that it will never be read except by their legal team.

As an aside, the "BAT BOY LIVES" type stories are entirely fictitious, or are written about people whose "If you pay me that I can buy enough drugs to be happy and am too stoned/stupid and won't sue you" value has been ascertained.

And now you must be killed for revealing trade secrets, but not before you are renditioned to a Third World country where you will be "interrogated" to determine who sold you our those secrets in the first place.

[BJMoose]

Originally Posted by GIGObuster

Of course, seeing that the article came from 2009 it is likely that there were follow ups already, and sure enough:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/...oon-rock_N.htm

This is still a little weird. Would they have given a chunk of the Moon to someone who had been out of office for more than a decade? Maybe, probably not. Perhaps the old boy had been hankering for a rock and our ambassador pulled a fast one on him, figuring he'd never notice.

Then again, this was during the Nixon Administration. Perhaps the real rock is sitting in Bob Haldeman's safe somewhere. . . .


The real villian, of course, is that museum, which couldn't be arsed to establish the provenance of the piece.

[Zeener Diode]

Originally Posted by GIGObuster

So, it is most likely the real moon rock was swapped for this fake somewhere on earth. Occam's razor still is telling us that the moon landing was real.

And if anyone still has doubts, tell it to Buzz. He'd love to hear your arguments.

[Ludovic]

Originally Posted by Zeener Diode

And if anyone still has doubts, tell it to Buzz. He'd love to hear your arguments.

[Oxmyx]

Originally Posted by BJMoose

Then again, this was during the Nixon Administration. Perhaps the real rock is sitting in Bob Haldeman's safe somewhere. . . .

Quick! Someone tell Geraldo!

[BJMoose]

Is he still sentinent? For that matter, is ol' Buzz up to punching out idiots these days?

[Flying Saucerian]

Originally Posted by Oxmyx

Quick! Someone tell Geraldo!

He's on CELEBRITY APPRENTICE. He's suffered enough.

[Quasi]

Originally Posted by GIGObuster

Occam's razor still is telling us that the moon landing was real.

"Occam's Razor" was just some monk's way of saying: "I got nothin' "

Q

[Manduck]

If the moon landing was a hoax, then how did they get a piece of petrified wood up there?? Answer me that!

[Flying Squid with Goggles]

Originally Posted by BJMoose

The real villian, of course, is that museum, which couldn't be arsed to establish the provenance of the piece.

Plus, does petrified wood look anything like moon rock? The bits of petrified wood I've seen always look pretty, well, wood-like, distinctively.

[BJMoose]

Originally Posted by Manduck

If the moon landing was a hoax, then how did they get a piece of petrified wood up there?? Answer me that!

It's the petrified remains of one of those wooden spaceships they used in the 19th century.

[Jaglavak]

Originally Posted by Flying Squid with Goggles

Plus, does petrified wood look anything like moon rock? The bits of petrified wood I've seen always look pretty, well, wood-like, distinctively.

The appearance can vary quite a bit. I have a small chunk that's blonde wood color with the bark still on it. It's from a pine forest that got buried and fossilized still standing by 70 feet of hot volcanic ash one fine day. Other more well cooked examples can look a lot like brown metamorphic rock with sedimentary layers. Sometimes you have to use a magnifying glass to tell for sure.

[Quasi]

I need to apologize to BJ for a post above. When I wrote that about where did "Buzz" get the nickname, I did it with tongue in cheek, not because I thought he was on drugs or booze. Sometimes I wax satirical and forget to let you know, so apologies if I ruffled the Moose's fur a bit there.

Thanks

Q

PS: There's some really good documentaries about the moon landings on YouTube if any of you are interested. They make some really good points.

[kayaker]

The fact that "moon" was misspelled on the plaque shoulda been a giveaway.

[Flying Saucerian]

Conversely, this might also be cited as 'proof' by those people who claim the moon is secretly inhabited and the government is covering it up for nefarious purposes.

