Random things

New post at Saucer Sightings, which includes a link to my current UFO Digest article on shared UFO experiences.

At Women of Esoterica, I comment on Lesley's Grey Matters column. As usual, Lesley has an insightful take on culture as it compares to UFO and esoteric phenomena.

McMinnville, UFO Festival less than two weeks away!

A couple of links at Frame 352; one leads to a beautiful story about Sasquatch from a Native perspective.

Still finding swine signals --- this swine flu thing is one hell of an interesting thing to watch unfold, as I post on Octopus Confessional.

And wondering about my "nazi ufos" blog but if I keep the title "nazi ufos" won't that imply I'm a neo-nazi, white supremacist? Sure wouldn't want that mistake!

Also, a couple of small items at Vintage UFO.

In the current issue of UFO Magazine, I write about Snippy and some odd activity surrounding that classic story.

Darklore III Now Available

The esoteric journal Darklore III is now available. Check out their website for ordering information, also, free pdf downloads of previous articles!

Sci Fi's Carny

Well, what a silly waste that was! Started off okay; hokey, but fun. Good monster. The Jersey Devil is caught, gets loose, causes a lot of trouble. SPOILER AHEAD...
I was enjoying it, as predictable as it was. Just enjoying the guilty pleasure of watching a TV movie about a monster. With Lou Diamond Phillips, so there you go.

But the movie didn't go anywhere, or, where it went ... didn't make sense. FAIR WARNING: here it is: at the very end, Lou Diamond Phillip's character - the sheriff, of course -- is killed. Everyone gets killed. Including the monster. The crazy preacher man character didn't make sense either; he's running around from the beginning of the movie warning everyone about the devil and how the actions of the townsfolk brought all this upon themselves; he has no compassion for the "freaks" in the carnival, and there were weird cuts and edits throughout, as if they had made the movie longer, or maybe originally wanted to air it as mini-series. For example, a relationship seemed to exist between the psychic at the carnival and the sheriff, but we didn't get to see any of that develop. A lot of plot lines were thrown out there, assuming that the audience would make assumptions.

A waste of time, too bad, but it was a good monster.

Out There TV Synchronicity

Late last night I went searching on-line for a link to Out There TV, Kate and Richard Mucci's paranormal/conspiracy television program out of Nevada. (Kate also writes a column for UFO Magazine.) For awhile, one of the local little stations in my area carried the show; then they stopped, soon after, the station disappeared. They'd air on Saturday afternoons and other random times.

I hadn't thought about the show for some time, but for some reason decided to look and see what I could find. I didn't find anything.

Then this morning, I was startled as well as pleased, to find that another, teeny, strange little station in our area carries Out There TV; on Sunday nights, at 8:00 pm. Same time as the Simpsons, what to do? :)

Billy Booth on Trinagles

Having seen a triangle myself, and a wedge shaped, or chevron shaped UFO as well, I'm extremely interested in similar reports. UFO researcher Billy Booth has good stuff on reports of these UFOs; you can read about them here.

New blog look; again

I know, I change schemes here a lot but look at it this way; it's in keeping with the ever shifting UFO itself. Makes a poetic sense. I just didn't like the blunt and ugly white/orange color scheme, don't like this a whole lot either but so tired of the black...so...until next time. Could be different in an hour, a few weeks, a couple of years. Exciting, eh?

I just looked this over and thinking, I do kind of like this . . . maybe tweak the text color just a tad but otherwise, I'm liking it better than I thought.

Sci-Fi Original Movie: CARNY

Coming from circus folk as I do, you know I'll be watching this. Carny, an original movie for the Sci-Fi channel, stars Lou Diamond Phillips, which makes it worth watching regardless of plot -- anyway, involves carny folk, a small town, and the Jersey Devil! Airs next Saturday, April 25th. Thanks to Alien UFO & The Paranormal Casebook for the news.

Shermer's Gorilla Suit Man

Michael Shermer, uber-skeptoid and professional debunker, did an experiment at the recent 2009 Science, Technology and Research Symposium in Charleston to show that Mothman (which he admits to knowing nothing about), Bigfoot (to which he says he does) and other paranormal/Fortean/esoteric/anomalous phenomena are figments of over-active imaginations, but more than that,illustrations of why we lie:

We already know that people lie; that happens all the time. ... The more interesting question is why do people fall for it," he said.

In other words, people who speak of witnessing UFOs or other strange events, are lying.

Sure, people lie about their experiences. They elaborate, embroider, exaggerate and outright lie. They hoax and they pull pranks. They're delusional and mentally ill, they're alcoholics and drug abusers. Some people. And for some people in that category, they present to the world tales of UFOs, strange creatures, aliens and visits to Venus.

