More "Parachuting UFOs"

On October 27 I posted a Blog entry titled "Parachuting UFOs", describing "mysterious lights" seen over east El Past, Texas (http://badufos.blogspot.com/2010/10/parachuting-ufos.html ). Well, it's happened again.

This time the location is Los Angeles, CA, on December 1. And the primary witness is San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginobili, who was in town to play the Clippers. Manu and others spotted glowing objects slowly descending in the sky. He posted this information to his Facebook page, where it attracted a lot of attention, and soon ended up on the website TMZ.com, that deals in celebrity news ( http://www.tmz.com/2010/12/09/manu-ginobili-ufo-video-san-antonio-spurs/ ).

In another classic example of Clueless "Expert" Commentary, the next day TMZ.com had "UFO Expert -- On Board with NBA Star's Theory." UFOlogist Robert Kiviat, the executive producer of "Alien Autopsy (Fact or Fiction?)," was suggesting that "one strong possibility is the UFOs were experimental military craft." Kiviat believes the objects were part of "some sort of military test and farther away from the area than they appear," a conjecture without any facts to support it.

Finally, four days after the "UFO" was first posted, TMZ.com reported, "TMZ has uncovered the truth behind the UFOs he spotted over L.A. earlier this month ... and turns out, Red Bull is to blame!!!" As the website explains, "A rep for the company tells TMZ ... a team of Red Bull Air Force skydivers took the plunge over Santa Monica at around 5:00 PM on December 1 -- the exact time and day Manu was caught on tape watching glowing objects descend from the sky. As for the glowing? We're told the skydivers were carrying powerful flares during their descent." On the website for the Red Bull Air Force, parachutist John de Vore writes, "I was watching the news and I see them reporting on 2 UFO sighting in Santa Monica.  The sightings were on Dec 1 & 8.  As soon as I saw the videos on the news I busted up laughing.  It was us jumping with our night flares." ( http://redbullairforce.com/2010/12/silver-surfer-ufo-red-bull-air-force ). As in the case of the "Mystery Missile" of Los Angeles, the website Contrailscience.com has a full analysis of the photos, including the use of Google Earth to show precisely where the objects were, above the coast in Santa Monica (http://contrailscience.com/manu-ginobilis-santa-monica-silver-surfer/ )

But the longtime UFOlogist Jim Deardorff isn't buying any of it (see http://ufoupdateslist.com/2010/dec/m17-003.shtml ). He still insists they were genuine unidentifieds.