The Drone Meme

My latest for UFO Digest:The Drone Meme, on all this Chad drone business. This will make more sense after you read the article, but after I submitted it to Dirk at UFO Digest, I received this in my email box:Drones Unveiled. All about ET and drones and covert government operations. As I say in the article, reminds me of SERPO.

Mating Hedgehogs: New blog

FYI, it's been around awhile, but I hadn't done anything to announce it. Formerly called "ear mouse" until I discovered there's already a lot of things named "ear mouse." Go figure. So now it's
"Mating Hedgehogs," in honor of my favorite debunker theory to explain crop circles. Take a look.

Pole Dancing Mom Okay; Alien Not

I love the wacky juxtaposed values here:
Pole dancing ad ruled OK but aliens are out, By Liam Houlihan and David Nankervis

POLE dancing strippers are compatible with family values, but animated aliens bearing hamburgers are deemed unfit for television, Australia's ad watchdog says.

The Advertising Standards Bureau dismissed 200 public complaints about a Nando's chicken chain ad featuring a pole dancer wearing only a G-string.

But an animated McDonald's advertisement showing a girl being abducted by aliens and rewarded with a Happy Meal has been axed for undermining "stranger danger" messages.

UFOs in Eugene?

UFOs in Eugene

Just a passing thought: doesn’t seem to be the same level of interest in UFOs here in the Eugene area as there is ghosts. Even though Eugene is considered a “mini UFO hot spot” (I read that somewhere) there isn’t any local UFO group. There’s a MUFON chapter in Portland, two hundred miles away. There’s a state wide paranormal society; TEPS (Trial’s End Paranormal Society.) Last time I heard from them, they were interested in starting up a UFO department, but don’t know what came of that. A new group is forming in Eugene; if I have their permission I’ll post more about it. Their focus seems to be on ghosts, although, again, they are interested in UFOs. Their first meeting is in a couple of weeks; maybe I’ll know more at that time.

There was also Oregon UFO Review, run by Eric Byler in Salem, Oregon. Oregon UFO Review had investigators all over the state, but last few times I’ve checked, they seem to have disappeared. If anyone knows anything about them, I’d appreciate an e-mail or comment.

There is a loose group of individuals here who are interested, and they meet informally a few times a year. I hesitate to name them; I don’t think they want the publicity. There isn’t any investigation going on, per se, but sharing of information and ideas.

The local media seems to have ignored UFOs in the past few years as well. Ten years or so ago, they were far more active.

I know there are plenty of sightings in the area; I hear about them all the time. I’m sure MUFON in Portland, NUFORC, etc. do as well. What purpose would a group serve? Not sure. First problem is, as soon as you have a ‘group” you’re in trouble. Too many meetings, rules, etc. I'm not wired that way. But a loose resource center for local, interested parties might be nice.

The Missing Space of Missing Time Incidents

Over on the blog “The Heavy Stuff” is a well written piece on missing time: The Missing Space of Missing Time Incidents. I’m not sure what to think about his ideas yet; I’ll need to read it a couple more times. But good to know someone out there is thinking about the very weird experience of “missing time.”

As some OrangeOrb readers know, I’ve had two experiences of missing time myself; one connected with a UFO sighting, one without. Both involved the same witness (there were two of us.)

Two columns by Greg Bishop of UFO Mystic

Why is it we’re all supposed to sit around and nod politelyu and not say anything “rude” at all when someone tells us they’re a Christian, how they just went to their church picnic, etc. but everyone titters and rolls their eyes if you mention UFOs? Which at least exist, in the literal sense. But don’t get me started.

Back to Greg; from May:
Christians Want UFOs Taught in Schools, and from today: Fundame ntalist
Skeptics Dumber.

Balloon-y Jetty Blue

At a barbecue last week, and standing around outside. We had just finished up a conversation about UFOs (which went quickly from the area of UFOs as physical craft to ESP, for some reason) and two odd things happened. Maybe three odd things, since I know that the two odd things wouldn’t seem at all odd to the others involved.

A note: none of the others were much interested in UFOs, or had had sightings of their own. (That they acknowledged.) They though my interest in the topic was, well, interesting, but that was about it. A big dud as far as getting any interesting stories, heh.




