Chariots of the Gods?: Unsolved Mysteries of the Past is a book written in 1968 by Erich von Däniken. It is centered on the hypothesis that many ancient civilizations' technologies and religion were given to them by space travelers who were welcomed as gods.

Claims:
The types of evidence he cites can be categorized as follows:

The existence of structures and artifacts have been found which represent higher technological knowledge than is presumed by Von Däniken to have existed at the times they were manufactured. Von Däniken maintains that these artifacts were produced either by extraterrestrial visitors or by humans who learned the necessary knowledge from them. Such artifacts include the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, and the head statues of Easter Island. Further examples include a medieval map known as the Piri Reis Map, allegedly showing the Earth as it is seen from space, and the Nazca lines in Peru, which he explains as landing strips for an airfield.
Interpretations of ancient artwork throughout the world as depictions of astronauts, air and space vehicles, extraterrestrials, and complex technology. Von Däniken also points out details that are similar in art of unrelated cultures.
Origins of religions as reaction to a contact of primitive humans with an alien race. The humans considered the technology of the aliens to be supernatural and the aliens themselves to be gods. According to von Däniken, the oral and literal traditions of most religions contain references to visitors from 'stars' and vehicles traveling through air and space. These, he says, should be interpreted as literal descriptions which have changed during the passage of time and become more obscure, rather than symbolic or mythical fiction. One such is Ezekiel's revelation in Old Testament, which he interprets as a detailed description of a landing spacecraft. As a real-life example, von Däniken attempts to draw an analogy with the "cargo cults" that formed during and after World War II, when once-isolated tribes in the South Pacific mistook the advanced American and Japanese soldiers for gods.
The two most controversial proposals were that Biblical characters were inspired by the extraterrestrials, and humans acquired their superior intelligence by mating with them Unsolved Mysteries of the Past is a book written in 1968 by Erich von Däniken. It is centered on the hypothesis that many ancient civilizations' technologies and religion were given to them by space travelers who were welcomed as gods.

http://www.realraptalk.com/f189/erich-von-daniken-chariots-gods-dont-miss-230949/

Von Daniken is the subject of a lot of jokes and put downs by 'experts'. But I will tell you what he does. First he travels. Second he reads. Third he likes to point out many times that the emperor has no clothes.

He is an old man now. His sin is making to much money from popular books. He was too lazy for real scholarship and like me, he writes many times from the top of his head. He reads like he is speaking into a recorder. I hear his voice every time I read his pulp faction.

And any time you read from some scholar that the Great Pyramids were build in the 24th century BCE, remember that there are plenty of other tomes and theses demonstrating beyond any doubt that the monuments were built in the 25th, 26th, 27th or even the 28th centuries BCE.  "They" do not know. Nobody KNOWS. There are only theories as to how they were built or by whom or when  this all took place.

Von Daniken simply goes to eyewitnesses like Herodotus. Herodotus is writing 2500 years ago, some two thousand years after the structures were supposedly built. The only problem is that Herodotus writes of other structures around the Pyramids that no one can find in our era, and he writes not of the most significant structure which is the Sphinx.

Now if you add to your reading someone like Robert Temple who wrote the Sirius Mystery, you have a Von Daniken who has all the degrees, and the IQ of the greatest historians who ever lived. He has fun making fun of Van Daniken but will quote from Herodotus just like Erich and come to similar conclusions. It is just that he footnotes everything. He builds his little theories into complex arguments that few could really understand. Of course he does the same thing as Von Daniken and uses question marks as well.

So does this mean that fishmen came in spaceships from a planet that is part of the Sirius bi-solar system?

Were we visited by an alien ship that now sleeps outside of Saturn in the form of Phoebe? Did the aliens come from a duo star system containing Sirius? ARE YOU SIRIUS? (Sorry could not help it, I just voice this question out loud every time I sit down to read him.)

Both, besides including aliens from stars many light years away in their theories, speculate us right onto the Island of Dr. Moreau. The point is that there are all these Egyptian mummified animals that contain bones from other places. That is, the package claims one kind of strange body within but after the package is opened, well....it is not the carcass of a crocodile or a cat or a snake....

How many mummified remains have been discovered in Egypt; MILLIONS folks. I am not exaggerating at all. And based upon mummified remains, based upon hieroglyphics, based upon the writings of ancients like Herodotus, based upon statues unearthed and based upon a kind of weird logic the two are saying that some combination of fish and humans comprise this alien force.

Okay, but that is not what I am writing about today.  I found something quite interesting in all of this from the point of one interested in argument.

The cargo cults mentioned by Erich Von Daniken are primarily located in New Guinea. What they amount to is nothing more than mimicry.  During WWII and prior thereto, tribes of people that had no contact with the rest of the world, began seeing airplanes. And these airplanes, besides making strange noises and flying in their sacred airspace, would crash from time to time. Maybe in waters a thousand miles away; and yet, the cargo from the planes and parts of these planes would float up onto the shores of their islands.

You must understand that this would be like a real flying saucer landing on the White House lawns during a press conference. It is the invasion of a culture's universe by some alien force. Perceived as being good, bad or just plain ugly, the new phenomena cannot be identified. It cannot be explained because it is not a part of the human community's universe. Of course eventually, the alien materials are assimilated into the universe of the community.

Now these cargo cults developed in order to 'explain' the nature of these alien materials. But some of the actual cargo was incredible. I mean Hershey bars and canned food became manna in the desert during tough times.

Now at some point, the cargo quit coming, or at least slowed down more than a bit.

So these indigenous peoples would think that perhaps they could somehow send a signal to the gods who brought them all these benefits in the old days.

