UFO Disinfo R Us.com

2006-10-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

Batten Down The Hatches Old Chap – We’re Under Attack

Something to enliven the proceedings somewhat; the Pelicanists have broken into a sweat and posted twice in 2 days. This is exciting news in itself as the truth is, the two Yawns have nothing of any gravitas left to say anymore. But, they still do have a role to play in the theatre of Ufology and its true we're not far from the panto season and so, when they feel everyone is ignoring them and they need some love and attention, they don their costume of enormous Groucho style glasses (to increase the strength of their eyesight as they are adept at missing the obvious) and they get out the old ear trumpets (because they are good at turning a deaf ‘un to the obvious) and they put on their little pink mittens which pass for boxing gloves these days, and they stand there and take huge breaths and puff out there chests and then..….fall over backwards usually at this point, as it happens. Doddery old dears.

This is controversial stuff and it may make you want to scratch your ear. Steady.

Those Elusive Multiple Witnesses
http://mufob.blogspot.com/2006/10/those-elusive-multiple-witnesses.html

Uniformed Ufologists
http://mufob.blogspot.com/2006/10/uniformed-ufologists.html

Just notice by the way if you go to the web site that John Rimmer and Nigel Watson are referred to as “members”. Hmmm.

2006-10-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

Major SETI Institute Announcement
http://www.spaceref.com/calendar/calendar.html?pid=4200

What can it be?

I speculate the following;

1. Jill Tarter is having an alien/human hybrid baby.

2. They’re having the outside of the main building repainted.

3. Uncle Seth is having the snip.

4. They’re giving up.

5. They got a signal but when they answered and got back in touch, the reply came back, “Oh you idiots? You gotta be kidding.”

2006-10-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

In Terms of Ufological Belief................(part 1)

In terms of “Ufological belief”, that is when challenged as to what particular theory or explanation I adhere to in terms of an answer or solution to the Ufological question, I find that in contemplating that answer I am a bit of a gadfly. I flutter, I guess, like a lot of others. “Well, it could be this, it could be that” and when I range across the list of possibilities I find, much to my irritation, that I reject not a lot. Being open minded can have its problems. I yearn to be convinced of a particular line of thinking, to be so certain like Dick Hall is that it has to be nuts and bolts so that I can spit malevolent ectoplasm at the mere mention of Jacques Vallee’s name.

Having wind bagged all of the above, I do find though that I return to certain ideas as if pulled by some internal unconscious magnet and one of those ideas reared itself full and proud again this week; namely that We may have been “interfered” with over the years via our DNA. The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology based in Leipzig, Germany are reportedly due to be imminently issuing a major paper on the DNA of Neanderthals which may yet again pose significant questions about the origins of Man and how there is apparently no evolutionary explanation for the jump to Homo Sapiens. With wild eyed speculators like me around stoking things up, there may again be further attempts at resurrecting the spectre of alleged external DNA interference in the development of the human species with attending issues of Intelligent Design and so on. If ever proven true, the implications that would follow are obvious, abundant, and rather mixed.

The first one is of personal disappointment at having been such a wimp, for this concept is half a step ahead of the space brothers theory that all aliens are warm and cuddly and have only the very best of intentions towards their creation and when things get really difficult, they will descend to our rescue. True blooded Ufology involves bodies, wreckage, machinery remote locations, efficient, super fast clear ups, and mysterious deaths for years to come. These guys will flutter down like leaves dropping off a tree. Where’s the excitement?

From a practical perspective, the first and foremost event to occur will be that a substantial part of America’s bible belt will suddenly stand up, hypocritically, and ram it down everyone’s throat about how right they’d been in championing the cause of Intelligent Design. They will of course be hypocritical because although it would have to be acknowledged that in principle they are correct, in practise this was not the sort of intelligent design they had in mind. Their God does not interfere or intervene, as we all know, and has given us independent freedom of thought and action. My “God” sits in a committee room somewhere on Zeta Reticulli and makes decisions about this off planet experiment or that off planet experiment that have repercussions for hundreds if not thousands of years at a time. The Bible Belters will claim that all they ever referred to was a higher intelligence and if it happens to be what they might term “a pesky alien critter” as opposed to some all knowing spiritual non physical entity, then really it’s the same thing. As if. Just staying with that point for a moment though; I find it cruelly hysterically funny that the volume of spiritual prayer and belief and murder and warfare that has been carried out by mankind over the last few thousand years will have been done in the name of ET.

The next point I’d make, although its probably pertinent to any manner of discovery of intelligent extraterrestrial life is the affect it would have on the human psyche. The revelation that we were created by other beings would have a profound affect on our self esteem but as you would expect from the emotional tsunami of the greatest story ever told in relation to mankind, it’s not that simple. Parts of us would be deeply humbled, our dignity twisted at the realization that we are but simple insignificants in the universal league of intellectual achievement and never would we feel more able to empathise with our pets as we discover the meaning of something cleverer and bigger than us. And yet, it would almost be like stepping back into the womb in the warm, secure knowledge that something is there and it hovers over us, just keeping an eye out perhaps for a “just in case”. Though maybe not. The brief for this experiment might be, “let it go where it goes”.

Bugger, we’d be doomed.

2006-10-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

Some animals, like Reticulians, can plan ahead

Learning by experience is a natural trait of animals that have a brain. But the learning process has many aspects and is often a challenge for scientists to study. Recent research provided evidence that some nonreticulian animals can plan for the future in a very deliberate manner.

