Ghost, Pirates, or Ninjas? Or Ninja Pirates? Or possibly Ninja Ghost Pirates?

[schild]

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- An Egyptian cruise ship with 1,300 people on board has disappeared from radar screens in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, Egyptian maritime officials said Friday.

Lifeboats carrying people have been spotted on the sea near where the ship, the "Salaam 98," was last seen on the radar screens, maritime officials said.

Saudi and Egyptian naval vessels and helicopters are conducting a search for the ship, which disappeared from radar screens shortly after sailing from the port of Dubah, western Saudi Arabia, at 7 p.m. local time on Thursday night, the maritime officials in Suez said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press.

The ship was due to have arrived at Egypt's southern port of Safaga at 3 a.m. local time, but did not, the officials added.

"We lost all contact with the ship shortly after it left the Saudi port," said one maritime official at Suez. Its last position on the radar screens was 62 miles from Dubah.

An Egyptian helicopter spotted a lifeboat carrying three people, an official said. He added the search was being hampered by bad weather.

The ship is owned the Egyptian company El-Salaam Maritime Transport Co. and was carrying 1,300 passengers, the official added. Some of the passengers are believed to be pilgrims returning from the annual hajj to Mecca, which ended last month.

Here's a thread I don't see on my boards. What kind of superstitions do people have here? Not like the throw salt over your shoulder kind, but rather, the stuff of horror movies. Who thinks the truth is out there? Who afraid of no ghost? Etc.

Me? I'm afraid of 7th graders. They're terribly scary. Also, ghosts freak me out a lot more than monsters. Maybe that's because I'm far more inclined to believe in ghosts. Though the giant squid is scarier than anything John Carpenter could ever dream up.

[Strazos]

Horror movie-type superstitions? None, I just ignore that stuff.

But hockey-type superstitions? Yeah. Like, don't talk about a shutout late in a game. Other misc stuff.

[squirrel]

Fuck i believe in everything. Cover the bases i say. Jesus, Mohammed, Ghosts, Aliens. Whatever. I'm in. I figure i'm stupid enough but well read enough to be right 50% of the time. And hey, better to believe it and never need to know than not believe and have it slap the shit out of you.

[Sky]

No superstitions. Strazos's hockey superstition is close to my belief of mental reinforcement (if we're talking coach/players, not fans), don't think about how you can fail or you will be more likely to fail. Less to do with superstition and more with visualization.

[WayAbvPar]

I really want to believe in Bigfoot- I used to haunt Bigfoot boards, and have gobbled up every show or website about it. I think it is such a cool idea (mainly because I come from the state with the most reported sightings- not sure that is a good thing!). However, the more I got to know the 'community' of true believers, the less likely it became in my mind- they make beta board fanbois sound rational at times.I find it easier to believe it in when I am out in the woods or on a desolate country road at night, however =)

As for other stuff- aliens seem plausible in theory- the universe is just too fucking big and diverse not to have had other sentient species involve. I am not too sure they have visited Earth, however- why bother?

Everything else- ghosts, ESP, chupacabras, lake monsters, exorcisms, etc all seem like a bunch of crap. They fit the perfect mold of a myth- some story generated to explain something we don't yet understand.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Is it just me or... what was the connection from the quote about the missing cruise ship that prompted discussion about superstitions?

FWIW, I've always been fascinated by 'the unknown' (bigfoot, aliens, ghosts) but never a big believer.  Always keep a healthy skepticism about you I always say.  More like WAP said; sort of the psychological/sociological and even cultural angle about how these things blow up to such magnitude.

[schild]

Yea, I really want to believe in a lot of the urban myth stuff like Big Foot.

As for the story, when you see a story and the first sentence AND paragraph is "An Egyptian cruise ship with 1,300 people on board has disappeared from radar screens in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, Egyptian maritime officials said Friday" what's the first thing you think? Bermuda Triangle.

[Shockeye]

As for the story, when you see a story and the first sentence AND paragraph is "An Egyptian cruise ship with 1,300 people on board has disappeared from radar screens in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, Egyptian maritime officials said Friday" what's the first thing you think? Bermuda Triangle.

Maybe for you since obviously you have no idea about geography.

[schild]

As for the story, when you see a story and the first sentence AND paragraph is "An Egyptian cruise ship with 1,300 people on board has disappeared from radar screens in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, Egyptian maritime officials said Friday" what's the first thing you think? Bermuda Triangle.

Maybe for you since obviously you have no idea about geography.

Not sure if you were going for the funny. I know the Bermuda triangle isn't anywhere NEAR the red sea. But where do ships disappear in legend? Hence, superstition. Jackass.

[Shockeye]

Not sure if you were going for the funny. I know the Bermuda triangle isn't anywhere NEAR the red sea. But where do ships disappear in legend? Hence, superstition. Jackass.

I was going for the funny and I am a jackass. Next!

[Triforcer]

I believe ghosts could exist even if there is, for the sake of argument, no souls and no afterlife.  On some kinds of old TVs, when you turn them off, you can see that afterimage burned in for a few seconds.  Why couldn't the universe work the same way?

