UFOs, Balloons, Asteroids, Oh My!🛸
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The Ten News Season 3: Episode 43
In today's episode: 🌎 The Spring Equinox was on Monday and spring has officially sprung! 🛸 Unraveling the truth about UFOs and what we know about aliens 🔭 Trivia with Tessa: do you know when the first recorded sighting of a UFO occurred?
Links
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230210-what-it-takes-to-build-a-balloon-for-100000ft
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/12/politics/unidentified-object-canada-alaska-military-latest/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/11/us/politics/unidentified-object-canada-alaska-pentagon.html
https://www.nytimes.com/article/ufo-spy-balloons-china.html
https://www.history.co.uk/articles/history-s-most-famous-ufo-sightings
https://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1948214,00.html
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TRANSCRIPT:
Pamela Kirkland 0:01
Hey Ryan, have you seen my headphones? Holy guacamole? What is that smell? And why are you hiding under your desk?
Ryan Willard 0:11
I'm wearing homemade alien repellent and if I'm under my desk UFOs will not be able to find me.
Pamela Kirkland 0:17
It smells like dirty socks and burnt cheese in here. I don't think I can be near you.
Ryan Willard 0:24
Wait, are you an alien in a Pamela costume?
Pamela Kirkland 0:27
No, Ryan. I'm just normal, human Pamela.
Ryan Willard 0:31
That is exactly what an alien in a Pamela costume would say.
Pamela Kirkland 0:35
Is this about the things in the sky from last month?
Ryan Willard 0:39
I think I saw another one last night. I looked up and saw a sparkly star quickly shoot across the sky.
Pamela Kirkland 0:45
You mean like a shooting star?
Ryan Willard 0:47
Yes!
Pamela Kirkland 0:48
Okay, those are normal and awesome. But we have gotten more answers about the unidentified flying objects, so I can answer some of your questions–
Ryan Willard 0:59
I have so many questions.
Pamela Kirkland 1:01
Yeah, I can tell I'm going to need some strong coffee today. I'm Pamela Kirkland.
Ryan Willard 1:07
And I'm Ryan Willard. It's Wednesday, March 22nd.
Pamela Kirkland 1:10
This is The Ten News.
Various Voices 1:16
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Pamela Kirkland 1:23
Before we get to what’s happening in the sky: something pretty cool is happening on Earth. Monday, March 20th was the Spring Equinox.
Ryan Willard 1:33
Ah HA! That’s when the Earth is rotating straight up and down on its axis, right? Day and night are equal! A perfect time for Aliens to visit…
Pamela Kirkland 1:41
Um, well yes - the Spring Equinox, which is also called the Vernal Equinox, is one of two days of the year when day and night last an equal amount of time. The other day is the Autumnal Equinox. But I’m not so sure aliens-
Ryan Willard 1:59
Think about it Pamela, the nights have been getting shorter and shorter since the Winter Solstice, and Earth has been slowly slowly tipping away from the Southern Hemisphere and BAM! It’s straight up and down now! The Sun’s rays are pointing directly at the Equator - if you were from another planet, wouldn’t you want to see that?!
Pamela Kirkland 2:15
Well, I guess it does sound pretty cool when you put it like that.
Ryan Willard 2:19
But plus the word Vernal really sounds like an alien's name.
Pamela Kirkland 2:25
Vernal just means ‘fresh’ and ‘new’ - you know, like how Spring brings new growth for plants, warmer temperatures…
Ryan Willard 2:33
Another good reason for aliens to visit in Spring: Maybe they hate snow!
Pamela Kirkland 2:38
Okay, I can tell we're not going to get anywhere without addressing this alien stuff. So, let's turn our attention from earth to the sky. Finally. Let's start super simply, what is a UFO? You might think UFO stands for Unbelievable Friend Odor. But a UFO is an unidentified flying object. But wait, Pamela, I thought the government rebranded UFOs to UAPs!
Ryan Willard 3:12
So, was last month’s Chinese balloon a UAP or a UFO? What’s the difference between the balloon and these other ‘objects’? Who are these NORAD people and ARE ALIENS REAL?!
Pamela Kirkland 3:23
Wow, that's a lot of questions. Let's start with what we are calling mysterious objects in the sky. Anything that is an unidentified flying object is called a UFO. That could be anything from an odd blip on the radar to a big balloon in the sky. The government and a lot of other agencies are now calling UFOs, UAPs or unidentified aerial phenomena. Why the change? According to the folks at the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word UFO was skunked. Ryan Willard 3:58 Wait, what? skunked? Like too smelly.