Selecting an item in anticipation of using it later is something Reticulians do every day. Before you get in the airtran, you pick up the airtran keys. Before you leave the shelter, you grab your wallet or purse. Are any other animals able to deliberately select an item for future use? According to a series of experiments by Nicorgi J. Mulcahy and Josep Call of the Reticulian Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Arpsog, Ushtala, the answer is yes. At least some animals other than Rets can plan ahead.

Humans are an endangered species native to the planet known as Earth The species, one of a group of animals known as the great apes, has achieved a degree of notoriety because the DNA of Humans has a 98 percent overlap in similarity to that of Reticulian. This is scientific fact, so it should come as no surprise that these animals have learning capabilities that exceed those of other nonreticulian animals. Colonies of humans are kept in facilities at the Reticulian Institute for testing to learn more about the biology of these fascinating creatures.

Because the great apes are known for their intelligence, the researchers designed tests to see if humans could learn to select and transport tools to be used at a later time. In other words, could they anticipate that a particular tool would be useful in the future, even though there was no use for it at the moment?

A group of humans were led into a test room where they learned to use a plastic tool to dislodge a reward of fresh food. After the learning session, humans were taken to a waiting room with a window where they could watch as the scientists removed the tools but left intact the reward apparatus that held the food. Each human being tested was kept in the waiting room for one hour and then led back into the test room, where it was unable to get the reward because the correct tool was no longer present. But before the human was returned to the waiting room, several tools were placed in the test room. Some of the tools were suitable for getting the food and some were unsuitable. The only way for a human to get the reward of food on future trips to the test room was to pick up the proper tool when leaving, carry it to the waiting room, and then return with it to the test room.

Of six humans tested in the first experiment, all learned within seven trials to pick the correct tool and return with it to the test room. In 16 trials, one human left and returned with the correct tool 15 times. The six experimental animals left the room with a tool 70 percent of the time, and the choice of a correct tool, compared to an inappropriate tool, was made a statistically significant proportion of the time. In another experiment, one of the test animals was placed in a waiting room for 14 hours between access to the tools and its return to the feeding apparatus. This means that they would have to select a tool and keep up with it for several hours before it would be useful.

Once again, the apes excelled. The two test animals successfully carried proper tools when they left the test room in 19 of 24 trials and returned with the correct tool 15 times. Demonstrably, apes can choose, keep, and return with a tool appropriate for future use. The researchers conclude that a propensity for planning for future needs evolved at least 14 million years ago, a time when humans had a common ancestor.

With acknowledgement to The Tuscaloosanews.com

2006-09-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

Is it actually worth being Nick Pope?

I can kind of get what it is about Nick Pope that some people don’t care for. But he’s never really done me any harm and a sort of falling out a few months back was down more to my petulance than anything he did. But his Ufological career is not a comfortable one, he isn’t forgiven or allowed to forget past mistakes, and he has only to stick his head above the parapet for there to be a barrage of shots aimed straight at him. I do wonder at times why he bothers.

Its a few things that have stuck in people’s craw over the years but it broadly goes like this.

1. When he did his job at the UFO desk at the MoD, he was so obviously out of the real loop and his desk was just a public shop front. Yet he has constantly tried to bolster and exaggerate the significance of his role since.

2. He committed the cardinal sin of allegedly being involved in claiming to have first discovered certain files like the Rendlesham file when this was not the case and he did this at the expense of the researchers who did.

OK. The two claims are probably correct. Allegedly. But you see, Nick’s real crime is to have gone on to try to make a living or at least earn an income from Ufology while his main accusers either aren’t able to or are conflicted about it. And so we get a right bloody mess. It would be easy for me, childishly easy in fact, to pull apart piece by piece one of his main critics, namely Andy Roberts, simply because anybody with half a brain could do it. Andy makes it very easy. Dave Clark allows himself at times to get dragged into it as well and while I do acknowledge the genuine grievance they both have and the pain and outrage they have experienced over the Rendlesham affair, its now some years on and they should grow up and get over it. And in all fairness they haven’t moaned for a while now. Joe McGonagle on the other hand, who is closely associated with Clark and Roberts, continues to take every opportunity to put the boot in and to belittle Nick and it long ago got to the point where it rebounds on Joe and reflects back on him. All he is now seen as doing is attempting to humiliate Pope and it comes over as cruel and pointless.

And now Martin Shough wades in too. “Scientists” don’t do “funny” or “smart” because they’re never very good at it. Shough probably thinks it’s amusing but it comes over as the nerd taking the opportunity to gang up on another unfortunate. Martin – it makes you look pathetic and ill becomes you.

Is all this a case of the pot calling the kettle black? After all, in UFO Review I do let rip and can be quite pointed. Am I being hypocritical? I tend to hit and move on; Joe M has somewhat stuck around Pope like a maggot around a corpse. Perhaps its time to take a more subtle approach and let people work out for themselves the nuances and ironies of whatever public statements Pope makes. In essence, give the guy a break.

But whatever, Pope has the last laugh. He doesn’t need us; we need him more, at least in the UK. The media need a “go to” person and it’s him. If there is anyone else they could use, then they’re keeping themselves very well hidden. Someone that looks right, sounds right, knows how to work the media even if he ends up talking rubbish and has a bit of glamour attached. Oh, and who also doesn’t sound like some dribbling half wit when he speaks; Pope’s our man.

If he relied on “the community” for his income, he’d have gone broke a very long time ago. We’re irrelevant to him. The general public are his target and his income comes from books, the press and TV appearances. If he misses the odd speaking engagement, for which he almost certainly isn’t going to get paid anyway, then so what.

