Remember when comet 3I was going to turn out to be an alien spaceship and maneuver around and attack Earth in early 2026?

[bashstkid@mastodon.online]

@sundogplanets I suppose it’s one way to note the centenary of Andre Maurois’ The War against the Moon …

[wikkit@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets I had to make a filter on r/space to automatically mark any mention of it for moderation. So many conspiracists!

I think even now there’s still a big contingent that believe it maneuvered or did something else strange. People were weirdly convinced by arguments of the specialness of the trajectory, but every trajectory is unique. I think even if it hadn’t gotten close to any planet they would have said “look how it was planned to be sure to not hit any planets…”

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@wikkit One of the most wacko of the emails I got was just to that effect!

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

I think I have shared this before, but it's so delightfully bizarre that I have to share it again.

Behold, the most ?!?!? email I've ever received:

[welshpixie@mastodon.art]

@sundogplanets legit can't tell what's satire any more

[melkyway@fouroclockfarms.club]

@sundogplanets ahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[obbiez@urbanists.social]

@sundogplanets Better idea: launch Tr**p into the sun. Everybody wins!

[rebelrebel62@mstdn.social]

@sundogplanets That’s certainly… special

[andy@social.4142.io]

@sundogplanets Uh. Okay. What? That is THE WEIRDEST thing I've seen in a long time, so that's saying something.

[chu@climatejustice.social]

@sundogplanets

This deserves to be printed and framed.

[jrp@hub.kliklak.net]

@Prof. Sam Lawler Hilarious. A part of me is wondering, though, if this might just be joke? Hard to say.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

One thing that was fun about being in New Zealand and working with the University of Canterbury interstellar objects group for a few weeks was hearing all the stories about weird emails/calls/interactions with Avi Loeb-adjacent conspiracy theory/alien people. Interstellar objects seem to particularly attract that kind of attention (I'm sure Loeb hasn't helped)

But even with all those stories about the weird world of interstellar object conspiracy theorists, this email was the winner

[edgeofeurope@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets I do not watch "Karen" videos of people losing their wits and being paraded on the internet for laughs and clicks. It saddens me and I see nothing delightful in it. And this is much the same.
So someone wrote a rambling mail. Let it rest.

[hi_cial@donphan.social]

@sundogplanets thats some time cube tier shit

[graemewinter@mas.to]

@sundogplanets thank you for the added slug of weirdness in an otherwise dull day

That's a real eyebrow raiser

[kallekn@mastodonsweden.se]

@sundogplanets Would be interesting to know how president Trump managed that feat. But I suppose nothing is impossible for true believers.

[thorium@social.linux.pizza]

@sundogplanets Wonder what brand of aluminum that person makes their hat from

[gregly@retro.pizza]

@sundogplanets I want to believe that this is tongue-in-cheek satire, but I honestly can’t tell anymore.

[sergio_101@social.sixdegreesofohio.com]

@sundogplanets

Maybe a decade ago, I found a hive of flat earthers posting proofs of their view of the universe. I thought, hmm.. this isn't how this works, so I engaged. Politely. Thinking it might be a good time to explain how we know how these things work.

I became the target of this group, and still take heat for it today. I still think it would be cool to see their mathematical model.

But i get some awesomely insane emails and DMs.

[jonty@chaos.social]

@sundogplanets I run a hacker/maker/arts festival called Electromagnetic Field (@emf) and our inbox is a constant feed of conspiracy nonsense about radio waves