Rods

[onekatietwo]

I don't think this really classifies as a hometown tale, but I must express my shock and outrage and this is the most available outlet at the moment.

I'm sitting here watching Monster Quest on the History Channel. I love this show! However, the current episode is on 'rods', a phenomenon that I previously hadn't heard of. Have any of you heard of this or seen this episode of Monster Quest? It's particularly stupid.
'Rods' are UFOs that are invisible to the naked eye and can only be captured on film. They generaly dart through the screen in about five-ten frames. Needless to say, they are rod shaped. Some have little dash like appendages.
They are clearly birds, bugs, or in one case, some flying debris from a storm.
One bit of major rod footage was provided by some dudes who were base jumping in the cave of swallows, a cave known for its huge amount of swallows and bugs. Multiple rods were sighted during this BASE jumping operation. No crap! It's blurry birds, darting through!
Later in the show they show the same scene shot in highspeed and normal thirty frames per second film. One produced a rod clip and the other produces a clip of a flying moth.
Another series of shots comes from a still camera where the shutter speed was adjusted throughout the shoot. Some photos from this shoot show rods while the other shows a flying seagull.

Some people are so stupid! The fact that some insects and birds flap their wings faster than thirty frames per second is totally throwing people off. I would like to speak to some of these people and logically explain to them how these rods appear in their photos and movies. Would they still think they are some shapes from a fourth dimension or some mythical creature?

[Czaple]

There is another thread on this forum that refers to "sky fish", which is another name for rods. I believe there are a few comments there, and a link to a news cast concerning them on Youtube.

[Daniel]

I am fairly certain that people have disproved the whole "rod" thing. I believe it is how video captures and replays the image of certain flying insects. The video camera gives them that other worldly look.

Still, it is weird looking, no matter how mundane.

[Czaple]

There are a few different types of rods. There are the ones people catch on camera that look insect-like, but others have reported rods as UFO-like objects that are shaped like rods that they have seen in the sky with their naked eyes. Why they just don't call them "UFOs" is beyond me.

[onekatietwo]

[quote="Daniel"]I am fairly certain that people have disproved the whole "rod" thing. I believe it is how video captures and replays the image of certain flying insects. The video camera gives them that other worldly look.

Still, it is weird looking, no matter how mundane.[/quote]

Oh, totally. But there were still people on this show saying. "Oh, no. This can't be a bug or a bird. It's totally alien" and they were dissecting the film frame by frame, making things up as to how it couldn't possibly be something of this world.

And yeah, true that, it makes for some interesting/cool stills, if nothing else.