Bugger it; keep going Joe and Martin.

2006-08-10T03:53:00.000-07:00

A Pelican Roast.

I offer this up partly as a serious whine, partly as light relief, and partly as a chance to take a verbal shiv to a pelicanist and to shove it up into his squawking gut.

Those of you who have been awake will have noticed a few days ago the following posting on various Lists:

Magonia Supplement #62

The latest issue of Magonia Supplement blah, blah, blah,

John Rimmer reports on a recent UFO conference at which he was one of the speakers, and blah, blah, blah

http://www.users.waitrose.com/~magonia/ms62.htm

I always take an interest in the Lapis conference partly because I have a lot of respect for the Walkey's who I think consistently use their imagination to good effect in constructing a speaker list - most of the time. I was also aware after the event that, like my own conference a bit further south a week or so earlier, it had been poorly attended.

As I started to read Rimmer's report of the conference held (please note Kimball) near Blackpool and his valiant excursion away from the capital, I soon found myself reaching for a bucket as an overwhelming sense of nausea began to rise up in my craw. Using every conceivable hoary old cliche to patronise, the reader is left marvelling at what a courageous man Mr. Rimmer is to dare venture out of the safety and security of "the south" and emerge into the wild and uncivilised barren wastelands of "the north" where, any southerner spotted by a local is likely to be speared, gutted, and hoisted on to some sort of petard and then paraded around as a sporting trophy.

OK, so he's a big girls blouse but what don't we know? And then this. I offer intermittent translation:

"I suppose I have to say something about my own contribution, in which I tried to position Warminster as the centre of a peculiarly English UFO and contactee narrative, quite separate from the American, which has tended to obliterate the native tradition of the last thirty years."

That's because the native tradition is shit John. People aren't particularly interested in eccentric folk standing on top of hills and speaking in flowery language. They want bodies, wreckage, and machinery. And why not I say.

"This was also the theme of Dewey and Ries's book, and along with Andy Roberts's recent articles in Magonia, and a forthcoming book he has co-authored with Dave Clarke, we may be seeing something of a rediscovery of the English UFO tradition."

Err, I think you mean English scepticism surely? You are an old devil of a folklorist, aren't you. Is there a difference John between "the English UFO tradition" (wtfti) and folklore and if so, could you explain it to me in less than 100 words with not more than 3 syllables in any of them? Bet you can't. By chance, does it involve whittling or furtling or speaking with a straw sticking out of your ear, or better still, assissting young boys in outdoor pursuits?

"It was a hot weekend, and although the hall looked pretty full to me, there were not as many attendees at the conference of the organisers had hoped. However, I was encouraged by the news that another north of England conference, boasting alleged big name speakers, some from America, managed to attract an audience of nine!"

Ah! The crux. There is so much in this last paragraph that I almost do not know where to begin. We have spitefulness, maliciousness, low self esteem, jealousy, bigotry, racism, disingenuousness, in fact I'm getting very giddy with it all.

Which other conference could he possibly have been referring to? Well, a few weeks before mine, back in May, Paraquest had held their conference up in Sale in Manchester. But that had been reasonably well attended and there were certainly no Americans on that agenda. By a process of elimination, and of course dear old Occam's, he just had to be referring to my effort. But wait; there were no Americans on my roster of speakers either. There was Paul Kimball and its true that Paul is an Americanophile but he is also a Canadian and proud of it. But perhaps its all the same to you John because after all, they all look alike don't they?

Methinks John is away with the faeries, poor chap.

Next point - excuse seeking for the fact that the conference was poorly attended. "It was a hot weekend". Nah John, that had nothing to do with it. What it did have to do with was that you were speaking and folk just couldn't bare the thought of having to sit through some dry, dull, dreary monologue that would have had them reaching for smelling salts just to stay conscious, let alone awake. You're an amnesiac's dream.

As for actual figures of attendance John, mine is bigger than yours. Andy Roberts, trying to be nasty to me on another mailing list recently, alleged there were 30 people at my do. A sober, reliable, and objective individual known to me, who was in the audience at Lapis, advised me there were just 20 people present at St. Annes. Deny it - go on.

Scuttle back down to the sovereignty of Putney John, to your own little world where acolytes come and pay homage, where your shoes are licked clean by labotomised automatons who think its the height of chic to walk into WH Smiths and be seen mincing down Putney High street carrying a copy of the Facetious Times. But don't venture up here into the land of the savages again John. Or we'll eat you.

2006-07-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

Arthur; Who Art Thou?

It’s not often that there is much to laugh about in Ufology, what with it being a serious subject ‘n all, yet there is something going on over in Blogsville that is making me wet myself.

About a couple of weeks ago a new blog started up called Update UFO UpDates at http://noconnectiontotherealthing.blogspot.com/. Some guy called Arthur has set himself up as an anonymous commentator on the comings and goings at UFO UpDates or, as he puts it, “A snide swipe bitch fest at some of the characters and threads” on that List. And he seems to be pissing people off. It’s not that his observations are that acidic or cruel or even for that matter, relevant but it seems to have elicited a very amusing assortment of reactions.

The first thing that seems to be getting people’s goats is his anonymity. Why does he have to hide behind an obvious nom de plume? So there has been a little debate about who he is with accusations flying around and one or two people seemingly getting quite upset when the finger has been pointed at them. Why, even I have been “accused” of being Arthur by one friend. For the record, no, it’s not me. And no, I have no idea who it is either and no real suspicions. I’m sure though it will get out one day because it always does. And as it’s likely to be someone we’ve never heard of before, what an anti climax that will then be.

