• Re: R.I.P. Erich von D?niken, 90

    From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jan 12 21:57:05 2026
    On 12 Jan 2026 19:50:05 GMT, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

    Haven't read him, but I had always assumed he was a guy who had found a
    grift and was milking it. So he actually believed this stuff?

    You can't deny he saw things in a different perspective.

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jan 12 21:58:12 2026
    On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 19:57:29 GMT, Scott Lurndal wrote:

    I suspect that EvD was more interested in the income from the
    books than the contents thereof.

    I've read several of them, but I don't think they were a bestseller
    (right?).

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jan 12 19:30:52 2026
    Stefan Ram <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
    |Young woman: Not the Bermuda Triangle either? Surely you're
    |not going to deny that . . .

    This is foolish. It's not the Bermuda Triangle where people are
    disappearing. It's the Golden Triangle. Just look what happened
    to Wang Xing, and that is the tip of the iceberg.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Jerry Brown@3:633/10 to All on Tue Jan 13 09:15:56 2026
    On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:57:05 -0500, William Hyde
    <wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:

    Christian Weisgerber wrote:
    RIP, Erich von D?niken (1935-2026), Swiss writer who became an
    international bestselling author by opportunistically writing about
    fringe and pseudoscience topics. He popularized the idea that early
    human cultures were visited by extraterrestrials who helped build
    monumental works and became revered as gods; a concept that was
    picked up numerous times by science fiction writers.

    I believe that SF writers got there first. But in those stories the
    aliens were more clever, passing on information rather than building
    useless objects.

    Still, given how stupid we are, perhaps aliens would also be dumb enough
    to think:

    "We need to help these poor people! Gimme three pyramids, stat!"

    I recall Arthur C Clarke saying[*] that they came very close to going
    with a pyramid-shaped monolith before choosing the slab, and how it
    might have had a deleterious effect on 2001's performance, due to the association with von Daniken.

    *: probably "The Lost Worlds of 2001"


    --
    Jerry Brown

    A cat may look at a king
    (but probably won't bother)

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Tue Jan 13 14:32:58 2026
    On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:57:05 -0500, William Hyde wrote:

    I believe that SF writers got there first. But in those stories the
    aliens were more clever, passing on information rather than building
    useless objects.

    Still, given how stupid we are, perhaps aliens would also be dumb enough
    to think:

    "We need to help these poor people! Gimme three pyramids, stat!"

    Maybe it was just us people being stupid. Too stupid to pass on
    information to?

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Tue Jan 13 14:39:00 2026
    On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 11:01:00 +0100, Mickmane wrote:

    Haven't read him either.

    Only came across all this stuff (besides flatmate in the 90s saying Daeniken spouted nonsense) after a Terraria update spoiler image with
    crazy hair guy, text saying "I'm not saying it's aliens, but... It's Aliens!" (The Terraria update featured marsian invasions.)

    <https://tenor.com/view/aliens-ancient-aliens-giorgio-gif-21799424>

    When I then noticed crazy hair guy in some "documentary" I got
    interested and watched that. (It's fascinating how I like watching that stupid show, and keep telling the people in it that they need to buy a brain. Yet, I keep watching it. Guess it has nice pictures. :) )

    I am pretty certain that crazy hair dude at least doesn't really believe any of it.

    You're talking about Giorgio A. Tsoukalos.

    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_A._Tsoukalos>

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From s|b@3:633/10 to All on Wed Jan 14 15:13:47 2026
    On 14 Jan 2026 09:31:53 GMT, Ignatios Souvatzis wrote:

    s|b wrote:

    You can't deny he saw things in a different perspective.

    Ahem. There's at least one case where he photographed, for one of his
    books, some graphics carved into stone in a cave in some South
    American mountain from a perspective that was impossible to view
    with your eyes if you stood there. Must have used some crane construction
    to hold the camera. Impossible to falsify if you didn't travel there yourself to view the original.

    Turned by 90 degrees(iirc), you might interpret it as an astronaut
    inside a flying machine. Viewed normally, it was some guy with
    decorative clothing crouching.

    Ask me 50 years ago if you want details.

    I'm guessing it's this one: <https://alienexplorations.blogspot.com/1979/11/erich-von-daniken-and-chariots-of-gods.html>
    <https://alienexplorations.blogspot.com/1979/02/von-danikens-mayan-rocket-man.html>
    So you're very right, he viewed things, deliberately, from a different perspective.

    Not really what I meant, but...

    He had some ideas about the Nazca lines as well: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_lines>

    --
    s|b

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)