Controlling Information: Colin Andrews on Conference Cancellation and the Future

Earlier today I posted a link to Colin Andrew's site, with a brief note on the cancellation of the Power Places International Crop Circle Conference. The conference was cancelled because, according to

Andrews, the conference coordinators refused to give in to the demands by researchers Michael Glickman and Gary King, who insisted Power Places directors dis-invite Colin Andrews, also scheduled to speak. Rather than acquiesce to Glickman's and King's ridiculous and arrogant demands, the decision was made to cancel altogether.  (Andrews linked to further commentary on his post; see here.

Andrews is both understanding and respectful of that decision, yet also understands what's at stake and who's responsible for the chilling reality that there are those on the inside -- our side -- as well as the expected outside, who would control information, and our ability to think for ourselves:

The public is treated as if they are no longer considered
worthy of receiving all points of view. Free thinking has
become a threat to easily led masses and many, from all
sides, are trying to control available information.

Andrews is not surprised that this happened however, and urges us to acknowledge these realities and then move on. At least, that's how I interpret his message; we are responsible for what can happen:

The situation we find ourselves in is not unexpected. It
fits perfectly into the discussion of “2012” and the
transitional period we are in. This is a time when old
structures of deceit and manipulation are failing.
Transformation into new and better structures for the
future is underway. What the future will look like
depends on what we create in the actions and decisions
we make today.  It depends on freedom of thought,
freedom of information and freedom of spirit. This is
what my research has been based on.

The point here, for me, is not whether one agrees with Andrews or anyone else; it's about access to information. There are those on the inside, let alone the outside of the fringes, who think nothing of making threats, behaving arrogantly and making demands in regards to information. That of course sends the clear message to the rest of us that we can't be trusted to think for ourselves. 

I've been commenting a lot here and there about the meme that UFOlogy is dead, and how it isn't dead at all. It's shifting, as all things are, within and without the esoteric world. The demands made by Glickman and King is just one more example of the shifts taking place in "fringe world." And while that may sound flippant, I will say, New Agey as it may be, that this is very important, and does affect, and will affect, all aspects of our world on many levels; from the mainstream to the anomalous.

I was surprised to hear that Glickman pulled this low brow stunt. I don't much of the crop circle research world or the researchers but from what I've seen of Glickman  -- primarily the Star Dreams DVD on crop circles -- he seemed above this kind of thing.

But, again, this isn't about agreement with this researcher or that, but the control of information, and, by natural extension, the control of "the people."  It's a pitiful reality we see this over and over in all categories of Fortean, paranormal -- call it what you will -- research. That, to me, is what "hurts" UFOlogy, or Bigfootology, or whatever -ology it is you're involved in. 

When I first heard Colin Andrews discuss his now famously misunderstood idea that most crop circles are "fake" I didn't want to hear it. I felt betrayed, and confused. But I listened. And found out Andrews isn't saying anything so simplistic at all --- far from it. Far from it. It seems to me that certainly fellow researchers would get that. I'll go so far as to say they do get it, and that's what makes their actions even more reprehensible.  I have no proof they do get it and are lying, simply my opinion. It's difficult to believe that researchers would be so lax in their awareness of what a Colin Andrews is doing and yet go so far as to demand he be removed from the presenter's list.

New Trickster's Realm: "Twilight Language: Cold War Inklings?"

My new Trickster's Realm is up at Binnall of America: Twilight Language: Cold War Inklings?" about the numerous Russian connections popping up in the culture stream.

Politics and entertainment (I know, what's the difference) merged when Vice President Joe Biden appeared on the Jay Leno show. Biden joined Leno in a comedy sketch and later, they discussed the busted Russian spy ring. Leno showed a photo of one of the alleged spies, Anna Chapman, who's been described as "sultry" by every talking head and newspaper it seems. Leno showed a photo of alleged spy Chapman and asked: "Do we have any spies that hot?" to which Biden, a frustrated comedian, said: "Let me be clear. It was not my idea to send her back." 

One element I could have added but didn't think of: the new movie SALT, with Angelina Jolie. I haven't seen the movie but here is another example of a "sultry" sexy female spy and a Russian connection. Is Jolie's character a good spy or a bad (Russian) spy?

