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News Briefs 07-04-2010

Sliding down the surface of things.

Thanks Greg, Kat, RPJ.

Quote of the Day:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain

  1. Leaving MUFON
    Reading James Carrion’s blog, I find it odd that he lists the California Drones, Stan Romanek, and the Skinwalker Ranch among others as reasons why he no longer trusts UFOlogy. I didn’t think any UFOlogist took Romanek seriously!

    Yet he doesn’t mention cases that do make UFOs a genuine phenomenon — the Phoenix Lights, the Channel Islands, Stephenville Texas. There are older cases, such as the 1978 disappearnce of Australian pilot Fred Valentich, whose radio communications clearly describe a classic UFO encounter. Then there’s James Fox’s brilliant documentary I Know What I Saw.

    So I find dumping all of ufology a bit odd, but I can totally understand the need to escape beaurocracy and personal politics! There’s more to discover in the UFO story, such as Jacques Vallee and Mac Tonnies, so I wish James the best with pursuing paths of research that aren’t riddled with materialist potholes.

    1. Blogs
      There’s a blog called ‘Contact’, by a bloke named Erick, where several interesting posts on the matter can be found:

      Are Ufologists Taking the Red Pill?! [In which I *obviously* was compelled to comment on]

      Personality Driven Ufology: The Id vs. The Phenomenon

      Ufology has become the Jerry Springer (my only name dropped in this article) of Paranormal investigation and it should be ashamed of itself for that. What a fine example it has set for the rest of esoterica to follow and following it is. Craptastic Paranormal television with its “anyone can be an expert” mentality has perhaps followed the lead and example as laid out by Ufology’s biggest personalities as of late. The M.O. is the same. The unfounded claims backed by sensationalized media use and abuse followed closely by a false sense of authority in the subject and the unconscionable act of antic behavior towards those that would oppose them and all of it wrapped up in a book or DVD deal. Crap.

      It made me think a lot about why some people are attracted to the field in the first place; why some decide to leave after a number of years, and why others decide to soldier on.

      Obviously there are many who choose to stay because they love the field. Others however, linger because they frankly don’t know any other way to make a living; and that’s sad.

    2. I get the feeling that
      I get the feeling that Carrion’s real problem is that he can’t live with cognitive dissonance, and as the previous poster points out Carrion seems to have worked with a curiously filtered knowledge of UFO cases though he is certainly correct that much of UFO lore is disinfo and deception.

      I have known several people who have devoted themselves to various causes with messianic fervor only to burn out when the cause didn’t ultimatley fill some hole in their lives. The problem was not the cause – it’s what was expected of the cause.

  2. Jesus on a cracker
    [quote=Rick MG]Dawkins just choked on a pretzel.[/quote]

    Wouldn’t that be a communion wafer? Ah no, that’s the other rabid anti-religionist numpty…

  3. Son of a carpenter
    Hmmm…

    ‘If Jesus was the son of a poor itinerant carpenter with some radical ideas nobody would have been that concerned about what he said.

    Not unless he managed to perform things that caught the attention of the public. Things like… I don’t know… miracles? 😉

    Anyway, I think the Arameic term was tekton, and that can loosely mean ‘construction foreman’. So yeah, there’s room to assume the J-man was middle class, but a rich junior?

    ‘For example, when Jesus turned the money changers out of the temple there is no mention in the Bible of the police guards getting involved or there being a backlash. The money changers were an essential part of gaining revenue for the Temple so if Jesus was an ordinary Jew he would have been arrested or physically attacked.

    Not unless the J-man had already a great number of followers. What merchant would risk getting lynched by an angry mob for daring to put one finger on their beloved Messiah?

    Same thing happened to Mahatma Gandhi on several occasions. Guess these scholars are not experts in crowd mentality.

    Anyway, it’s interesting to view Joseph as something more than a poor dumb carpenter. No doubt some students of Freemasonry will make links between Joseph’s skills as a trained construction foreman and the family’s exile to Egypt during Jesus’ first years —could Joseph have come in contact with masonic secret teachings that he later imparted to his son? I fear I may have just given away the plot of a best-seller here 😉

  4. Lizard Men
    The Ubaid may have a connection to the lizard man of the Appalachians. Who knows perhaps they are the same beings as the Ubaid saw. They are referred to as the gods of knowledge and they are related to the “light” or eye of god as if watching over the people, yet having close contact with them.

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