I know we'd really like to believe this but I can't find anything about this on any serious website, and I think if it was real, there would be more news on it.
Upon looking, while I did find many sites picking up the story using the exact same article as every other one, I did come across this one site and article. It's the only one I could find that clearly states this truly is a hoax and I couldn't find any information backing up a hoax confession by David Salmanin so I guess it's still open to personal interpretation:

"On April 1st a story broke that a botanist had discovered an incredible species that appeared to have come from an extraterrestrial source. The new species not only had the characteristics of a more traditional form of cactus, but also a few others that led one botanist to believe it was from outer space. Of course when he said he first discovered the plant in Roswell, New Mexico from a meteorite the paranormal community was already beginning to get skeptical. But all lingering doubts were removed with the prankster came clean shortly afterward and said his cactus story had been a big prank to raise awareness of cacti.

David Salman, of High County Gardens first developed the prank to air footage of a known terrestrial species of alien cactus as a more deliberate and unusual brand of alien invader which he named Ariocarpus extraterrestrialensis. Ariocarpus was chosen as the creatures did resemble a terrestrial form of cactus species going by that name, and extraterrestrialensisafter his belief that the strange plants had actually originated among the stars. But thins have been quickly developed into a far more elaborate prank than Salman likely had hoped for as a good natured bit of fun. And when your life's work includes studying cacti in the desert, you're familiar with your work resulting in a few jabs. Luckily, however, Salman was able to come clean long before the story got too out of control." - http://www.unexplainable.net/UFO-Alien/Alien-Cactus-Story-an-April-Spoof.shtml

Great remixing and animation job by the filmmaker here, no wonder why the little guy always wanted to “phone home” … cool find from Cyriaque Lamar on io9.com:

Robert Blankenheim and Derek Johnson Productions have created a trailer for ET-X: Extinction, an unnecessarily gritty and violent sequel to Steven Spielberg’s family-friendly blockbuster.

In this preview, grown-up footage of Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore is spliced with generic disaster flick scenes (starring an authoritative Morgan Freeman, natch) and new animation of the red-eyed, cobra-necked extraterrestrials:

Back then you had to beat your rivals to death with animal bones to protect your embeds. Who knew that from such humble beginnings we would eventually explore space, contact extraterrestrial intelligence, and post fart videos? It staggers the imagination.

>> ^spawnflagger:

Carl Sagan said almost the same thing 30 years ago in 1 of the episodes of Cosmos, but instead of caffeinated-arm-flailing-rant format, he said it slow and concisely, albeit slightly monotone. Because of the cold war, and the man-will-destroy-itself-in-nuclear-fallout attitude of the time, he was not so optimistic about finding other societies, because he imagined other societies would do similar, as in they would kill themselves shortly after coming up with radio and nuclear technology.
There was an update to the series a few years later, and he was much more optimistic that humanity would not destroy itself.
Also, it's not likely that any of the early radio waves we sent out will be "readable" once they reach a considerable distance away, so it's irrelevant whether they watch TV or not.

Even without the immediate threat of Nuclear War we still have plenty of time and options to kill ourselves off with. We haven't even travelled to our nearest planet, I think its going to be a while before we ever really explore the Solar System, never mind the rest of the Galaxy. I think if Humans ever do survive that long, if we somehow manage to obtain the wisdom to match our technology and dodge planet killing asteroids, then we will probably have less in common with them than we do with our fishy ancestors.

As for extraterrestrial life, there is a fair chance it exists, or has existed or will exist. I think its not too much of a stretch to imagine intelligent life. I don't think we'll ever find them, not without faster than light travel. And space isn't just vast in 3 dimensions, its pretty fast in a the 4th as well. We have existed for the tiniest sliver of time, we've had technology for a tiny sliver of that...We have to survive for a very very long time before we are anything but a tiny fragment of history.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I'm not sure this qualifies as a parody of a movie scene. It's using a movie scene in its entirety to make commentary about something else.>> ^burdturgler:

So I guess the only way you can make a parody of a movie scene is if:
1.) it's not really a significant scene that anyone would care about in the first place
2.) the original language is extraterrestrial

So I guess the only way you can make a parody of a movie scene is if:

1.) it's not really a significant scene that anyone would care about in the first place

2.) the original language is extraterrestrial

>> ^NetRunner:

>> ^KnivesOut:
To be clear, are you "pro" or "anti" uplifted-transhuman-extraterriestrial-mmoaddicted-cyborg-animals?
Just want to know where you and I stand...
I think they shouldn't be subjected to discrimination. I suppose that makes me "pro" uplifted-transhuman-extraterrestrial-mmoaddicted-cyborg-animal rights.
Mostly though I'd wanna talk to 'em, because I think they'd have a rather unusual point of view on a lot of topics.
Like, should you spec your Death Knight Blood, or Unholy for the best raid DPS?