Then, in further pursuit of his identity, the observation was made that the background color scheme to the blog was pink and therefore “Arthur” might well be a woman.

But what particularly tickles me is that he just carries on regardless. There are all these negative remarks in his comments section and a whole separate subterranean eco system of activity going on akin to the blog which he seems to just ignore. I find I cannot help but admire him and suspect that he is sat back laughing at the whole murky business. Personally, I think he’s on to something and I wish I’d thought of it! Whoever you are pal, you can write about me anytime you like!

2006-06-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

We’ve got this wrong

Space.com has just published a not very interesting piece on UFOs (http://tinyurl.co.uk/3o27). But a significant event occurred for me as I read it. It was one of those experiences where you might read something many times over the years and then for some reason you read it once more and it suddenly takes on a different perspective. I am referring to this paragraph from the piece:

And after all those years, as the saying goes, UFOs remain a riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Why so? For one, the field is fraught with hucksterism. It's also replete with blurry photos and awful video. But then there are also well-intentioned and puzzled witnesses

It was the reference to hucksterism that did it and it was probably because I was reading this within what might loosely be called a scientific framework, namely the Space.com web site. And I thought, “You steaming hypocrite”.

To be fair to Leonard David, the author, if you were to ask any Ufologist if this was an accurate statement, to a man or woman they would all agree. They would agree without even giving the matter any serious thought. We know it to be true because…….well it is, and because we’re always being reminded it’s true by our more learned and experienced elders. Hucksterism appeared the very moment Ufology appeared in the shape of the triumvirate of Scully/Newton and Dr. G and it went on to produce a prodigious list of successors. So we take the matter for granted and never give it any real serious thought, because it’s easier that way.

But two points come to mind. The first is that in the strict sense, it isn’t true. Ufology attracted, almost from the very beginning, a slimy collection of dysfunctional, lying, arrogant, smarmy, stupid, utterly revolting reptiles masquerading as men doing the honourable and decent thing in the defence of their marvellous country; namely Rick Doty and his crew. And in the course of protecting their country from the scourge of whatever enemy they dreamed up in their chronic little minds, they played with Ufology as a cat plays with a mouse. So they put out lies and blackmailed or coerced others to do the same. This isn’t hucksterism in the sense that we mean; this is disinformation and misdirection. These people were manipulated stooges or paid informers. Sure, there have been a number of glory seeking independent individuals who have trod the path but I would argue that they have been in the minority. And I would also argue that disinfo plants don’t count.

On the other hand, it might be helpful to take a gander at The Saviour Of Ufology, namely science, to see what’s happened there, safe in the knowledge that it is a subject that will have only been lightly brushed by any “official” meddling. But oh dear, what do we find when we look? Google Withdrawn scientific papers and watch as 7,530,000 hits come up. Then Google UFO Hucksters and stand back aghast as 900 hits appear. Tsk tsk; seems science is riddled with lying, cheating bastards who wish to deceive the public, their employers and anything else with a pulse. So let’s take that paragraph I quoted above and play with just some of the words from a scientific context:

And after all those years, as the saying goes, science remains a riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Why so? For one, the field is fraught with hucksterism. It's also replete with dishonest individuals and serious financial irregularities. But then there are also well-intentioned and puzzled scientists.

Seems fair and balanced to me.

2006-05-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

U F O R E V I E W MAGAZINE IS PROUD TO PRESENT
http://www.uforeview.net

SATURDAY JUNE 10TH 2006

A ONE DAY CONFERENCE ON UFOLOGY AND THE PARANORMAL AT
ALTRINCHAM MASONIC HALL, BRANKSOME, CLAY LANE, TIMPERLEY,
CHESHIRE UK

Doors open 9:30am, Commence 10:00am. Ample parking, bar.

SPEAKERS

MAKING A RARE UK APPEARANCE

NICK REDFERN
http://www.nickredfern.com/bio.htm

Author of the new book On the Trail of the Saucer Spies: Ufos And Government Surveillance

Now living in the States, Nick is a long standing and very well known Ufological writer and is the author of several successful books on the subject as well as on cryptozoology. He is generally recognised as the UK’s leading researcher and has a reputation as a direct, no nonsense journalist who is prepared to get his hands dirty and doesn’t like taking “No” for an answer. In 2005, he turned the world of Ufology upside down with his book Body Snatchers In The Desert which gave the most likely and most realistic explanation of what really happened at Roswell and why.

Nick will be speaking about the UK and U.S. intelligence agencies observation over the years of people involved in Ufology, and will explain why and how people were watched and also who was watched, highlighting specific cases. He should know. Special Branch kept a close eye on him for many years!

------------------------------------

From Canada. Internationally reknown documentary film maker and UFO researcher

PAUL KIMBALL
http://redstarfilms.blogspot.com/

"The Wilbert Smith Story: Separating Fact from Fiction of a Ufological Icon".

Wilbert Smith held both a B.Sc. and M. Sc. in Electrical Engineering, and was Senior Radio Engineer, Broadcast and Measurements Section, in the Canadian Department of Transport (DOT).

Smith's interest in the UFO phenomenon and his influential position within the Canadian government caused him to make a proposal to the Canadian DOT to establish Project Magnet to officially investigate UFOs. Smith stated in the proposal that his group believed that they were on the track of something which may well prove to be the introduction to a new technology.

