Musings From The Orb

New post at Mothman Flutterings: Car Weirdness and Mothman Tuggings. It's a little strange, but then again, it is called Mothman Flutterings . . . also a new entry from me on UFO Magazine's site: Bissfull and Willfull, Apathy and Ignorance.

Jim has a new gallery/section on the Yessy site: his new Cosmic Series. Some very exciting things happening with all this activity surrounding his art, including UFO and paranormal stuff. More to come on that later . . . but I'm very excited about it!

The more I think on my own UFO experiences as well as the UFO phenomenon in general, the more I'm convinced it's all a huge mash of various things that boils down to esoterica indeed. . . and the people who are stuck on nuts and bolts or one or two cases or theories are just utterly missing so much. . . and the ones who sneer or even if politely, dismiss this side of UFOlogy for "giving UFO studies a bad name" and so on are, well, stupid but I wouldn't say that . . but so wrong ... and that sounds arrogantly self assured doesn't it?! . . . I know we're all of different temperment and come from different backgrounds and then there's our own political and relgiious biases and views that color our perceptions but if we agree that we have to go where the data takes us... dahlings! It's taking us right smack in the deep midst of some very crazy esoteric stuff! Let's get real and deal with it. . .

Still liking UFO Mary even though it's lonely there so please visit the blog. . .

Danille Lee is the newest contributor to WOE . . . Women Of Esoterica . . she's been posting very informative and detailed items on ghost hunting. . . this isn't the usual ghost hunting stuff either, her perspective is refreshing. . .

Looks like things will slow down a bit at Binnall of America while Tim is on vacation in California, so no new Trickster's Realm or any of the other great columns but be sure to take a look over there anyway so catch up on past columns and podcasts.

Loren Coleman has the IRS hasslsing him about his Crypto Musuem; they don't seem to get it... although Coleman's take on it is very polite and reasonable...you can make a contribution, no matter what amount, by clicking on the logo at the top of the blog here, or visiting his site CryptoMundo.

And while you're at it, if you're able to, donate a little something to places like The Black Vault, and The Daily Grail, or Book of Thoth, or any of the other great Fortean/paranormal and UFO sites that gives us news, articles and podcasts, for free, on a regular basis.

Visit my place on Associated Content/People's Media; this one actually pays, kind of, sort of, depending on the number of readers. I have two articles on the Trent, UFO event there. Click on the banner at the end of this post to get there.

Nick Redfern on Coast to Coast tonight! Awesome, what more can we say?

Gleaning From “Numb3rs”

Is it ironic that a “scientific” TV show, appreciated by skeptics, is also one of my favorite shows -- and that I’ve gotten so much esoteric-Fortean use out of the show?

Numb3rs is a favorite show of mine. I like the combination of mystery, crime solving, science and mysticism. It’s also set in L.A., where I was born and raised, and I like the three lead mensch-like characters.

Besides entertaining me, Numb3rs has given me a bit of inspiration three times now for my esoteric writing. Awhile ago, I wrote an article about semantics and perceptions of UFOs, and used an example from a Numb3rs episode. In that example, the main character Don Epps, FBI agent, said, of UFOs: (paraphrasing)

“We don’t know what a UFO looks like, so how do we know one when we see one?”

That line inspired me to write several articles on the topics of UFO semantics and definitions, as well as denial and debunkery. (See my American Chronicle articles for more.)

In another episodes, the character Charlie Epps (Don’s younger, math genius brother) told his crime solving colleagues to “throw on more data.” The team was not making any progress in trying to solve a case; “throw in more data” was the solution. By including more data, the character explained, more patterns, more information, will be revealed, and the agents would get closer to solving the crime. That was the inspiration for a column I wrote recently for UFO Magazine: Throw On More Data:

What got me thinking about the UFO phenomena in light of Numb3rs was what the character Charlie (young math professor genius) said to an FBI agent when the agent asked for help in solving a mystery. No matter how many times the agent went over the data he had, he just couldn’t figure it out, yet he knew he could, knew there was an answer. If only he had the right formula, or was shown some way to get at it. The math genius told him to “throw in more data.”

Throw in more data. And by doing so, said the character, we can begin to see a “connectivity” between the clues that will lead the agent to his solution.

Throw in more data. And yet that what much of UFOlogy doesn’t do. We don’t see a “connectivity” because we’re divided, we argue, -- we downright fight and attack at times (forget the skeptoids,sometimes we’re our own worst enemies) -- we pick a theory or two and stick with it. More data, especially data that throws us off, is rejected. After all this time, we’re still arguing over nuts and bolts versus an ETH, or an ultra terrestrial theory. ~ (UFO Magazine, 2007)

This past Friday’s episode, about a serial rapist, served as another inspiration. It turned out the rapist had a MRSA (antibiotic resistant staph infection) STD. One of the agents, in explaining MRSA to her co-workers, said (again paraphrasing)

“There’s only one type of antibiotic that can kill it, but doctor’s don’t want to give it out.”

That line had me thinking about my own MRSA infection, the disconnects and jangled messages from various sources -- including doctors -- and so I wrote an article about MRSA and Morgellons and this oppositional juxtaposition in MRSA and Morgellons: Jangled Messages.(Hopefully it will be up at Book of Thoth in a day or two.)