Unholy!

*adjusts tail-implant*

>> ^KnivesOut:

To be clear, are you "pro" or "anti" uplifted-transhuman-extraterriestrial-mmoaddicted-cyborg-animals?
Just want to know where you and I stand...

I think they shouldn't be subjected to discrimination. I suppose that makes me "pro" uplifted-transhuman-extraterrestrial-mmoaddicted-cyborg-animal rights.

Mostly though I'd wanna talk to 'em, because I think they'd have a rather unusual point of view on a lot of topics.

Like, should you spec your Death Knight Blood, or Unholy for the best raid DPS?

To be clear, are you "pro" or "anti" uplifted-transhuman-extraterriestrial-mmoaddicted-cyborg-animals?

Just want to know where you and I stand...
>> ^NetRunner:

>> ^gwiz665:
Is a doctor a business or not? Can he deny his business or not?

Suppose the sign said "Whites only" or "Gay people seek treatment elsewhere" or "Muslims not welcome", would it be okay?
That said, it's probably legal, because we tend to make discrimination laws based on enumerated protected classes (e.g. race and religion), and I doubt political discrimination is on the list, because there haven't really been issues with it.
Personally, I think discrimination laws should reverse the default, and say that you don't discriminate, except for a specific list of enumerated exceptions. Would kinda keep us from having to do a new civil rights movement to protect strange new varieties of humans as they emerge (e.g. genetically modified humans, clones, cyborgs, MMO addicts, AI's, extraterrestrials, uplifted animals, transhumans, etc.).

>> ^gwiz665:

Is a doctor a business or not? Can he deny his business or not?


Suppose the sign said "Whites only" or "Gay people seek treatment elsewhere" or "Muslims not welcome", would it be okay?

That said, it's probably legal, because we tend to make discrimination laws based on enumerated protected classes (e.g. race and religion), and I doubt political discrimination is on the list, because there haven't really been issues with it.

Personally, I think discrimination laws should reverse the default, and say that you don't discriminate, except for a specific list of enumerated exceptions. Would kinda keep us from having to do a new civil rights movement to protect strange new varieties of humans as they emerge (e.g. genetically modified humans, clones, cyborgs, MMO addicts, AI's, extraterrestrials, uplifted animals, transhumans, etc.).

I agree, buzz.
It's amazing how many people use the term 'UFO' without knowing what it stands for, or who automatically associate the term with aliens/extraterrestrials.

How did this get sifted?

Yeah, anyway, we didn't "bomb" the moon as so many "news" outlets have been claiming; We crashed a spent booster rocket into it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCROSS

The only voice of reason I've been able to find in the news, surprisingly, is The Christian Science Monitor! See http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/10/09/nasa-moon-bombing-did-nasa-really-drop-a-bomb-on-the-moon/

For a laugh, see http://www.examiner.com/x-2912-Seattle-Exopolitics-Examiner~y2009m6d19-NASA-moon-bombing-violates-space-law--may-cause-conflict-with-lunar-extraterres
trial-civilizations
and http://newsjunkiepost.com/2009/10/08/rush-limbaugh-exaggerates-upset-over-nasas-bombing-of-the-moon/

>> ^Kreegath:
So there was a spaceship hovering over Johannesburg for 20 years and no nation has even tried to deconstruct or even claim it? You'd think that the US and the Soviet Union would be the first to jump at the chance of an extraterrestrial technology advantage and would go to great lengths to get it, regardless if it had landed in either territory or not.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. -Arthur C. Clarke

In the movie you already see that they have no idea how to reverse engineer the alien weapons, even though they've been trying for 20 years. My guess would be that they must have tried the same with the spaceship but also failed. They might have removed interesting bits and just let the rest of the ship hang. They also wouldn't want to break the engines because it would come crashing down on Johannesburg.

Imagine the humans of 1930 (the electron microscope was discovered in 1931) getting their hands on an iPhone. They wouldn't know what to do with it. They wouldn't even be able to see the actual circuits let alone know how they worked. It would be a long time before they could actually discover and use anything of use out of an iPhone.

So there was a spaceship hovering over Johannesburg for 20 years and no nation has even tried to deconstruct or even claim it? You'd think that the US and the Soviet Union would be the first to jump at the chance of an extraterrestrial technology advantage and would go to great lengths to get it, regardless if it had landed in either territory or not.

All this silliness aside, I'm very excited for this game. The art design is being done by Wayne Barlowe, who is one of the most amazing contemporary artists out there. He did character designs for the Hellboy movies, wrote Expedition (about a fictional trip to another world where there is biologically plausible extraterrestrial life)and of course a whole series on hell...