In 1950 he wrote the "Smith Memo." This was a memo which attracted a lot of attention around the time of the MJ-12 papers and it helped lend a certain credibility to the whole MJ-12 milieu. It was originally sent to the Controller of Telecommunications as a proposal to study officially the UFO situation. In this memo, Smith wrote, "The existence of a different technology is borne out by the investigations which are being carried on at the present time in relation to flying saucers." He also stated that by making discreet inquiries at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC, he had learned from Dr. Robert Sarbacher that:

A. The matter is the most highly classified subject in the United States government, rating higher even than the H-bomb.

B. Flying saucers exist.

C. Their modus operandi is unknown but concentrated effort is being made by a small group headed by Dr. Vannevar Bush.

D. The entire matter is considered by the United States authorities to be of tremendous significance.

But is all this true? Was Smith all he was cracked up to be? Paul Kimball has made a number of incisive and successful documentaries on the UFO subject and as a fellow Canadian has taken a special interest in Smith’s career. Paul will be looking over Smith’s career in some detail and as the title of his talk says; will separate fact from fiction.

-----------------------------------

NEIL MORRIS

The Alien Autopsy Film –A Review and Update

In the light of the revelations brought out by the current Ant and Dec feature film, namely that the Alien Autopsy footage that appeared in public in 1995 was a fake put together by Ray Santilli, Neil Morris, who has been heavily involved in researching the validity of the film pulls together the whole sad story for us and brings us up to date with his research and recent events. Was Santilli lying back in 1995? Is he lying now? Was this the first sight that the people of this planet had of a life form from elsewhere, was it simply an autopsy performed on a disfigured human being, or was it just a cynical money making effort designed to fool the world?

-------------------------------------------

DAVE SADLER
http://www.upia.co.uk/

CHINGLE HALL – The Most Haunted House In Britain

Just north of Preston, in the small village of Goosnargh, lies one of Britain’s oldest and most haunted buildings (it’s the oldest inhabited brick building), Chingle Hall. The house formerly known as Singleton hall was constructed in 1260 by the knight Adam de Singleton. The Hall remained in the de Singleton’s family late into the 16th Century but in 1585 the Wall Family who were related to the Singletons, moved into the Hall. Its history continues to this day and over the centuries there have been many, many sightings and strange and bizarre events. Here is one example:

“In 1985, sounds of bricks being moved were recorded by a visitor in the Priest's Room, which seemed to originate in the Priest's hiding hole. He peered within and saw part of a human hand moving one of the bricks. As he watched, the hand stopped moving and disappeared. This witness later managed to capture the sounds of footsteps on tape and a shadowy form on film. Later bricks were found scattered on the floor of the Chapel on the ground floor.”

Dave is the founder and co-ordinator of the Unknown Phenomena Investigation Association

With a background in Aircraft Engineering, Dave has been involved in Paranormal and UFOlogical research and investigation since 1995, forming the UPIA in 1998 as a result of an increasing number of reports emanating from the North West of England. Dave has studied and passed The BITC and AITC courses in the Anomalous Phenomena, ran by Manchester's Association of Paranormal Investigation and Training, and has appeared in Numerous documentaries regarding the subject. For two years and along with Para.Science, Dave hosted a weekly paranormal radio show on BBC Radio Merseyside on the Roger Lyons show. He has also had many articles published in magazines and North West Newspapers. Although The UPIA investigates many unusual reports, currently investigators are basing their studies primarily in the hauntings area although another section of the group does take part in other areas.

-------------------------------------------------

Tickets: £15.00 on the day at the door - £12.50 in advance. For advance bookings, cheques only I’m afraid to UFO Review, The New House, Church Bank, Richmond road, Bowdon, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 3NW. Tel; 0161 929 1846

Doors open 9:30am. Commences 10:00am sharp. Ample off street parking, bar, food available, Stall holders welcome - Please contact organiser.

Organised by UFO Review. 0161 929 1846. Email at Stuart.Miller4@btinternet.com

2006-04-28T03:38:00.000-07:00

You Couldn't Make This Drivel Up
(Actually, you can, because someone just has)

In the past I have given those two old duffers, Harney and Rimmer, more than a fair dose of stick. There's nothing wrong with sceptics but when they present themselves in such a naive and often almost childish manner, they are just ripe for having a poke at. And because they are soft targets, it's fun. Cruel fun, but it's fun nevertheless.

So here goes another effort.

They have started a blog. Fair enough. Somebody ought to tell them though that when you write one, something longer than a sentence or two is generally required. It helps a bit as folk actually like to have something to read.

But the latest entry, by Harney, is a gem.

As it's so short, here it is in it's entirety;

http://mufob.blogspot.com/

Ufology as Modern Folklore
I am attempting to write an article for the next issue of Magonia Supplement on the general theme that the whole UFOs and ufology business is nothing more than a modern myth, which is best studied by folklorists, psychologists and sociologists, rather than astronomers, physicists (nuclear or otherwise!), and self-styled "Serious Ufologists", most of whom are self-deluded buffoons.The general idea is to dispel the lies, delusions and paranoid fantasies, by such methods as pointing out that reports of apparent "true UFOs" never stand up to critical examination. Your comments on this theme are welcome (but remember that comments are moderated).

And then afterwards, John is going to find a cure for cancer and arrange for global warming to err stop.

The word "clown" seems to keep trying to force it's way to the front of my brain, but Lord knows why.

There are I suppose many comments that one could make. But the real cause of Harney's problem is that he is British and of a certain age and upbringing. As such, he has no imagination that can be traced and above all, is anally retentive. This thing about us Brits having a "stiff upper lip" is really another way of saying that many of us walk around with six foot iron rods shoved up our asses - except that in Harney's case, his is twelve foot long. The man has spent a life time around the paranormal and yet seems convinced that everything is buttoned down and explainable. In his little world perhaps it is. The real world is another matter entirely.