Some of them built airplane models right out in the open.

Inhabitants of the island of Wewak constructed a ghost airport with airplane models made of wood and straw because they were hoping to attract real airplanes in this manner.

The natives of Markham Valley in the eastern highlands of New Guinea made radio stations out of bamboo and insulators out of rolled-up leaves. Tree trunks were used as antennas, and the jungle huts were connected by wires made from twisted plant fibers.  159

Radio relay stations had been built from time to time by Asians or the West on some of the islands. So tribes people actually built pretend radio stations.

There were prayer services developed in order to summon the great gods of the air and of the sea; summoning the deities to once more come to their aid in times of need.

Why do our young ones enjoy playing with model railroads? Because the grown-ups are riding in real railroads. Why does a toddler scoot around the neighborhood in his bright yellow toy car, imitating engine noises and going beep-beep? Because his idols drive fancy cars that go beep-beep. 158**

Schmidt said he asked Palin about her serenity in the face of becoming "one of the most famous people in the world." He quoted her as saying, "It's God's plan."

Palin has not ruled out a run for the presidency.   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/10/steve-schmidt-palin-belie_n_417977.html

I have come to the conclusion that Sarah Palin is an alien sent to us by the spaceship Phoebe and that her ancestors came from a planet in the bi-solar system known as Sirius. I do not come to this conclusion easily.

The Obamas were pushing a simple strategy: Ignore Palin. Don't engage her. Whatever happens, don't let her lure you down any rabbit holes with her crazy syntax and run-on sentences.

But Joe couldn't resist--not at first. A week or two before the three days of formal debate camp started on September 29, the campaign put him through his paces in a mock run-through against Anita Dunn. She played the part by reading from a script assembled almost entirely out of verbatim Palin quotes. That's too incoherent, Biden exclaimed. Is that really what she says? No, that can't be her answer. But, I mean, she's not saying anything. How am I supposed to respond to that, folks?  http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-11/game-changes-juiciest-bits/3/

It turns out that McCain's staff spent hours attempting to brief Palin on foreign policy. This is how they would meet with her for the briefings:

Palin was in her robe, seated at a desk. [Nicolle] Wallace was there coaching her on the pronunciation of the proper names in the text of her address, repeating them over and over like a speech therapist. Every so often, they would pause so Palin could model a new outfit. If they liked it, fine; if not, they would often suggest an alteration. Lose the lapel! It would be better sleeveless! And the seamstress would go to work.

When Fred Davis, McCain's media guy, walked into the suite, a couple of stylists were applying some kind of hot-iron contraption to Palin's hair. There was steam coming off the top of her head that looked to Davis like smoke. For a moment he thought, Oh my God, her hair's on fire!

Palin greeted Davis, whom she knew slightly from some work he had done on her gubernatorial race. She wanted his opinion on a matter of no small importance.

"My brand is hair up, isn't it?" she asked.

Yes, it is, Davis said. (ibid)

On the Ed show today, (I cannot get a transcript for a couple of days) it was disclosed that the McCain debriefers had to begin at the beginning in order to get Palin up to speed for her debate with Senator Biden. Evidently she did not spend three quarters with Joseph Althoz as her history professor.

I mentioned over a year ago that I was worried about World History 101. At the beginning of the class, by way of introduction, Professor Althoz looked up from the dais and asked:

How many here had a history teacher in high school who was also a coach?

Almost every one of the 250 or so students raised their hands.

Okay, we shall start from the beginning. The 1600's are known as the 17th century. The 1700's are otherwise known as the 18th century.

Boy I breathed a sigh of relief and promptly aced all three quarters with Professor Althoz.

The briefers (or should I say debriefers)  from McCain's office had an uphill battle. They decided to start with WWI, moving up to and through WWII and onto Korea and Vietnam.

Following one of the first briefings for the Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah looked up and noted:

I still do not understand why there is a North and a South Korea.

The reason she asked Senator Biden if she could call him Joe, was because she kept calling him Mr. Obiden during rehearsals.  The debriefers wished to evade this screw-up on national television.So as the debate was about to begin,  Palin greeted Senator Biden on stage and asked if she could call him Joe.  Of course, during the debate Sarah proceeded to call him Senator Obiden anyway.

Was her hair on fire?  I think it was, kind of. I think she was receiving gamma ray communications from the space ship Phoebe during her 'hair' preparation.

How else would you explain something like this?

Rudy G. knows damn well that the attacks of 9/11/01 occurred under the watch of the bush administration. He knows that the bush administration had been in control of the reins of our government for eight months at the time of the attacks. Rudy G. knows that there was the foot bomber incident as well as several other incidents of terrorist attacks or at least attempts at attacks by terrorists on American Soil during the bush administration.

Rudy G. also has a pretty good idea why there is a North Korea and a South Korea. For sure and I do not think any intelligent person would doubt this knowledge.

Rudy G. is a liar.

Dick Cheney knows damn well of the attacks on this soil by terrorists during his administration. Dick Cheney also is fully aware of why there is a North Korea and a South Korea. For sure I do not think that any intelligent person would doubt his knowledge.

Dick Cheney is however, a liar.

Sarah Palin does not know these things. I was sure she was just another repub liar.

I was wrong.

Sarah Palin is an alien invader from the spaceship Phoebe and her ancestors come from a planet in the bi-solar system of Sirius. I just do not know what she did with her fins.

And we must somehow, someway,  assimilate Sarah Palin into our culture.

* The Sirius Mystery, by Robert Temple, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont 1998.

** The Eyes of the Sphinx by Erich Von Daniken, The Berkley Publishing Group, Ny, Ny, 1996.