Things are not what they seem in these culture episodes; politicians as thwarted comedians, Russian spies as citizens, Russian lovers/actresses/entertainers, betrayals, non-Russians appearing as Russians . . . is the culture missing the Cold War?

2010 Crop Circle Conference in England Cancelled "Due to Attempts to Dictate Program"

From Colin Andrews: bewildering news: 2010 International Crop Circle Conference Cancelled Following Due to Attempts to Dictate the Program.

“Power Places Tours Program Directors were contacted by Michael Glickman and Gary King, who were also speaking at the conference, insisting that I be removed from the ticket or they would not present. Power Places Tours Directors refused to do this, deciding instead to cancel the entire Conference"

I don't know why anyone, especially at a Crop Circle conference, would not want Colin Andrews speaking. Even if one disagrees with Colin's perceptions and what he has to say, so be it. Other speakers would present their views. What are some people afraid of? Parallels to UFO and Bigfoot conferences as well. It's sad and ironic that some other speakers themselves would pull this kind of thing. 

Vintage U.F.O. Back on Blogspot

Last year I moved Vintage U.F.O. to WordPress, and it was okay, but I can't afford to keep it going. So moving Vintage U.F.O. back to blogger.

Nick Redfern and Raven Meindel: Podcast: Exploring All Realms

Nick Redfern, with co-host Raven Meindel, will present their first episode of Exploring All Realms July 15th. Nick writes:

I'm very pleased to announce that from this coming Thursday night (July 15) at 9PM EST I will be co-hosting a regular, weekly, 1-hour-long radio show with good friend Raven Meindel called Exploring All Realms. For all the information on times, schedules, guests and more, see: http://apexn.com/

The Red Bluejay: Birds and Omens

I'm standing inside a grove of trees. It's daytime. A woman is with me; she's tall, possibly in her mid to late thirties, long white hair, dressed in a long white gown, with gold trim. She's slightly pale; not unhealthy, just a white cast to her skin. She lives here, or knows all about this place, and is my guide to this place. Not many are allowed to come here, or know about this place. I don't know why I'm here exactly, or how I got here, but here I am.

I'm in the middle of the grove, the woman is behind me, slightly to my left. A blue jay appears and flies, in circles, around me, faster and faster. I am excited and surprised at both the appearance of the blue jay, as well as its behavior. The blue jay looks exactly like a blue jay, except that it's red. I call out "Look, look at that! The blue jay is red, it's red!" almost like a child would exclaim. The bird keeps flying around me, in a perfect circle, faster and faster. Now I'm feeling a little alarmed; this is strange behavior for any bird.


The woman tells me to stand still, and watch. And wait. 


The red blue jay keeps flying faster, ever faster, in a circle around me. Then it changes into a hummingbird. I call out, again almost like a child:  "It's a hummingbird, a hummingbird! It turned into a hummingbird!" The woman tells me to look closer, and I realize it's not a hummingbird, it's not a bird of any kind, it's an orb.


A small reddish-brown orb, a solid object, a definite machine of some kind. The orb keeps moving around me, ever faster, in a circle, as I stand there. The woman sternly tells me to stay there and watch. What I'm about to see is very important, she tells me, and I'm here for a reason.


And unfortunately, that's when I wake up.

I had this dream the night I posted this item about Colin Andrews news about an orb and crop circles. The next day I received an email from Colin Andrews. And found  that Nick Redfern had a moving post about his recent experiences with birds: Dead Birds, on There's Something in the Woods.

A few days ago I experienced bird synchronicities. We were driving out Lorane Highway on our way to "The House of Mystery," Oregon's vortex in Gold Hill (a place known for being a UFO hot spot of sorts, and home to some abduction accounts, one which I wrote about here.) The night before, I had a persistent uncomfortable feeling about driving out there. As much as I wanted to see the place, I just didn't feel right about going out there. I woke up bitchy and grumpy and told Jim if he didn't want to go it was all right. He said it was fine. As we were driving, we saw vultures on the side of the road. Not unusual to see vultures but we don't often see them right on the side of the road like that, just standing there. Suddenly, just as we drive by, one swoops up into the air, a long snake dangling from its claws.  We both thought that was odd, and kept driving.

I told Jim again that we didn't have to go; this time he said he didn't want to go either. By this time we were on the interstate; too far to turn back for nothing, yet, didn't want to go. He told me he couldn't explain it but had the same feeling. He didn't say anything because he didn't want to influence me, and knew I wanted to go. I assured him I couldn't explain it but had a bad feeling about going. We happily agreed to go to Wildlife Safari instead and had a great time.

