It's not a "picture" of a gun. It's not a tee shirt with a picture of a gun. It's a 3d impression of the outline of a gun specifically intended to make someones initial response be "Is there a gun in that bag? Sure looks like it.". It's intended to provoke a reaction. If you can't understand that and understand why that's a bad thing in many contexts, then, sorry, you're irredeemably st00pid.

Hey, let's poke the bear in the eye with a stick and squeal when we get mauled.

Given the circumstances, it is no less naive for one to assume that everything that is not clearly understood about our universe can be dismissed as a secret military project

Given: Strange sighting of a poorly defined but definitely odd object.

Pick one:

1) Military project. Doesn't even have to be secret. People report their first sighting of an F-117 in flight as a UFO all the time.
2) It's a super-advanced alien civilization with technology that obsoletes our understanding of science that has managed to keep positive proof of their existence under wraps for decades if not centuries. Probably required the cooperation of all governments on earth.
3) Viewer is a crank: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=2618004

I don't know which one I pick first, but I know which one I pick last.

Our military is not presently capable of building or even funding such a project,

You're kidding, right? I didn't see a smiley.

but it could at least possibly not be man-made?

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

I would also assume that OUR VERY OWN existence is proof enough that there is intelligent life in the Universe.

Well, yeah, but why does that immediately lead to:

a) they came here
b) they have nigh on magical technology that them to travel faster than light in violation of everything we understand about the universe.
c) they have the technology to mount and survive a multi generational expedition across interstellar space.
d) all of the above.

I'm perfectly comfortable with there being other civilizations. Hell, I bet there are billions of them. I'm just unwilling to declare Earth science and engineering null and void on the fantasy that they dropped by for a visit without some pretty serious proof.

Am I a bad person for thinking "it looks like it's covered with anchovies...YUM!"

Kaiser @49

"I" don't know what they "saw" but "I" like to "think" that no matter how "many" people saw "it" that there is an "explanation" that doesn't "involve" things like "fundamental laws of physics being undermined" (e.g. faster than light travel) or "grand conspiracy theories spanning decades" (like the government could keep that big a secret that long). Now, "maybe" that's the case and in our "profound ignorance" we live in a "Stargate" world, but as a "betting man" I'm not going to put that as my "first choice", or for that matter, tenth.

ill lich @12: I might be willing to just dismiss it all too, except several of the witnesses have flight experience, so should know what they are talking about.

Fallacy: http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-authority.html

It was light out (6:15 pm) but a mile long ship "wasn't really visible".

The lights "were not those of a normal aircraft" but like "strobe lights". Yet, lots of planes mount strobe lights.

He's been flying for 20 years but can't positively ID an F-16 by silhouette? It's pretty distinctive.

It was moving at 3000 miles per hour, but it was being chased by planes whose top speed is half that?

Etc., etc.

Sure...knock off any one or two observations, but there's just a preponderance of "does not add up" here.

Re: Mr. Woodcock poster

Certainly the "balls suggestive of massive testicles" gag couldn't have been an original invention of the South Park guys, and what what visual would one expect from a movie about a coach named "Woodcock" (get it?).

What precisely is the point of this? With exactly zero context, how do you know the owner the bakery that was so helpfully exposed (not that anyone would use that information for evil, of course) didn't throw these out because the flour was mixed with rat poison, the eggs had salmonella or the damn things were past the expiry date and the baker was required by law not to sell them? Helluva witchunt, thepyrokinetic.

Gosh...is a "no shit" in order? Let's clue folks in. All of those persistent recon sweeps from Chinese universities you see on your IDS/IPS? The hacking probes from PLA controlled companies. Those aren't some bored Chinese teenager. Those are agents of the Chinese government. This has been going on (at least in my world) for a decade or so, and has become SOP for industrial and military espionage.