I invite you all to help John in his quest by submitting helpful comments to the blog but am distressed to notice that comments are moderated, which says an awful lot about not very much.

I thought I was the clown prince of Ufology but I recognise a better talent when I see one.

2006-04-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

Desperate Old Fart Shouts "Look At Me - I'm Over Here".

You may not have noticed but Rich Reynolds has been back with a blog for the last month or so. If you haven't noticed, not to worry because very few others have either. You see, his time came and went and he is now of no interest to anyone anymore. His little posse of possums appear to have been disbanded and it's just old Rich banging out the same old twaddle.

Rich has noticed that no one else gives a flying fuck anymore as well. As a consequence, his postings have become more desperate. The latest one, published yesterday, has hit a new low. Not a "Gosh, how disgusting" type low so much as a "What a sad old tosser he's turned into" kind of low.

Why ufologists are ignored: they're ugly
http://ufocon.blogspot.com/2006/04/why-ufologists-are-ignored-theyre-ugly.html

Read it if you want but you don't have to. The title says it all.

Perhaps Rich needs some help about possible future titles for blogs. Let's give him a hand;

1. All Ufologists smell.

2. They started it first.

3. It's not fair, they've got more than me.

4. Mummy, I've wet myself.

5. I hate you. You're horrid.

You get the gist.

Personal note to Rich; any chance of you behaving like a grown up?

2006-04-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Posturing Poseurs

The fall out from the Alien Autopsy debacle has been a social study to behold. I don't know if it's just Ufology or if what I'm about to say applies in life generally but there is so much arrogance around that it's staggering.

And just how stupid are people? Very, it would appear. You see, when Ray Santilli was declaring to all and sundry that he had on film an autopsy of an alien, no one believed him. OK, some did but many didn't. However, now he is saying that the film was a fake and that he made it, people are prepared to believe him. So when he delivers the message they want to hear, they believe. When he wasn't, they wouldn't. These people are cretins. Not surprisingly, these are the same folk who also fervently and religiously believe that science will solve all of Ufology's ills. Therefore it follows that all scientists are cretins.

Now of course amongst well mannered and mature grown ups, if someone makes a mistake, we don't finger point. Instead, we "understand". After all, we're all human etc. and we all recognise that any of us can make a mistake. That's the party line anyway. But it doesn't take too much insight to read between the lines to work out that in fact that's what many people have been doing; finger pointing. One twerp, Jason Pork Chop, or is it Gammon, declared that all those pseudo scientists (i.e. AA film believers) should leave the field. I was left wondering just exactly which field he meant and in the end was forced to conclude he meant the field in which he slipped on some cow's shit and left his brains behind in. Moron.

And now that Santilli has lied again, sorry fessed up, everyone is prepared to wash their hands of the whole debacle and mentally draw a line under yet another travesty that has seriously harmed ufology. In their desperate rush to do so, they have ignored the obvious inconsistencies in Santilli's latest statement and the obvious tie in with the release of the feature film on the subject. Those who heaved a sigh of relief at Santilli's statement have prematurely expunged their emotions. In other words, they've come too quickly and made a right mess. This thing will not go away and in fact, will be around for quite a while.

You know, I'm sure that the alien in Santilli's film is winking at us in one frame.

2006-03-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

Hommes de caverne en Europe

Actually the headline is a bit unfair; it should say France, not Europe.

Last summer, when I was still on speaking terms with Robin Crookshank Hilton, on her recommendation I went to Reines Le Chateau when on my hols in France. This place of course is at the heart of the Da Vinci crap, a book I feel I am the last person in the world not to have read. I cooed and aahed as I walked round and then went into the souvenir shop. The first thing that caught my eye was the array of Ufological magazines on display and despite having very poor French, it wasn't too difficult to make out the various contents. I quickly came to the conclusion that in France, they are a bucketful of believers.

Lately, nasty Nick Redfern has been doing his best to kick away at the alien angle to Roswell and more recently has revealed that Ufologists are spied on by the intelligence community, not because of their interest in Ufology but because they may be using Ufology as a cover for espionage or un American/British activities. Seems the authorities don't give a monkey's what we dig up about UFOs which isn't very encouraging for those who hold that there is an enormous cover up.

Then, sacre bleu, France's gift to the paranormal and to original thinking, Jacques Vallee goes and gives an interview to a French radio station to plug his new book and in the interview condones Nick Redfern's theory about what happened at Roswell. Result? Some very angry and unhappy Gaulois smoking Gallics. In fact, angry isn't the word. Rude, abusive and hysterical would be more accurate, judging by one or two of the emails I have been receiving. Yes, I get them by proxy because I have carried interviews with Nick in UFO Review.

I can't help but feel that there is a large dollop of immaturity and insecurity going on here. These people are having their legs taken away from under them, belief wise that is, and have chucked their dummies out of the pram. They haven't even got the intellectual wit to say to themselves, "That's Mr. Redfern's theory but there is very little proof and he is as likely to be wrong as he may be right". If God-like Jacques gives it a thumbs up, even if he hasn't exactly been on board with the ETH for the last 3o years or so, then it might just be true.

It's a bit sad to watch quite frankly. Dans l'intéret France d'un dieu, grandissez.

2006-02-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

Dickus Pratus Strikes Again

Have a quick read of this drivel from a couple of recent postings to UFO UpDates:

This is the end of a posting from Jeff Olson followed by Dick Hall's reply.

