Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
Every kid in Britain grows up with the Loch Ness Monster as part of their cryptozoological cultural heritage, but could it just be a conspiracy to boost tourism in Scotland? Emma Ailes reports for BBC News:
It is 80 years since hotel manageress Mrs Aldie Mackay first reported seeing a “whale-like fish” in the waters of Loch Ness.
Now an academic at St Andrew’s University is trawling through 1,000 eye-witness accounts since to see what they can tell us.
He wryly notes more than a few hotel proprietors among typical spotters. So is “Nessie” just a conspiracy to boost tourism?
It was 14 April 1933 and Mrs Mackay, manageress of the Drumnadrochit Hotel, was driving with her husband along the road to Inverness.
As they drove, she glanced out across the still calm waters of Loch Ness towards Aldourie Castle. There, in the water, she saw something.
In a rare interview years later, she described the moment to marine biologist and founder of The Loch Ness Project, Adrian Shine.
“She said it was black, wet, with the water rolling off it,” he says.
“It went in a circle, round and down. She yelled at her husband “Stop! The beast!”
It is an interesting remark, Mr Shine says.
Mrs Mackay’s sighting was reported in the Inverness Courier on 2 May 1933 by Alex Campbell, the water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist…
Peppy the Lake Monster from Lake Pepin is shocked at the accusation!
I believe in the Loch Ness monster. I also believe there is probably a kraken (giant squid) and at least one megalodon running around out there. To think we know every creature out there that is still alive or know each inch of the planet is absurd. Also, to think every single prehistoric Dino-style creature was wiped out is crazy too: sharks, crocs and a bunch of other things survived, why couldn't an aquatic one do the same and keep a small family?
Reality is a nice place to visit, but I'd hate to live there.
Manchu wrote:I'm a Catholic. We eat our God.
Due to work, I can usually only ship any sales or trades out on Saturday morning. Please trade/purchase with this in mind.
timetowaste85 wrote: I believe in the Loch Ness monster. I also believe there is probably a kraken (giant squid) and at least one megalodon running around out there. To think we know every creature out there that is still alive or know each inch of the planet is absurd. Also, to think every single prehistoric Dino-style creature was wiped out is crazy too: sharks, crocs and a bunch of other things survived, why couldn't an aquatic one do the same and keep a small family?
Giant squid aren't mythical.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
timetowaste85 wrote: I believe in the Loch Ness monster. I also believe there is probably a kraken (giant squid) and at least one megalodon running around out there. To think we know every creature out there that is still alive or know each inch of the planet is absurd. Also, to think every single prehistoric Dino-style creature was wiped out is crazy too: sharks, crocs and a bunch of other things survived, why couldn't an aquatic one do the same and keep a small family?
Millions of years worth of inbreeding and genetic abnormalities?
This is something my wife and I were chatting about at the weekend. The majority of these alleged sightings of the Loch Ness monster indicate that its a dinosaur that somehow survived 65 million years by itself, and adapt to the climate change remarkably well for a cold blooded lizard in a relatively small lake with a small food source. Or that a large enough group of them survived unseen but still managed to breed and those that died did so in such a manner as to leave no corpse or other evidence.
It always amazes me that with almost everyone carrying a cell phone we can spam the internet with pictures of what we had for lunch with all sorts of filters, or post perfectly shot videos of cats or people doing stupid things in the heat of the moment. But when it comes a sighting of a legendary creature its out of focus and shaking as if the camera person developed sudden and spontaneous temporary Parkinsons.
I know that makes me sound like a dyed in the wool skeptic, but I will admit that I do have a certain sympathy with this quote;
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 166–167
timetowaste85 wrote: I believe in the Loch Ness monster. I also believe there is probably a kraken (giant squid) and at least one megalodon running around out there. To think we know every creature out there that is still alive or know each inch of the planet is absurd. Also, to think every single prehistoric Dino-style creature was wiped out is crazy too: sharks, crocs and a bunch of other things survived, why couldn't an aquatic one do the same and keep a small family?
Giant squid aren't mythical.
Thanks for the proof that I'm not a crackpot, Frazzy!
Reality is a nice place to visit, but I'd hate to live there.
Manchu wrote:I'm a Catholic. We eat our God.
Due to work, I can usually only ship any sales or trades out on Saturday morning. Please trade/purchase with this in mind.
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
A dead animal even the size of a whale is pretty easy to not see. Whale bodies tend to sink for a period of time and then surface after they have decomposed for a while, at which point there can be little resemblence between it and what it once looked like.
A passing boat could easily just see a large floating body, just think its a whale carcass, and do nothing further.
And any large animal wouldn't live in the Loch, but thats because its connected to the sea at both ends. The loch is just a convenient migratory passage and sightings are more common there because the geography lends itself towards forcing the creature to have more contact there than in the open ocean.
timetowaste85 wrote: I believe in the Loch Ness monster. I also believe there is probably a kraken (giant squid) and at least one megalodon running around out there. To think we know every creature out there that is still alive or know each inch of the planet is absurd. Also, to think every single prehistoric Dino-style creature was wiped out is crazy too: sharks, crocs and a bunch of other things survived, why couldn't an aquatic one do the same and keep a small family?
Millions of years worth of inbreeding and genetic abnormalities?
I like to think there may be fair bunch of them, they're just fairly stealthy like many of the ocean predators that were once unknown to science.
They may have been more common till the last few hundred years, after which they have declined for whatever reason.