So, thanks Numb3rs for your contributions to my continued inspiration!


Notes:
Image credits:
http://www.daemonstv.com/images/cbs/numb3rs1.jpg
amazing-tv-shows.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

American Chronicle

UFO Magazine
Book of Thoth

Sunday Orb

The weeks go by too quickly! And when you work a full time job it’s difficult to spend the time you’d like with the realm of the weird. Here’s what’s been going on this past week:

New Blog: Women in Esoterica
I started a new blog: Women in Esoterica. Kind of clunky and too stuffy a title, I’ll probably change it soon.

My next lTrickster’s Realm article for Binnall of America should be up some time tomorrow; it’s on the new blog Women in Esoterica and why I started it.

Marian Apparition
I came across a good article on UFO Digest on a Marian Apparition. The writer’s name is Richelle Hawks and the article is The Virgin Tree of Salt Lake City


Ghost Photo Contest
I think Lesley is about to end the contest, if it isn’t ended already. Hurry over and see if it you can still submit a ghost photo.

The Zorgy Awards
Paul Kimball of The Other Side of Truth has decided to run his Zorgy Award campaign again. He’s taking nominations now. Categories include best UFO blob, best paranormal website, and many more. I came in third last year, much to my amazement. There are many great UFO blogs out there, but hey, I’ll ask anyway. Nominate me!

UFO Mystic
Two interesting articles on UFOs; what the phenomena is, how we should expand our thinking, over on UFO Mystic, Nick Redfern’s item on Steiger’s Shadow World book. Also Greg Bishop's piece on “objectivity.”

Book of Thoth
On The Book of Thoth is my piece on what I think UFOs are doing up there. They Want to be Seen, Not Discovered.

Book
I’m working away on a compilation to be an e-book of articles on skepticism. TBA.

UFO Magazine
My next article for UFO Magazine is on the expectations of disclosure.

Bigfoot
Lots of interesting things on Bigfoot, from sightings to escaped invisible Bigfoot from Livermore labs. This is an old story but reposted over at Cryptomundo in context of the Blogsquatcher’s post on the “lost” CBS footage of a captured Bigfoot in the 1960s. The Blogsquatcher by the way is a new Bigfoot blog that seems to be a very good one.

There's probably more, but I really should try to be responsible and get back in the “real” world and do things like housework. I also have a deadline (like, today) on my next piece for UFO Magazine. (this one on data.)

Have a good week, be safe, be kind, but don’t let the bastards grind you down.

Sunday Orb

Shameless Pleadings

Read my Bigfoot blog. Link to it, Favorite it on Technorati, talk about it. Leave comments. Enjoy. Or even if you don’t.

My Bigfoot blog Frame 352: The Stranger Side of Sasquatch.

And Shameless Self-Promotion:
I’ve submitted a piece to the Book of Thoth site: They Want to be Seen, Not Discovered. No guarantee it will be accepted, but hopefully it will be, so look out for it.

On UFO Digest is my piece
Disingenuous Infiltration on the unethical tactics of Abdullah Hashem and Donna Bassett. Yes, both are “old news” but that doesn’t mean anything.

Currently on Trickster’s Realm for Tim Binnall’s Binnall of America is my piece on the Trickster: No Mere Prankster. (and I must say I was very jazzed about Brad Steiger's nice email to me about the piece.)

In the current issue of UFO Magazine is my article on The Purple Road, about my New Agey self.

Ghost Picture Contest
Lesley of The Debris Field has her ghost pic contest going again. I entered a photo I took a few years ago at a local cemetery. Be sure to enter; it will be fun to see all the ghostly images!

Recent Orb Postings


I'm still reeling from Noory's Flintstone comment.
The UFO footage from Venezuela does seem too good to be true, as one person commented, it could be a blimp. Whatever, it's unlikely it was a flying saucer from outer space.

Update on ‘The Most Dangerous Idea in the World” - (Laura Knight-Jadczyk)

Wow. I just came across Dustin’s entry on his blog Odd Things on Laura Knight-Jadczyk. The synchronicity aside, I was right about what I commented on in the previous Laura entry; her anti-Semitism Jews run the evil world of the evil doers, don’t you know beliefs. What absolutely intrigues me is that Knight-Jadczyk writes extremely well, and is obviously no dummy. She’s quite smart; certainly smarter than I am. And yet we have, in the end, someone clinging to bigoted belief systems. When it comes to UFOs, aliens, and Forteana, none of us can afford to have such deeply entrenched beliefs about anything, except for the painfully obvious reality that “reality” is far from what it seems. Once you start creating a belief system around yourself, you’re doomed. Throw in ethnic/cultural/racial/religious bigotry, and you’re damned.

So little did I know. This little episode also reminds us that being intelligent isn’t always an accurate measurement of being intelligent. A lot of brilliant people have led cults and held paranoid, bigoted, insular beliefs -- and managed to get others to follow them.



Dustin’s Odd Things blog:
http://www.book-of-thoth.com/blogs/oddthings/

Cassiopaea site:
http://www.cassiopaeacult.com/

OrangeOrb blog: Laura Knight-Jadczyk: The Most Dangerous Idea in the World
http://orangeorb.blogspot.com/2007/05/laura-knight-jadczyk-most-dangerous.html