Those aside, thousands upon thousands more people without that baggage -- and even with some of that baggage, does not automatically exclude the experience of such phenomena or cause it -- have encounters with the weird that cannot be explained by tired exercises into so-called rationality. Such as Shermer's. (Warning: ad hom ahead. "Smirking Shermer" as I like to call him. Come on, the man smirks for crying out loud. He's so taken with himself.)

Shermer instructs an audience to watch a video of basket ball players, watching for:

the number of times six young people passing basketballs, three of them in white shirts and three in black shirts. He asked the crowd to count how many times the three in white shirts passed the basketball to each other.

Afterward, Shermer had the crowd call out answers. Then he played the video again, telling everyone just to relax and not worry about counting passes this time. And to the amazement of many, about halfway through a person in a monkey suit walked from out-of-frame into the middle of the scene, paused, gave a friendly wave and then promptly walked off screen.

This proves, says Shermer, that people see what they want to see. Er, that means we don't want to see a man in a gorilla suit at the Lakers game?

What it says to me is this: when something weird and unexpected happens, especially in the midst of a mundane event, like a basketball game, we don't notice it. Which then means , that the weird, the unexpected, like say, a Mothman or a Bigfoot, even a UFO, goes right by us. It literally can be in front of our noses and we won't deal with the strangeness. In fact, when something highly unusual is going on, and the one or two people who do happen to be aware of it point it out to others, most people refuse to even look to see for themselves.

Shermer had his own out of body experience. Under laboratory conditions, don't you know. Which proves that no such thing as astral projection and OOBEs occur, since it can be recreated in the laboratory:

Shermer said he once had an out-of-body experience successfully recreated under laboratory conditions. It had nothing to do with his consciousness actually leaving his body.

This is another standard, and very tired meme of the uber-skeptic: that because something paranormal/anomalous can be recreated in the lab, it doesn't exist. Rather, it doesn't exist paranormally; of course it exists, they just recreated it! (The same is said of hoaxes, as the recent hoaxed UFO lights showed: to the skeptoid, UFO hoaxes "proves" that UFOs don't exist.)

Why do we insist upon "believing weird things" as Shermer so often phrases this conundrum of human existence? It has to do with evolution:

As for the reason people believe strange things, Shermer said it is rooted in humanity's evolutionary history and its psychological drive to connect invisible causes to the events around them. That movement in the grass may be the wind or it could be a predator.

Or fairies! It's fairies!

If we think of the movement in the grass as a predator, we're good ... Shermer concludes that if we think the worst: "better safe than sorry" then we believe that forces control the things we can't explain. Like a lion in the grass? Huh?

Shermer's presentation didn't prove a thing, but of course, the choir he preaches to think otherwise.

Soure: Science vs. ESP: Skeptic Ponders UFOs, Mothman

Rescued From The Trash: Moon Pics

A pirate flag at an old McDonald's site on NASA property and thousands of old moon images, rescued from the trash. Eventually the images will all be made available on-line, right now there's about thirty that NASA, along with "private corporations" (which NASA is as well) have put up on-line. The images were taken during the moon landing forty years ago, and reels upon reels of tape were about to be thrown out when they were "rescued." There's a lot of strange things about this story, from the pirate flag in the old McDonald's building, now a part of NASA property, to the idea that thousands of feet of film of the moon were "lost" all this time. And all of it shown on a pieced together machine:

Three researchers huddle around a wheezing 45-year-old Ampex FR-900A tape machine, a one-of-a-kind reel to reel 2-inch model designed to record data for the National Security Agency.

These tapes hold the best images of the moon ever taken, even to today,” says Dennis Wingo, a lanky 55-year-old engineering physicist who heads the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project.

Nimoy on Fringe

My favorite television show FRINGE (besides the BBC's Torchwood, if that ever comes back as promised) will have a new character: William Bell, played by Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy's character will be introduced this season, then FRiNGE will return in the fall, along with Nimoy. Pretty cool!

Building Juxtapositions in the Neighborhood

I'm not sure what this means, but the other day as I was taking my walk I noticed the oddness of the fact that the Army Reserve building sits directly across from the Scottish Rite Temple (Mason.) The two fronts face each other. Behind the Army Reserve building is the side street -- newly constructed, with the remodel of the elementary school-- that leads to the school. So elementary school faces the back of the Army Reserve grounds, the front of the Army Reserve building faces the Scottish Rite Temple.

10th Annual McMinville, Oregon UFO Festival

It’s Headed Right For Us!