On the way back, traveling again on Lorane Highway, we saw more vultures  standing right on the side of the road, several miles from where we saw the first vultures. We commented on how odd this was, then noticed the vulture was standing on top of a dead deer.
 

From Speculative Realms: "DIe, UFOlogy, Die!"

The fraud is not the main event. The fraud is sleight of hand to accomplish the suspension of analytic activity in the reader’s mind so that the apocalyptic message can enter, through the backdoor, the rooms of the mind where it finds its welcome.

That's from an excellent article by Gary Haden at Speculative Realms: "Die, UFOlogy, Die!"

---

UFOlogy isn't dead now, and it never was. It's a meme, a myth, that UFOlogy is "dead."  UFOlogy is shifting, lots of upheavals as we've recently seen (Jacobs, Carrion, Texas MUFON, etc.) but all of those episodes and more haven't killed UFOlogy, just shook it up a lot.

Richard Dolan at X-Conference 2010 (A.D. Disclosure)

Colin Andrews: New Images of Orb Object in Crop Circle

New information on an orb shaped object during creation of a crop circle, with witness comments. Very interesting!

Random Rant for the Day

There are some persnickety legal nitpicking minutiae over linking to sites, but basically, it's perfectly legal, ethical and normal in a common-sense-I'm-a-blogger-and-want-people-to-know-all-about-my-genius-insights kind of way to expect and want others to link to your blog or site. You don't need permission, you don't need qualifiers, ... if you don't want people linking to your blog, then try this: SHUT UP and stay off the internet.

Jacobs, Hopkins, Woods, Interpretations, and Getting It. . .

Everyone in UFO Land knows who David Jacobs and Budd Hopkins are. I believe that, way back when, both were sincere in their efforts to unravel a bit the mystery of UFOs. I believe Hopkins is still  sincere, but after hearing plenty of Jacob's participation in regards to Emma Woods, it just gets worse and worse. Any sincerity Jacob's might have had has turned into All About Me, and little about any UFO "truth." Woods may be fragile, may even have "issues" (for fucks' sake, who doesn't.)  If you have had a life time of weird experiences, finding no support or insights from various authorities whose job it is, presumably, to help in these matters, you too might be "obsessed" as Jacobs has called Woods. As Gary Haden at Speculative Realms said back in May:

Some of the so-called "balanced" observers maintain that the recordings Emma Woods made of her conversations with Jacobs were altered and content damning to Emma was edited out. I suspect they hope to find in the edited material evidence that exonerates Jacobs. I'll address that later in the post. The question here is whether any material could exonerate Jacobs.

David Jacob's actions as a UFO researcher -- note: UFO researcher, (and history professor), not psychologist, medical doctor or therapist of any kind -- are reprehensible. Jacobs makes it clear he isn't any of those things but his actions negate his empty explanations.  It's not about "is Emma nuts?" as so many have decided, it's, to quote Haden again, an:

"... attempt to use Emma's mental health history, in violation of confidentiality protections she is due, simply to justify belief in the existence of extraterrestrials would be a disgusting example of just how far gone certain paranormal authorities are."

Some contend that, well, it is all an even split. He's nuts. She's nuts.

No. It's not an even split. She is not nuts. He was insane.

Let's get something straight: hypnotizing someone and diagnosing them with multiple personality disorder for the purpose of evading capture by aliens was not just an act of a fruitcake. It was an insane act.

A few weeks ago Hopkins was the guest on Coast to Coast. Interesting interview but I found myself frustrated with much of what Hopkin's had to say; or rather, his interpretations of the UFO puzzle/question/enigma. . . for example, he isn't much given to spiritual religious considerations, which colors his interpretations of would be motivations and agendas of any aliens, UFOs, and the dynamic between witness and UFO/alien. And, for that matter, between researcher and witness. . .

And this is a key point. Both Hopkins, who has stood up for Jacobs throughout this disgusting Jacobs scandal, have come to conclusions about the UFO phenomena. They both have firm interpretations, -- answers -- to what UFOs and their occupants are, what they're doing and why . . .