Pamela Kirkland 4:03
Not quite but close. The term skunked means that a word has become problematic or lost its clarity of meaning. In the case of UFOs the word has too many people thinking about little green aliens and not what it truly means that something is just an identified and who are the folks keeping an eye on the skies. That's NORAD North American Aerospace command. You may remember them from Christmas time when they track Santa traveling across the globe. Last month, a large balloon from China was seen in the skies over the United States. Now with the Chinese balloon the US military was able to see it was a balloon pretty quickly. It was huge. They were able to find out lots about it, and to track it for a few days before they decided to shoot it down over the Atlantic Ocean. The balloon was flying it at or even 90,000 feet above the earth. That's way above where commercial airplanes fly, which is 33 to 42,000 feet. And then NORAD saw three objects that were seen in the sky soon after, that were not as easy to identify because they were much smaller than the Chinese balloon. And most importantly, the three objects were flying at a height that could disrupt commercial flights. So the US and Canadian governments decided to take action to make sure planes could fly safely. These objects were all shot down in places where they were hard to recover. One in the Alaskan tundra, one over Lake Huron, and one in Canada's Yukon Territory. Cold weather, snow, and tough working conditions made it hard to get to where the smaller objects landed to find out more about them.
Ryan Willard 5:56
What about the recent UFO sightings in Florida, Utah, and Japan?
Pamela Kirkland 6:00
In each of those cases, it's likely satellites, the International Space Station or weather balloons, but there are unexplained aerial phenomena that we can't clearly identify. So the mystery continues.
Ryan Willard 6:17
So, what about my last question? Are Aliens real?
Pamela Kirkland 6:21
Well, we don't know. We do know that investigators are almost certain that those three smaller UAPs weren't aliens. But there have been other cases of unidentified flying objects all over the world for decades, and possibly much longer than that. Some folks believe it could be alien activity. others insist there's another explanation and that we're alone in the universe.
Ryan Willard 6:55
So, I should continue to make my alien repellent.
Pamela Kirkland 7:02
Please, please leave that alien repellent spray at home tomorrow.
Tessa Flannery 7:14
Welcome to the Trivia Room.
Garblax 7:18
I am Garblax. I traveled here because I love your show and I could smell your friend Ryan. His cologne smells delightful.
Tessa Flannery 7:32
Why don't you pop, or ooze, on up on the trivia throne for today's trivia question? You ready? Various Voices 7:46 What is going on here? Tessa Flannery 7:56 Okay, Garblax. This is an earth history question about UFOs aka unidentified flying objects. Do you know when the first recorded sighting of a UFO occurred? Is it a) 1947, b) 1561, or c) 218 BC? Ten'ers, did you guess it? Garblax, what's your answer?
Garblax 8:20
Time is a construct invented by humans. I know nothing of the sort.
Tessa Flannery 8:27
The answer is…C! That’s right, way back in 218 BC, in Ancient Rome, the historian Livy reported seeing ‘Phantom Ships Gleaming in the Sky.’ And plenty of other Roman writers reported UFOs as well: Pliny, Plutarch, Seneca… then 4th Century Chinese writings mention UFOs, and 16th century Germany, and New England in the 1800s - some people even suggest there’s mention of UFOs in the Bible.
Garblax 8:59
Your species is of great interest..
Tessa Flannery 9:06
Thanks, Garblax. Ten’ers, do you want to sit on the trivia throne and share your trivia knowledge? Visit thetennews.com/contact to get in touch and we might have you on the show.
Ryan Willard 9:20
Oh, Pamela, we should give some 10 New snaps to one of our listeners.
Garblax 9:23
Garblax would love some Ten News Snaps.
Ryan Willard 9:27
HOLY DONKEY KONG! AN ALIEN! PAM THEY’RE REAL! I NEED MY REPELLANT!
Pamela Kirkland 9:39
…is that you, Pete?
Pete Musto 9:42
Yeah, yeah. That was payback for the time Ryan got me mauled by a possum. I would love those Ten News snaps though.
Ryan Willard 9:50
I think we got to give it to one of our listeners. But before we do, here's a quick note for the grown-ups. Time for Ten News Snaps.
Pamela Kirkland 10:02
Ten'er, gdsfhiydsfhiywwffgjitrhjt wrote this review of The Ten News: “5 stars. Hi, I love the podcast.”
Ryan Willard 10:18
Thanks, gdsfhiydsfhiywwffgjitrhjt, and thanks for listening to The Ten News! Ten Things You Need to Know drops every Tuesday and our in-depth reports drop every Wednesday. But if you want some bonus content, you could join the Ten’ers Club on our website or on Apple Podcasts.
Pamela Kirkland 10:40
The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts.
Ryan Willard 10:45
The Ten News creative team is looking up at the sky and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, and Tessa Flannery.
Pamela Kirkland 10:51
Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle. Our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan.
Ryan Willard 11:00
I'm Ryan Willard.
Pamela Kirkland 11:01
And I'm Pamela Kirkland. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. To infinity and beyond!