Balloons
We looked up at the sky; commenting on the coolish weather. We all were expecting a sunny day; even at this late hour we were still hoping. (Approximately 6:00 ish.) Someone commented that there was a balloon up there, we looked. I didn’t see anything, but this person insisted there was a mylar balloon up there. Then another person said that one time he and his friend were out in the California desert, and a large silver mylar balloon landed right in front of them. He seemed very intrigued by the balloon, remembered its shape, its red letters, etc. HIs point was, that the winds can carry objects all over the place and for long distances, and . . . not real sure what his point was. He said it was pretty funny how a balloon could travel that far and land in an isolated area right at their feet.

It wasn’t until later that night, after we got home, that I thought about that story again, and how strange it was that a balloon would travel so many miles and just happen to land in right in front of the only two people in the area. I asked my husband: “Did you think there was something a little “off” about that story?” He agreed. We both commented that neither one of us commented about anything like cover memories, missing time, etc. It just wasn’t that kind of crowd. This is what happens to your mind after you’ve been immersed in UFOs and esoteric phenomeana for a few years.

“Jetty Blue” Glowing UFO-Plane Thing
While we were standing in the circle, at the same time the “balloon” was apparently drifting above us, I saw an iridescent blue-turquoise-blue cigar shaped object. It was very high up; I suppose as high as a plane could get, but it did seem higher than the usual passenger plane. It was moving steadily in the same direction, very slowly. in a North to South direction. The same person who was saying “that’s a balloony up there,” said, when I pointed out the blue object, was “That’s a Jet Blue.” I said, “Oh, okay.” It could have been a plane; so high up, all you could see was the shape, no wings, etc. I kept looking at it, watching for, among other things, lettering or different colors, but the whole thing was this one consistent color. It stayed the same color as it traveled. I realized that this iridescent color (which was beautiful) seemed to be lit from inside. And all this while, as I kept peeking up to look at it, this person was saying, “That’s a jetty-blue” almost like a little kid. (Even though she wasn’t looking up; no one was.) The others didn’t look up (an interesting response in itself) or, if they did, shrugged and continued talking. The next time I looked it was gone.


Blue
The blue wasn’t the same color blue as the Jet Blue color, though it could have appeared differently way up there. I looked up Jet Blue on-line, lots of images and variations on design and color, but nothing that looked like what I saw. The most intriguing thing was the damn color and its intensity; the way it glowed, seemingly from within.

All These Damn Sightings
Happen because. . .? Well, we know what some would say. Forget them. The happen because I make it a point to look. It’s surprising to me how many people do not look up, even when others around them are looking up.

Is it possible Dr. Jacob’s is correct, when he says UFO sightings aren’t always random, and that there is a reason for “repeat” witnesses, or long term witnesses? Or do we, as the more esoteric, metaphysical minded thinkers suggest, somehow create these sightings, or take a somewhat equal part in their appearance, and our witness to them? Does intent have anything to do with sightings?

They also happen because there are a lot of weird things up there, and until they’re IFOs (Identified Flying Objects) they’re UFOs. While not every UFO is a flying saucer from Mars, that doesn’t exclude the possibility some are from Mars, or, Somewhere Else. And, some are whatever highly classified top secret covert psy ops Dr. Evil projects are going on up there.

Brittish MOD: "Worst Person in the World"

Future husband of Air America’s Stephanie Miller, and journalist Keith Olbermann mentioned on UFO Updates. Found this on UFO Updates: Keith Olbermann made The Brittish Ministry of Defense “worst person in the world” for its stand on UFOs.

Lisa Shiel on BoA!

Tim Binnall of BoA interviews Lisa Shiel, "paranormal" Bigfoot researcher -- and witness -- and author of Backyard Bigfoot. Listen to a preview of the interview here: Lisa Shiel on BoA.

Women of Wikipedia

Cliff Pickover, of Reality Carnival, edits Women of Wikipedia. Very cool!

“No, No! I’m the Bee Doctor:” Parodies and More on George Noory

In light of Jeremy Vaeni’s experience with George Noory on C2C, here are a few items I’ve found:

On Tim Binnall’s BoA, this item on
Touched by an Angel.

Parody of George Noory; this is very funny!

And Noory gets decidedly weird and peevish on the Fantastic Four Forum,
threatening some with lawsuits.

Lesley on Grey Matters writes about her feelings on Noory.

Grey Matters: “One Week, Two Disasters”

Lesley of the Debris Field blog also has a column over on BoA: Grey Matters. This week Lesley writes about George Noory,his Sci Fi show, and the weird “Could it have been an angel” interview with Jeremy Vaeni.