The 10th Annual UFO Festival at McMenamins Hotel Oregon

UFO enthusiasts are making plans to converge in Oregon wine country

All are welcome -- event tickets now on sale at www.ufofest.com

McMINNVILLE, Ore.—Thursday, April 2, 2009—The buzz is building as we get closer to the 10th Annual UFO Festival on May 15 and 16, 2009, hosted by McMenamins Hotel Oregon. The festival, set in a small town in the middle of Oregon wine country, explores and celebrates the possibilities of life beyond Earth. On our decade anniversary, we welcome keynote speaker and journalist Linda Moulton Howe, who will discuss a 1974 military encounter with a UFO; Kathleen Marden and Stanton Friedman, co-authors of Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience. The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction (2007); and UFO witnesses Kris and Marc Bales. Tickets are $10 per event, $15 for two ticketed events or $25 for all three events; UFO tickets are available at www.ufofest.com.

Skeptics and believers alike are invited to enjoy all the events happening throughout the weekend – an outdoor festival tent and UFO gift shop, live blues and Americana from Gavin Wahl-Stephens, an outlandish alien costume parade, an alien pet costume contest, a performance of the 1938 Orson Welles classic “War of the Worlds” by Willamette Radio Workshop and more! And have a pint or two of McMenamins Alienator Ale, handcrafted especially for the event. To cap off the weekend, attend our Alien Costume Ball for live rock ‘n’ roll by Big Mama Gayle & Her Sugar Daddies and a chance to win prizes for the most comical or well-done space outfit. All events are free and open to all ages, unless otherwise noted. Additional information and photos can be found at www.ufofest.com.

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Please note: All of our speakers are available for print, radio and television interviews. Contact Renee Rank, McMenamins Marketing Director, at (503) 492-5457 or ReneeR@ed.mcmenamin.com for scheduling and availability. See www.ufofest.com for additional photos and a video from our 2008 event, along with schedule details, festival history and beyond…


About the Speakers:

Linda Moulton Howe • Saturday, May 16 • 4 p.m.

Reporter/Editor for Earthfiles.com and Investigative Reporter for “Coast to Coast AM with George Noory” and “Dreamland Online” with Whitley Strieber

Linda Moulton Howe is a graduate of Stanford University who has devoted her film, television and radio career to science, medicine and the environment. With videotaped interviews, slides and illustrations, Howe will present one family’s eyewitness account of a 1974 military encounter with a UFO in Albuquerque, NM.

Kathleen Marden • Friday, May 15 • 7 p.m. (in conjunction with Stanton Friedman)

UFO Researcher and Co-Author with Stanton Friedman of Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience. The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction (2007)

Marden is the niece of Betty and Barney Hill, the focus of one of the most well-known alien abductions in UFO history. With UFO research luminary Stanton Friedman, Marden co-authored the story of her aunt and uncle’s harrowing 1961 experience. During her long career as a social worker, educator and certified hypnotherapist, Marden implemented model educational programs and taught adult education classes on UFO and abduction history. For 10 years, she served on the MUFON Board of Directors as the Director of Field Investigator Training.



Stanton Friedman • Friday, May 15 • 7 p.m. (in conjunction with Kathleen Marden)

Internationally Recognized UFO Researcher and Lecturer

In 1970, Friedman left his career as a physicist to pursue the scientific investigation of UFOs. Since then, he has lectured at more than 600 colleges and 100 professional groups in 50 states, nine provinces and 16 foreign countries. Friedman has published more than 80 UFO-related papers and has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs. He has also provided written testimony to Congressional hearings and appeared twice at the United Nations.



Kris and Marc Bales • Saturday, May 16 • 10 a.m.

UFO Witnesses, Northern Idaho, September 2000

While on an overnight hunting trip, four men witnessed an enormous, triangular object hovering 200 feet above them. The report they filed with the National UFO Reporting Center reads: “My brother and I ... like to think we are normal, educated, businesspeople. ... We all have excellent eyesight. This was also a ‘dry’ camp. Although this exceeded the limits of our known comprehension we felt privileged to have witnessed this most incredible piece of equipment.” Two of these eyewitnesses will relate their incredible experience.



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2009 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

All ticketed events will be held at the McMinnville Community Center (600 NE Evans St.), just two blocks away from McMenamins Hotel Oregon.



All events are free and welcome to all ages (unless noted).



Friday, May 15

Kathleen Marden & Stanton Friedman

Co-authors of Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience

Doors at 6 p.m.; event at 7 p.m. • McMinnville Community Center

$10 per person; tickets available online or at the door (multi-event discount available)



Live music by Gavin Wahl-Stephens

As part of the Great Northwest Music Tour

7 p.m. • Mattie’s Room at Hotel Oregon



Live music by Kirby Swatosh & The Moon Rock Patrol

7 p.m. • Cellar Bar at Hotel Oregon • 21 & over



Saturday, May 16

Food & Concessions Tent

9 a.m. ‘til 6 p.m. • Evans St.