[Quasi]

Originally Posted by Quasi

"Occam's Razor" was just some monk's way of saying: "I got nothin' "

Q

I meant to say that the premise of the Razor was sound; sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one, but I don't know that we could apply it today, as fast as we're speeding through technology and knowledge itself.

The "I got nothin' " up there was just me thinking, "Well, somebody came up with the 'fact' that the Earth is the center of the universe and someone else said 'okay, let's go with that and just in case somebody disagrees we'll just lock his ass up' "

Am I making sense? It doesn't sound like I am when I reread this post.

Gimme another swig of that cough medicine, wouldja Honey?

Q

[BJMoose]

Originally Posted by Quasi

I need to apologize to BJ for a post above. When I wrote that about where did "Buzz" get the nickname, I did it with tongue in cheek, not because I thought he was on drugs or booze. Sometimes I wax satirical and forget to let you know, so apologies if I ruffled the Moose's fur a bit there.

Thanks

Q

PS: There's some really good documentaries about the moon landings on YouTube if any of you are interested. They make some really good points.

Don't worry about it. I knew that was a jest. It just gave me an opportunity to show off with an obscure fact. . . .

Though as it happens, ol' Buzz did have a drinking problem for a number of years but finally got a handle on it.


There I go again. . . .

[BJMoose]

Originally Posted by Flying Saucerian

Conversely, this might also be cited as 'proof' by those people who claim the moon is secretly inhabited and the government is covering it up for nefarious purposes.

Nefarious purposes? If you ask me, the gummint is doing the Moonpeople a big favor. . . .

[Zeener Diode]

Originally Posted by kayaker

The fact that "moon" was misspelled on the plaque shoulda been a giveaway.

M-O-O-N that spells hoax!

Laws, yes.

[Mr. Plumbean]

The article doesn't mention that the museum didn't acquire the work directly from, or immediately after, the astronauts visited the Netherlands. Or that the real moonrock is actually accounted for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_...ck_proven_fake

[BJMoose]

It's interesting that more than half of the rocks NASA gave away are now "unaccounted for". You'd think folks would take better care of something like that.

[Flying Squid with Goggles]

I wonder if people figured 'there were only one or two rocks per country, surely we can keep track of that without a system' ...people do things like that all the time, and I'm always telling them to create a system anyway.

Thanks for the info on petrified wood, Jag, I didn't know that.

[McNutty]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

The appearance can vary quite a bit. I have a small chunk that's blonde wood color with the bark still on it. It's from a pine forest that got buried and fossilized still standing by 70 feet of hot volcanic ash one fine day. Other more well cooked examples can look a lot like brown metamorphic rock with sedimentary layers. Sometimes you have to use a magnifying glass to tell for sure.

I have a pretty big hunk that I inherited from my grandfather -- a slice of tree trunk that's about 4 inches thick and maybe 9-10 inches in diameter. The top and bottom are mirror polished, so you can see "rings" although they're not distinct rings like in regular piece of tree, it's more like just a few color gradations between black and brown. The "bark" on the outside is raw, and the only thing that makes it look anything like wood is its texture. If I ran across a rock-shaped chunk of this stuff, I seriously doubt I'd know it was a petrified tree. But, of course, I'm no geologist.

[Ludovic]

Originally Posted by kayaker

The fact that "moon" was misspelled on the plaque shoulda been a giveaway.

I got it! The moon landing was faked using KSP!

[Jaglavak]

Ah, the old Kirlian Strato Photography ploy. Yes, yes.

[Harry]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

Ah, the old Kirlian Strato Photography ploy. Yes, yes.

Here I was wondering how the Kansas State Police got involved with the hoax...

[BJMoose]

More like the Kansas State Penitentiary. (They have [or had] a facility in nearby Hutchinson that used to be called the Kansas State Industrial Reformitory - KSIR. For a number of years there was a local radio station with the call sign KSIR. News stories about either one tended to create muddlement.)