UN appointing an official space ambassador?

[BanzaiBonnie]

A space ambassador could be appointed by the United Nations to act as the first point of contact for aliens trying to communicate with Earth.

Mazlan Othman, a Malaysian astrophysicist, is set to be tasked with co-ordinating humanity’s response if and when extraterrestrials make contact.

She will set out the details of her proposed new role at a Royal Society conference in Buckinghamshire next week.

The 58-year-old is expected to tell delegates that the proposal has been prompted by the recent discovery of hundreds of planets orbiting other starts, which is thought to make the discovery of extraterrestrial life more probable than ever before.

Mrs Othman is currently head of the UN’s little known Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa).


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8025832/UN-to-appoint-space-ambassador-to-greet-alien-visitors.html


Is the Daily Telegraph a reliable source or is it a rag?

[BanzaiBonnie]

1. Word on the street...

is that there's an agreement between Star Visitors and US govt. that the US government will make an announcement pertaining to SV with a deadline of Dec, 31, 2010.

If no announcement is made, there will be a planned demo by SV that will leave no doubt that they are here.


We'll see.

[kentauros]

2. The Telegraph is reliable, as is the Guardian,

though I've heard the Telegraph is more conservative than the Guardian. Here's their version of this story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/sep/27/un-alien-ambassador-mazlan-othman

[BanzaiBonnie]

3. Thank you, kentauros

It's good to know that some reporters check sources.

I wish more of the MSM would do so, especially when reporting on politics.

[kentauros]

6. Your best bets in this country for that kind of reporting

still isn't the MSM. Rather you have to go to sources like Democracy Now, Pacifica News (local Pacifica station news reporting), Link TV, The Nation, and the weekly rag of your nearest major metropolis, like in Houston it's The Houston Press. Also in Texas, we have The Texas Observer, the magazine Molly Ivins used to work for :)

The Nation has been in print, too, since sometime in the 1800s and has always been a voice of Liberalism.

But to find better reporting, it's always best to go outside of the US, whether to the UK papers, the German (Die Welt, Der Spiegel), France (Agence France Press), Australia (The Australian - conservative), New Zealand (The New Zealand Herald) and however many others. I've found that other than the many international news links that come with Opera that Wikipedia has good listings by country, too :)

[OneGrassRoot]

8. Okay, forget an online wiki....

YOU, Dear kentauros, ARE a wiki!!!

You're amazing.



:hug:

[kentauros]

9. I still had to look at my own links to remember the French and German ones

:P

I kept thinking "Deutsche Weld" but that's Kraftwerk! :rofl:

[MorningGlow]

4. More here (followup)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=245x124843

[SheilaT]

5. And how are the aliens

going to know who is the ambassador for them to greet?

The mind boggles.

[kentauros]

7. Not sure if it matters so long as their intent is to greet

and not eat! :P

[SheilaT]

10. Sounds good to me.

:-)