Jacobs so much so he's created a surreal swirl of typical UFO insanity that include things like alien hybrid e-mails and requests for Emma Woods panties to be sent to him -- unwashed. (To check for DNA don't you know.)

I don't know what's going on with abductions; I don't know what missing time and other high strangeness weirdness is all about. NO idea. (A lot of possible explanations I do reject however; sleep paralysis? Can we please get past that stupid theory?)

I've had a life long experience with sightings, telepathy, "aliens" or non-human beings, shared experiences, missing time, and so much more. And I'm not any closer to answers than I was when I was younger.

Has anyone read what Woods has to say about her life long experiences? 

Most of my memories of my anomalous experiences are fragmentary and I am aware that there is much that I do not understand about them. Nevertheless, the experiences have had a major impact on my life. In part, this is because of my inability to have complete recall of them, and also because I have had no framework within which to understand, process and assimilate them.

That's what a lot of us can say about our experiences involving UFOs, aliens, paranormal and, as Emma says "anomalous."

I can thank Jacobs for something; just before the ugly nasty mess hit the fans in UFO Land, both Jim and I were discussing, kind of sort of, going through hypnosis to uncover what happened during our missing time/UFO events. Thanks to Jacobs, that's not going to happen.

Woods has said, on tape and on her website, that she questions the alien abduction scenario as explanation, at least in some cases. This has not set well with Jacobs, and this, if you listen to the tapes, is obvious. This is what has set Jacobs off; that his self-imposed role of an authority has been questioned, that his requests and theories have been rejected.

Interpretations of magnificent crazy events. That's all we have. Speculations tendril out from those events; which is also all we have, and that's an okay thing. We need speculation to inspire us, to move us forward. And to keep us honest, for all we have is speculation. 

But when two researchers well seated in UFO Land offer up interpretations as the truth, and one of them is deeply stewed in a roiling stinking mess, and the other one denies it stinks...what they have to offer doesn't seem so appealing.

Random Thought for the Day: Did the Ancients Hoax UFOs?

Just over at the ol' JREF and came across a post by some obviously new to the skeptoid realm and naive as to their evil ways, or, a troll. Either way, posts a link to a UFO documentary, with an account of his own sighting, and a "What do you think?"

Naturally the responses, short and few as they are, were anything but curious as to anything close to discovering anything about UFOs; just yawns and silly jokes, as well as insults. Among those responses, comments about UFOs being hoaxed.

Which got me wondering: while in our modern times there have certainly been UFO hoaxes, I wondered about all the centuries worth of UFO sightings. And did anyone from two hundred, three hundred, years ago hoax a UFO sighting? Or whatever it was they called UFOs back then. What about centuries ago? Did ancient Egyptians goof around and fake flying saucers? I doubt it. Possibly some snarky high priest did something with lots of incense and noise to confuse and lull the masses but as to UFOs...

Jacobs Gives Emma Woods False Suggestion

Why hasn't Jacobs been -- I don't know, arrested, called up on ethics charges, something? And why is the UFO community still oddly silent (save for a few, like Vaeni for example) on this?

Posted by Christian Fedor-Flores-Cordova via Facebook: Emma Woods given a false suggestion by David Jacobs.

New Age Clown Fish Dream

Wonderful dream last night in a kind of goofy way. There is much more to this dream that goes along with what I posted about awhile ago on Snarly Skepticism, and maybe I'll post about that but for now, I'll just share this one part:

I'm some kind of psychic/healer/medium and am hired by a family to heal their fish; a clown fish. The clown fish is beautiful, but much larger than clown fish in waking life. This dream clown fish is about two feet long, almost eel like, but very friendly and beautiful. The orange color, all the colors, just lovely. But the clown fish is sick, so I'm hired to come and help.

The family is a blended family and a large one. Mostly Caucasian American and Indians, Hindu and Buddhist. 


I go into the room where the fish is. There are two tanks. One on a shelf, the other tank on a shelf higher and off to the left a bit. A tube connects the two. After looking at the fish I know the fish will most likely be all right, though it's sick now, but the rest is up to the family, I tell them. They really love this fish. I tell them the fish has a "Forty seventy" chance of living (I realize when I woke up you can't have a "forty seventy" but that's what was said in the dream) and that, instead of being sad that there's a seventy percent chance it might die, be grateful and concentrate on the forty percent that he'll live.