"The last thing we should do when faced with the inexplicable is to abandon logic and to seek solace in incoherent mysticism. On the contrary, that's the time to gear up our reasoning abilities - to apply even more logical rigor to the mysteries at hand. These same people who cry "paranormal" when faced with unusual technology today would no doubt, if living in an earlier age, pronounce a Ford Mustang to be a "chariot from heaven" (actually, some modern-day fans say something similar, but that's another story:-)."

"Jeff,

Very well said yourself. Absolutely dead on. The trouble is, at least I have come to believe this, that the New Agers don't even realize they are doing it. They really think they have an epistemology that is superior to scientific method. However, they often do betray an underlying current of anti-science which pops up here and there in their rhetoric, and that tends to show that they are spiritual questors looking for something superior to bad ol' science. They confuse bad uses and bad products of science (atomic weapons, poisonous chemicals unleashed in the environment) with the method. Indeed the approach does get badly misused all too ofetn, but that is a huiman failing, not a fault of the method. -

Dick"

Okedoky. Tell you what Dick; lets get rid of all those dodgy photos, testimony from witnesses who are too stupid to even remember what their names are, iffy videos and so on. Show me a UFO Dick. Go on, show us one. What's that you say? You can't? Oh, that's a bit of a let down - why ever not? Cos nobody's got one or if they have, they ain't showing it to you? Well that's not very good, is it? You mean to say that after 60 years you've got sweet FA to show for all your efforts? I'd have given up pal if I were you. Funny that though, isn't it. Millions have seen them in the skies, waved at them, photographed them, filmed them, but always, always, they are just out of reach. Like stretching for something on top of a ledge that's just at the end of your fingertips. Um. Wonder why that might be.

But OK then, lets do what you would like us all to do. Ring, ring, Oh gee, there's the doorbell. Let's go and answer it. "Why good evening Mr. Science, do come in. We've been waiting for you. We'd like you to look at something for us. You see, there's this phenomenon that we know is real because we can see it with our own eyes and yet we can't prove it exists. We think that inside those flying saucers there might be some little folk from another planet. Can you help us prove it? Oh, that's not very nice, is it. Piss off? Is that all you can say?"

Wonder why they're always out of reach Dick. Can't figure it. Advanced technology you say? Beyond our ken and understanding? Then I'm afraid it must be magic. It's paranormal. It may well be a physical reality but in terms of our current understanding and comprehension and development, it is not real for or to us. When it does become a reality, then it will shift from the ethereal to the here and now. But for the moment, it ain't real. And neither are you Dick.

2006-01-17T08:05:00.000-08:00

I Hope They Fail and Fall Flat On Their Faces
(who said I was a nice guy?)

It's a bit weird but understandable I guess. Ever since the demise a couple of years ago of the UK version of UFO Magazine, the UK has been a hot bed of on line UFO related Zines. And now there's another.

Well, "a hot bed" is a bit of an overstatement. Two to be precise. My effort, namely UFO Review at http://www.uforeview.net and UFO Monthly as edited by Gary Heseltine. Gary charges for his effort; I don't.

The newcomers are two of the biggest misfits and malicious twerps going, namely the vocally challenged Russel Callaghan and the man with a thousand stories about him in Ufology, and none of them nice, Phillip Mantle. I won't touch them with a barge pole for what they did to me when they started up their "nobody visits us" web site. They took my web site name and used .co.uk whereas I am .net. Perfectly legal but completely unnecessary and motivated by spite. In the ensuing shouting match on the telephone with Callaghan, the words "You were nothing until UFO Magazine" have remained embossed in my memory, for those words said it all. Eventually and reluctantly, they changed their name to something else but I'll be blowed if I'll give them the elixir of publicity by naming their crappy site.

They too are going to charge for their efforts which means that no one will read it as you, the Ufological public, appear reluctant to pay for downloads. Good for you. But Russel and Gary Heseltine were once partners in UFO Monthly until Russel quit to errr spend more time with his family. Only to shortly after go into partnership with Mantle, one of the most incompetent and dysfunctional twerps around. Gary was too much of a believer for Callaghan's palette it would seem. Although Gary does irritate a bit with his bizarre and arrogant claim that only UFO Monthly has the background to get into print, which is his goal and one he will never achieve, I do nevertheless feel a bit sorry for him as he is likely to lose out, at least at first, while those few who are prepared to pay go over to this new effort, if only to see how it does. But both Callaghan and Mantle are talentless twerps with no substance to them at all and they'll soon get found out as their lack of brain power and imagination will eventually manifest itself in the inevitable drivel they will produce. Callaghan was at the helm of UFO Magazine when it folded and failure has a habit of following incompetents around.

I rather enjoyed that venting and don't want to go back to being marginally pleasant to people again.

2005-12-31T10:31:00.000-08:00

Oh What A Lovely War

War has broken out in the Skywatch camp and for long term observers, it will come as no surprise. Bill Hamilton, who for a long time was the mainstay behind the movement, has been removed from the Skywatch mailing Lists. Having got himself into a war of words with George Knapp and Jerry Pippin, Bill's apparent crime was to criticise Pippin who is Skywatch's media rep. Feeble and transparent though it was, it was all the excuse Hickman needed to do what he's wanted to do for some while.