UFO Witnesses Marc and Kris Bayles

Doors at 9 a.m.; event at 10 a.m. • McMinnville Community Center

$10 per person; tickets available online or at the door (multi-event discount available)

Food and drinks will be available for purchase.

Following the Bales presentation: Peter Davenport, Director of the National UFO Reporting Center (Seattle, WA)

Davenport will discuss UFO cases that were reported in 2008.



Vivid Curve Digeridoo-Making for Kids

Kids can make a cool digeridoo and then walk in the parade and play them.

11 a.m. • U.S. Bank Plaza on Third St. • First come, first serve (up to 50 kids)



UFO Costume Parade

1 p.m. • Third St.

From school groups to marching bands to crazy floats to dancing Hammerheads, all are welcome to participate in the parade! Go to ufofest.com for an application!



Alien Pet Costume Contest

2 p.m. • U.S. Bank Plaza on Third St.

Dress little Spot or Fluffy up as a UFO, an alien or what-have-you! Give your pet a moment in the alien spotlight.



A Performance of Orson Welles’ classic “War of the Worlds” by Willamette Radio Workshop

2 p.m. • Mattie's Room at Hotel Oregon



Speaker’s Forum with Keynote Speaker Linda Moulton Howe, investigative reporter and editor of Earthfiles.com

Doors at 3 p.m.; event at 4 p.m. • McMinnville Community Center

$10 per person; tickets available online or at the door (multi-event discount available)

Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

Following the Keynote Forum: A Q&A panel emceed by Peter Davenport, including Kathleen Marden, Stanton Friedman and Peter Robbins.



Live music by Kirby Swatosh & The Moon Rock Patrol

7 p.m. • Cellar Bar at Hotel Oregon • 21 & over



Alien Costume Ball

Featuring the live music of Big Mama Gayle & Her Sugar Daddies

7 p.m. • Mattie's Room at Hotel Oregon • 21 & over



Rooms at McMenamins Hotel Oregon are sold out – please refer to the McMinnville Downtowners Association or the Chamber of Commerce for alternate local lodging.



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ABOUT McMENAMINS HOTEL OREGON

Set in Oregon’s idyllic wine country 40 miles south of Portland, McMenamins’ historic 1905 hotel in McMinnville is the perfect retreat for guests wanting to uncork and unwind. Cozy guestrooms, a comfortable restaurant and pub, live music on weekends, the legendary Rooftop Bar and more offer visitors from far and wide several reasons to simply relax. Hotel Oregon is also home to the quirky and fun UFO Festival, now in its 10th year and the second-largest alien-related gathering in the nation! More than 5,000 visitors convened in downtown McMinnville for the 2008 festival and parade. The festival began as a way to honor the 1950 Trent UFO sighting in which two local citizens witnessed and photographed an unknown craft hovering in the sky above, said to be some of the most credible images of UFOs to date. See ufofest.com for more information.


ABOUT McMENAMINS HOTELS, PUBS & BREWERIES

The name “McMenamin” is well known throughout the Pacific Northwest, signifying a great place to enjoy handcrafted ales, wine, spirits and pub fare with family and friends. The dream began more than 20 years ago in the hearts of brothers Mike and Brian McMenamin. With 56 properties (including Hotel Oregon) and counting, the siblings are considered to be pioneers of the Pacific Northwest microbrew, historic hotels and music venue industries. Go to mcmenamins.com for additional information.

New blog find: Hidden Experiences

A very interesting and cool new blog: Hidden Experiences. Thanks to UFO Mystic for the link. ">

New podcast: Cafe Esoterica!

Clearly, I mean it's so obvious, there simply aren't enough paranormal/UFO/conspiracy podcasts, so naturally I had to start one. Well, I'm in the process of going about figuring out how to start one. Something like that.

So be on the lookout. That either means you'll run and listen to something else, anything else, when you know the air date, or you'll tune in.

Format is talk. Not interviewing, just talking. Me and Jim. Seriously, for thirty something years, people have been telling us we should have our own show. They meant in a comedic, Stiller and Mera (that's a dated reference!) kind of way, but still. I want guests of course; it's not going to be just me. Or Jim. Don't be scared. It'll be fun.

Things like self promotion and a spiffy logo and when, how often and how long...details.

All right, off to figure things out now.

Adam Gorightly on L.O.W.F.I. and John Rhodes

Adam Gorightly has an item up at his blog on the L.O.W.F.I. uber-blog on John Rhodes, the reptilian crypto guy who will be on Coast to Coast tonight. This is an interview I'm looking forward to hearing.