We know very little about the oceans and are finding new species all the time. It wouldn't be that hard for an already fairly rare species of predator to remain unknown to science. There have been many once mythical animals discovered and proven to exist. Okapi, Celocanth, Giant Squid, etc...
Most lake monsters are probably just massive Sturgeon, and many Nessie sightings may be just that, but its still possible for there to be Plesiosaurs.
As for Cold-blooded vs Warm-blooded. We don't know what dinosaurs, or even pleasosaurs, were. They could have been warm blooded, and may have had to have been to survive almost exclusivly as an aquatic reptile. Not familiar with cold vs warm blood thingy related to this.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Max. length 36.3 km (22.6 mi)
Max. width 2.7 km (1.7 mi)
Surface area 56.4 km2 (21.8 sq mi)
Average depth 132 m (433 ft)
Max. depth 226.96 m (744.6 ft)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness
Max. length 36.3 km (22.6 mi)
Max. width 2.7 km (1.7 mi)
Surface area 56.4 km2 (21.8 sq mi)
Average depth 132 m (433 ft)
Max. depth 226.96 m (744.6 ft)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness
A whale would have great difficulty traversing the shallow waters of the river Ness (my home town, incidentally):
Spoiler:
Some stretches are very shallow, and the river would have to be extremely swollen to accommodate a creature of monstrous proportions.
I did hear an interesting theory about how large eels coming to the surface could be mistaken for one long serpentine leviathan, and may account for some sightings.
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
yeah, but a plesiosaur wouldn't have an issue with shallower water. They weren't that big.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
timetowaste85 wrote: I believe in the Loch Ness monster. I also believe there is probably a kraken (giant squid) and at least one megalodon running around out there. To think we know every creature out there that is still alive or know each inch of the planet is absurd. Also, to think every single prehistoric Dino-style creature was wiped out is crazy too: sharks, crocs and a bunch of other things survived, why couldn't an aquatic one do the same and keep a small family?
Don't worry I think all the world leaders are secretly 5- to 12-foot (1.5–3.7 m) tall, blood-drinking, shape-shifting reptilian humanoids from the Alpha Draconis star system, now hiding in underground bases, are the force behind a worldwide conspiracy against humanity, so you theories aren't
too bad..
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/04/16 20:23:22
Wyrmalla wrote: Hmn, I guess people still glaze over the fact that Nessie was just a practical joke that's been taken horribly out of context by the media...
Yeah, the the guy who took the photo even said it's fake.
Don't worry I think all the world leaders are secretly 5- to 12-foot (1.5–3.7 m) tall, blood-drinking, shape-shifting reptilian humanoids from the Alpha Draconis star system, now hiding in underground bases, are the force behind a worldwide conspiracy against humanity, so you theories aren't
too bad..
I just heard about that theory today! I've heard some crazy theories before, but I believe this one takes the cake
And as for LNM, I doubt it truely exists...but I'm hopeful.
Wyrmalla wrote: Its odd how people can believe in something that's clearly faked, but I guess there's dumber things out there that people are willing to follow...
Don't worry, you're probably fake too, but we still read and respond to your comments.
Reality is a nice place to visit, but I'd hate to live there.
Manchu wrote:I'm a Catholic. We eat our God.
Due to work, I can usually only ship any sales or trades out on Saturday morning. Please trade/purchase with this in mind.
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
Wyrmalla wrote: Hmn, I guess people still glaze over the fact that Nessie was just a practical joke that's been taken horribly out of context by the media...
the myth of the Loch Ness Monster existed long before the fake photo, there are even millenia old rock drawings in the area that depict the monster.
Similarly, Bigfoot or Sasquatch is a prominant figure in northwest native folklore.
The issue with the many fakes that have been perpetrated over the years is that they destroy the true legitimacy of the myth. Give it a bad name so nobody takes it seriously.
While I am not a hardcore believer in either bigfoot or the loch ness monster I do not deny the possibility of the myths being true.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Don't worry I think all the world leaders are secretly 5- to 12-foot (1.5–3.7 m) tall, blood-drinking, shape-shifting reptilian humanoids from the Alpha Draconis star system, now hiding in underground bases, are the force behind a worldwide conspiracy against humanity, so you theories aren't
too bad..
I just heard about that theory today! I've heard some crazy theories before, but I believe this one takes the cake
And as for LNM, I doubt it truely exists...but I'm hopeful.
I don't actually believe reptilians exist but I've just became obsessed with the conspiracy theory after stand up comedian Louis CK humourously asks if Donald Rumsfeld if he is a lizard.
Warning: May contain offensive language.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/04/17 04:52:40
The plesiosaur was a favorite dinosaur I read about as a child. I'd like to keep my childlike wonderment and think of the possibility of it being alive and being the lake monsters everyone sees. I know how unlikely this is, but without this wonderment, I think I'd truly lose a piece of my imagination.
Evil Genius at absolutely - Muffins! Dakkamuffins! Gubstop urlurk's big un! 7000 points(and growing!)
Lobukia wrote: One does not simply insult a mega-troll
Its because ordinance is still a word.
However, firing ordinance at someone isn't nearly as threatening as firing ordnance at someone.
Ordinance is a local law, or bill, or other form of legislation.
Ordnance is high caliber explosives.
No 'I' in ordnance.
Don't drown the enemy in legislation, drown them in explosives.
And if you're drinkin' well, you know that you're my friend and I say "I think I'll have myself a beer" 
Gubstop urlurk's big un! 7000 points(and growing!) 
