6 ms·

Apparently this is news to people but Area 51 is a pretty massive military base with a daily workforce in the thousands. The primary reason it exists is a combi

Apparently this is news to people but Area 51 is a pretty massive military base with a daily workforce in the thousands. The primary reason it exists is a combination of history (nevada test area) and geography (groom lake allows radar/radio testing with limited observers on the horizon). If anything someone working at area 51 is a HUGE discounting factor in UFO nut nonsense.

ethanbond 6y ago
I don’t believe OP was referring to the employees. In any case, I was referring to the people who showed up at, yes, a gigantic military base in the middle of the desert. “Completely normal” people would never go there. Ever.
- jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
  The overwhelming majority of people there are utterly banal engineers that like the paycheck. Holy cow do people mistake both the scale and ordinariness of groom lake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_(airline) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_(airline)
  - ethanbond 6y ago
    I think you’re missing the thread of this conversation. We are discussing civilians who have no official nor unofficial relationship with Area 51/military/government/defense/intelligence/etc showing up at the gates to participate in a “Rush the gates to free the aliens” meme event.
    - sukilot 6y ago
      Not just "aliens". Also experimental aviation and weapons projects.
    - jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
      I'm not missing it, I just think it's pointless jackassery.
- perl4ever 6y ago
  I mean, you could be interested in the cultural phenomenon, the tourist trap stuff nearby, and, at least at one point, the military exercises that you could see and hear. Did anyone (unauthorized) really show up at the base? It seems unlikely given there is a large buffer zone and armed guards responding to people who violate it, last I heard. It's kind of like Mordor, one does not just walk in. Also, I vaguely recall the government annexing the nearest mountain that people used to view the base from. I didn't participate in whatever the recent thing was, but I went out there to sightsee back in the 90s. There was a guy who went to live in Rachel, and wrote about the conspiracy theorists and general cultural aspects and feuded with the proprietors of the Little A'le'inn. I think I remember he wrote a newsletter that was distributed on AOL.
  - jhardy54 6y ago
    Lots of people showed up at the entrance gate, which was widely reported, but nobody went [far] past them.
    - perl4ever 6y ago
      "Showing up at the gate(s)" just seems odd. I wouldn't think there's anything to see there. "In 1995, the federal government expanded the exclusionary area around the base to include nearby mountains that had hitherto afforded the only decent overlook of the base, prohibiting access to 3,972 acres (16.07 km2) of land formerly administered by the Bureau of Land Management." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51 (I remember reading about this in the newsletter I mentioned, at the time)
      - jhardy54 6y ago
        > I wouldn't think there's anything to see there. There isn't, it's just that "raid area 51" went viral and was basically a meme meetup. The point was to get photos of the fictional raid, which were mostly just people standing outside the fences.
      - ethanbond 6y ago
- sukilot 6y ago
  Completely normal people would never go to Disneyland, a gigantic fake mountain in California. Ever.

ethanbond 6y ago

I don’t believe OP was referring to the employees. In any case, I was referring to the people who showed up at, yes, a gigantic military base in the middle of the desert. “Completely normal” people would never go there. Ever.

jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
The overwhelming majority of people there are utterly banal engineers that like the paycheck. Holy cow do people mistake both the scale and ordinariness of groom lake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_(airline) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_(airline)
- ethanbond 6y ago
  I think you’re missing the thread of this conversation. We are discussing civilians who have no official nor unofficial relationship with Area 51/military/government/defense/intelligence/etc showing up at the gates to participate in a “Rush the gates to free the aliens” meme event.
  - sukilot 6y ago
    Not just "aliens". Also experimental aviation and weapons projects.
  - jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
    I'm not missing it, I just think it's pointless jackassery.
perl4ever 6y ago
I mean, you could be interested in the cultural phenomenon, the tourist trap stuff nearby, and, at least at one point, the military exercises that you could see and hear. Did anyone (unauthorized) really show up at the base? It seems unlikely given there is a large buffer zone and armed guards responding to people who violate it, last I heard. It's kind of like Mordor, one does not just walk in. Also, I vaguely recall the government annexing the nearest mountain that people used to view the base from. I didn't participate in whatever the recent thing was, but I went out there to sightsee back in the 90s. There was a guy who went to live in Rachel, and wrote about the conspiracy theorists and general cultural aspects and feuded with the proprietors of the Little A'le'inn. I think I remember he wrote a newsletter that was distributed on AOL.
- jhardy54 6y ago
  Lots of people showed up at the entrance gate, which was widely reported, but nobody went [far] past them.
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    "Showing up at the gate(s)" just seems odd. I wouldn't think there's anything to see there. "In 1995, the federal government expanded the exclusionary area around the base to include nearby mountains that had hitherto afforded the only decent overlook of the base, prohibiting access to 3,972 acres (16.07 km2) of land formerly administered by the Bureau of Land Management." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51 (I remember reading about this in the newsletter I mentioned, at the time)
    - jhardy54 6y ago
      > I wouldn't think there's anything to see there. There isn't, it's just that "raid area 51" went viral and was basically a meme meetup. The point was to get photos of the fictional raid, which were mostly just people standing outside the fences.
    - ethanbond 6y ago
sukilot 6y ago
Completely normal people would never go to Disneyland, a gigantic fake mountain in California. Ever.