About the interview with Jeremy, Lesley writes:
The interview started out like any other, but within a few minutes it was obvious that Noory was not listening to what Jeremy was saying and was instead probably reading prewritten questions. I have known for a long time that Noory uses prewritten questions, but never has it been so obvious. At least I hope he was reading prewritten questions because if he was coming up with those based on anything Jeremy said, it must have been some Jeremy in an alternate universe.

I agree; it was a surreal moment when Noory asked that question about the alien. The whole interview (what I heard of it) was surreal.

There’s more; be sure to take a look!

“Young” UFOlogy

At the risk of appearing patronizing, as well as guilty of some kind of “ism” (youthism? ageism? oldism?) there has been discussion here and there, now and then, about younger UFO and paranormal, Fortean researchers. Kimball, Loren Coleman, and others have commented on this not too long ago.

It is a good thing to see younger people (jesus, that makes me sound so old!) (Well, guess I am, let’s face it. . .) involved in these studies. What do I mean by “younger people?” Seems a bit arbitrary to just cut people off at an age. I don’t know, under forty? Under fifty? I’ll let you all decide. Me, I’m fifty er, um, okay, three. I said it! Fifty damn three years old. In my head, I’m still twelve, somedays twenty-two, but the outside doesn’t show it. Or feel it. Anyway, enough about me and my old age, here are two younger people writing on UFOs and related topics:

Tina Sena is one that’s been mentioned earlier. She has her own blog, Yufology, and writes for BoA, writing her Esoterica column.

Another younger person is Ross Howard, author of the blog AETHER THEORIES.

From Spooky Paradigm: “The Different Phenomena of the Social History of UFOs and Other Weird Things”

There’s a great piece on the Spooky Paradigm blog:

“The Different Phenomena of the Social History of UFOs and Other Weird Things” by “ahtzib” who teaches a course on UFOs. As he points out, the problem with using academically approved type material addressing UFOs is that, well, it’s academically approved type material. (My words, not his.) These authors often are ignorant of the vast subject area of UFOs, and approach UFOs --or use UFOs -- as a pivot for their own pet field, theory, or study. UFOs are still cutting edge in academia, and you can do all kinds of things in terms of your own discipline. UFOs however aren’t to be taken seriously; not by themselves. Wrapped around anthropological theories and studies, or psychology, etc. it’s useful subject, as long as the writer "explains" UFOs away; as social anxiety for example, or post 9/11 fears.

Regarding Jung, this is what ahtzib writes:

A question I get asked all the time by academics is if I've read Carl Jung's (1978) writings (they typically haven't) on flying saucers. I have, and they're terrible. Mystical claptrap on how the saucer, being round, is a symbol of oneness in a dangerous age. Jung works largely with dreams and artwork that is only tangentially linked to UFOs. And yet because of Jung's name, this is top-shelf stuff. Saranov (1981) picks up the torch and jumbles up a bunch of vague similarities between 19th century Airship stories and various folktales, says it is all symbolic of something, and calls it a day.
The problem is in theories presented as “fact” to explain UFO sightings, rather than study those who see UFOs, and study UFOs. The problem with ignoring the latter, and focusing on the former Is:
What we cannot do is try to make those all the same people. Because if you do, your carelessness will simply muddy the water, and you'll just end up telling yourself a just-so story. These are different phenomena requiring different tools and theories to study. This happens all the time in conversation, or in informal study. Someone will put forth some vague broad brush notion to explain a social phenomenon. In this case, it might be "People see UFOs because they are concerned about some problem in society" or "People see UFOs because of status inconsistency" or "People see UFOs because of a symbolic need." But it then makes it into more formal opinion columns and essays in publications and blogs, and as I cite above, into scientific and academic articles.

As we know, this is true. It becomes a sort of meme; and often passed along by many within UFOlogy who should know better.

There is a lot more here, and it’s worth reading. His students are lucky to have a teacher who is introducing the study of UFOs from this perspective.

"Intrusive Ghost Hunters" on BoA

You can read my current Trickster’s Realm column on BoA, about
Intrusive Ghost Hunting, where I wonder if it’s not a rude thing, to be going about demanding that the spirits appear, shouting for them to show themselves, while clanging about with all kinds of clattering, heavy equipment and people calling out to Jesus every two minutes.