[Shockeye]

On some kinds of old TVs, when you turn them off, you can see that afterimage burned in for a few seconds.  Why couldn't the universe work the same way?

Because the universe doesn't have a cathode ray tube behind it.

[HaemishM]

Did you just compare the universal search for the soul to a Michael Keaton movie?

[Triforcer]

On some kinds of old TVs, when you turn them off, you can see that afterimage burned in for a few seconds.  Why couldn't the universe work the same way?

Because the universe doesn't have a cathode ray tube behind it.

Why couldn't there be a "cosmic" cathode ray tube?*


* Maaan. 

[cevik]

We are Nihilists!  We believe in nothing!

[Mr_PeaCH]

As for the story, when you see a story and the first sentence AND paragraph is "An Egyptian cruise ship with 1,300 people on board has disappeared from radar screens in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, Egyptian maritime officials said Friday" what's the first thing you think? Bermuda Triangle.

Got it.  Sorry to disappoint but the Bermuda Triangle was runner-up to my post 9-11 blame-it-on-the-terrorists paranoia. 

[WayAbvPar]

We are Nihilists!  We believe in nothing!

That must be exhausting.

[Llava]

Ghosts scare the hell out of me.  Malevolent ghosts.  Particularly, malevolent little girl ghosts.  Thanks Exorcist.  Thanks Ring.

(I know she wasn't a ghost in the Exorcist, but demon spirit=same thing in my mind.)

I don't even believe in them.  But sometimes, you just get that feeling, y'know?

A lot of other things I'd really like to believe in, but just plain can't.

[Yegolev]

As for the story, when you see a story and the first sentence AND paragraph is "An Egyptian cruise ship with 1,300 people on board has disappeared from radar screens in the Red Sea off the Saudi coast, Egyptian maritime officials said Friday" what's the first thing you think?

"Look under the water."

I don't like water.

I believe in ghosts since I have seen one, or more... it's hard to tell.  No idea what they are, though.  Everything else, I am just waiting for some concrete evidence.  There are some super-scary things in the woods, but the things I have seen or heard about can be explained as bears or panthers.  Really enormous bears or panthers, but still.

[SurfD]

Ghosts, yep. i believe in them.
Aliens, sure.  I mean, mathematically speaking, for our single planet out of the ENTIRE universe to be the only place that ever creates sentient life, the odds would be nearly incalculable.

Supernatural / Magical things.  Sure.

God.  Im a bit iffy on that one.  I believe that there is quite likely vastly superior powers out there that could be "considered" gods, but I dont believe that there is one god, grand maker of everything, ultimate arbiter of our fate/destiny.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, and in other news (mainly related to the article that sparked all this):  Netscape news reports that the Captain abandoned ship!  If there really is a hell, I hope he fell off his lifeboat, drown very slowly, and is now soaking wet AND burning in Hell for all eternity.

[Merusk]

Ghosts? Sure as shit.  I haven't seen one, but I've felt the fuckers.  The one in my parent's old house bugged the shit out of me. None of us liked going into the garage and agreed it felt "wrong" in there, and there were always things shifting/ falling off shelves in my room. (a slab-on-grade ranch so it wasn't just people walking too hard)

Aliens?  Of course. The Universe is far, far too large for us to be any kind of 'special' in it. God hedges his bets as well as playing dice.  Have they been here? Dunno why, we're a fairly insignificant planet on the edge of a not-so-special galaxy.  Unless it was to catalogue "oh look, another planet with living things."

My father believes in Bigfoot/ Sasquatch, not sure I do.  He says it's because he and his buddies were out fishing in the Canadian wilderness and heard it/ saw something. I think it was just drunken 'Nam flashbacks but I won't tell him that.

[Murgos]

Aliens, sure.  I mean, mathematically speaking, for our single planet out of the ENTIRE universe to be the only place that ever creates sentient life, the odds would be nearly incalculable.

Of course the random permutations required to make a species capable achieving space flight is also incalculable.

Infinity vs. infinity!  Fight!

[Sky]

there were always things shifting/ falling off shelves in my room

The dead come back to annoy people by rearranging things!

[Murgos]

there were always things shifting/ falling off shelves in my room

The dead come back to annoy people by rearranging things!

Pratchett ++

[Merusk]

there were always things shifting/ falling off shelves in my room

The dead come back to annoy people by rearranging things!

Well of course. They have to do something when they're not watching you in the shower or having sex.

[Tebonas]

I believe the human mind has a strong ability to delude itself - for better or for worse. Mental reinforcement, Luck Charms, Good luck rituals, Bad Days, Jinxes, Superstitions all fall into this category for me.

I believe there might be aliens somewhere, but it is extremely unlikely the achieve space flight and visit out planet in the same timeframe that we exist as sentient beings.

I believe in the strong need of humans to explain everything, even if they have to make things up for their explanations.

[Ironwood]

I think you just made up that explanation to explain why you think humans have a strong need to explain everything.

[Tebonas]

I think you think I did that. That was very thoughtful of you.