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

[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

[rickf@indieweb.social]

@sundogplanets Let me guess, the email came from a "Professor John Barron" from Palm Beach, Florida?

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@edgeofeurope Nice, first time I've been called a Karen directly! Thanks for that, grumpypants.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@sergio_101 Thanks for trying to educate!

[starluna@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets I'd like to point out that they were very respectful and actually addressed you as "Professor."

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@rickf Nope, different person, different country.

[edgeofeurope@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets no, I'm not calling you a Karen at all. I was comparing whoever wrote that mail to Karens.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@edgeofeurope Ohhh ok. Sorry I called you grumpypants

[edgeofeurope@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets oh but I am

[rickf@indieweb.social]

@sundogplanets Ah. Maybe Donnie has other pseudonyms the periodically uses from elsewhere in the world...

[schamschula@mastodon.social]

@sundogplanets What powers he has! Lol!

[jappel@wandering.shop]

@sundogplanets Sadly there are some people in this world whose disconnection from reality is so profound, there is literally no way to bring them to see the world is not how they conceive it.