I show them how to sit with the fish every day, for at least ten minutes a day, and just concentrate on the fish being well. Send it love, literally, white light from your heart to the fish, and back again. Everyone in the family has to do this, and even when away from the fish, think about the fish and send it love and light.

I tell them it's important to keep the tanks clean, make sure the water is fresh and running and let the fish go back and forth between tanks. The fish follows the tube between tanks.  And indeed, as we're there in the room and I'm talking, the fish is happier and brighter and swimming back and forth between tanks.

I think this dream has something to do with the subconscious and the whole circus discussion surrounding UFO experiences. The clown fish, aside from the name, is orange (orange orb.) The clown fish was not just a happy go lucky rather silly fish; it was actually very beautiful and intelligent, as well as happy.

Time, Elks, Dreams . . .

I have a vivid dream life, always have; dream in color, sing, sounds, scents, fly, sleep paralysis, OOBEs. . . I've even had a couple of dreams where the dream was in color, but little pieces were in black and white. One dream I recall: the dream was in color, but I was watching a black and white TV. But I've never had dreams where I had missing time or amnesia in the dream; until recently. A few months ago I had missing time within the dream, and last night, I had a similar episode within a dream.

Much preceded the missing time, or amnesia, too personal to post but at one point, I was leaving my place of work and found that all the roads had been torn up. Earth moved into huge piles, gravel everywhere, dirt roads... no signs. "Great," I thought, "how the hell am I going to get to where I'm going?" but I had no choice, so start to drive. A hassle but not a big deal. But at the end of this torn up road is a crazy network of freeways. Just dozens of on-ramps and freeways and hundreds of cars just zipping every which way, and no signs. Not a one to tell me where to go, how to get there. . . and I have no time! No light or anything just have to MOVE, now! So I make a decision in my panic and just drive like mad onto an on ramp, no idea at all where I'm going.

After awhile of driving crazy-mad the freeway insanity ends and I find myself on one of my "dream scapes" -- a one lane, one way highway or bridge over the ocean. The ocean is a beautiful royal blue color. The water is almost as high as the bridge/freeway, and it's churning. Very active. I am scared and nervous. Still no idea at all where I'm going, no signs The bridge/freeway goes on forever, I can't see anything ahead. The water is so high it's splashed onto the road, and I'm worried I'll slide right off into the water. All I can see on either side of me is water. There's a railing about four feet high on the sides of the bridge but it's little protection.

Next thing I know, I wake up in a funky small motel room. No idea how I got there. I'm wearing a large baggy tee shirt and underwear but that's it. I walk outisde, confused -- where am I?! I see it's a little coastal town, hilly, kind of funky but in a comfortable, easy way. I'm in the "poor" part of town but as I continue walking, find myself in a more habitated part of town. I go into a little cafe, order breakfast. It's very good. I tell the people there, who are very friendly, that I barely know who I am, let alone how I got there or why, etc.

I was thinking of this dream all day, and for some reason, that led me to remember something that happened when i was about twelve or thirteen. I was in the Girl Scouts, and we went camping in Northern California. Here we were out in the middle of nowhere, or so it seemed to me. I loved it though.

I've thought of the following experience many times, but only remembering the wonder of what I saw, not how I got there in the first place. We were all setting up camp and then, I took a walk. I was just walking around, in the woods. And came out on a road. So I'm standing there on the side of the road, and less than ten yards from me, directly across from me, an elk walks out from the trees and just stands there on the side of the road. I was in awe; this was the first time I had seen anything like this. I remember just standing there, looking at this beautiful creature. I wasn't scared, just amazed. I felt like crying, it was so beautiful. We just stood there, looking at each other, then it walked off.

What's surprising to me now, is that even though I've often revisited this memory of seeing the elk, some obvious things about this event never occurred to me -- until now. For one thing, I can't see the adults in the group allowing anyone of us to just walk off on our own. Yet apparently I did. I was all alone. And what road would that have been? No idea; it wasn't one we were on. I don't remember what happened before that, or after. All very strange.

Layers of memory. One "real" memory with no surrounding context, one missing bit of memory within a dream. Shifts of memory; no experience dreaming of having missing memory within the dream, and suddenly, two within a few months time.

Maybe age has something to do with the dreaming; I can't explain why it is I don't remember what happened before, or after, meeting elk on the road. . .