When Bill stepped down as director or whatever position it was that he held - to spend more time with his family or was it to concentrate on his research(?) - he handed over to Jim Hickman. But Bill got itchy feet and also possibly as a result of what he was seeing happen to the Sky mailing lists, he decided to set up another list of his own, Astrosciences, which went on to do quite well and seemed to drag a lot of Sky members over as well. Jim H acted as if he had been stabbed in the back by his old acquaintance but the fact is, and I suppose I do have an axe to grind here as I am fond of Bill, and I' m not alone in that, but Jim had it coming. A quote that sums it all up perfectly is Jim's response to a member after Bill had been kicked out. You'll need to rub your eyes and re-read it just to be sure you got it right but what he said was; "This isn't a democracy, it's a business." One of the accusations leveled against Jim was that he used his position just to promote his own books and media appearances and while no doubt he might claim he has been quoted out of context, I would argue that point. He is not a sympathetic character and is dictatorial and power mad. If the situation carries on with him at the helm at Skywatch for much longer, there won't be a Skywatch left.

In the meantime, I doubt that Bill is weeping too many tears and in some ways is probably glad to have been made to walk the plank of this particular sinking ship before it actually goes down with all hands. Bill, I wish you the best.

In the meantime dear reader, I would like you to try and answer a question for me because something is happening and I just can't figure out why it is so. Why does Victor Martinez's list attract so much attention?

This isn't some secret, closed, "only for very special people" List, oh no. It's for anyone who was unfortunate enough to have his email address garnered by this primary school teacher with too much time on his hands and a comical TV web based system of delivery. Suddenly, and completely unasked for, postings started arriving in my mailbox that for a brief while I tolerated. But having rapidly run out of anything even remotely resembling Ufological gravitas, we soon got on to rabid and extreme political stories and pictures of cute kittens taking a dump somewhere or some such chocolate box nonsense. I actually had no difficulty with his political views but just didn't want them in my mailbox uninvited, thank you.

Then along comes Serpo or whatever nonsense it is called. I reckon Doty looked at that List and took Martinez for the patsy that he is and thought, "I can use this guy" so he did. The distressing point about it all is that it received notice and attention and even discussion. Gee, we must really be bored. Ufological snobs often go on about the great unwashed within Ufology and how stupid they are and how prepared they are to believe anything. But examples they quote to substantiate their comments are often nonsense as far as my experience is concerned. Matinez's List though is an example that should be quoted to back up this claim in future. The list is for the stupid run by the stupid.

2005-11-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

Isn't It About Time Rick Doty Was Taken Outside And Humanely Disposed Off?

It sure is, 'cos Rick's been at it again.

Now of course, none of us really know the score with Mr. Doty's status as to his former Intelligence employment. In fact I'm sure even he doesn't. But one assumed that having helped murder Paul Bennewitz, he retired to write parking tickets and eventually to go on to become a sheister - professions he did not seem to stay at too long. But he's got to be old now and probably retired. And yet, you never know with old dogs. Because something has recently surfaced on the Net which carries the heavy and profound odour of God's Gift To The Intelligence Disinformation Community.

http://www.serpo.org

What you will read if you go there are wonderful stories of human exchange visits with Ebens and the trials and tribulations of the Human Experience on the Eben planet. And so on and so on.

Now a gentleman I greatly respect and admire, Bill Hamilton, appears to have a bit of time for all this but to me, and others, it is so obviously the work of Doty that it doesn't even merit a second glance. If you want to suspend disbelief for an hour or so and just enjoy yourself, then by all means read what's there and get off on it.

The real question for me is, is this old stuff or has he just got bored and had a bit of a play again, just for old times sake? And if it is old stuff, why has it re-surfaced now? What is this evil genius's master plan? Hold on a moment; did I say genius? In terms of what we do know about his activities, bumbling incompetent would seem a fairer description. And he just can't leave the bloody subject alone. I wish he would.

2005-11-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

The John Rimmer Ufological Schedule for 2006

John has recently been labelled a Ufological dinosaur on a UK message board. He is the publisher of a magazine called Magonia which has been going for quite a while and is a frequent poster to UFO UpDates where he indulges in long, tedious, and incredibly dull fencing with his bette noir, Jerry Clark. Every time though that John posts something to that List, he immediately has Alfred Lehmberg snapping at his heels, and even though for the most part he ignores Alfred, he nevertheless finds the whole experience extremely irritating. As a consequence, he has beome obsessed with both Clark and Lehmberg and seems unable to talk about anything else, and his mind has become muddled.

John is also a sceptic when it comes to the ETH and appears to be extremely dubious as regards Ufology generally. His favourite instinctive response on a List is to pop up and claim that "All Ufologists are barking mad", an insightful comment I'm sure you'll agree and one which continues to impart the intellectual gravitas of a man who is proud to boast that he lives amongst dead people. He really does as his house is in a cemetery

I do not like seeing animals in distress and so as an act of kindness to John, I have taken the liberty of preparing his Ufological schedule for him for the next 12 months so that he can find his way forward and at least have the comfort of knowing what he is going to do before he does it.

In late 2005, John has been winding down in a debate with Jerry Clark and a few others about the Father Gill sighting and whether or not Gill, who used the word "mothership" in his testimony could possibly have been influenced by Adamski or not. A concession here by those arguing that Gill had been isolated from such influences would open a wedge for John to further attack the credibility of Gill. As I indicated, riveting stuff. Of course, no ground was given by either side and so for the moment, the debate has run its course.

But there's still a month and a half left of this year John and I figure that this truly fascinating debate could easily be rekindled again with just a modicum of effort. A possible source of further conversation could be whether Gill was wearing a hat when he sighted the UFO and whether in any way this affected his visibility. If he was wearing a hat, then the nature of the hat needs to be established as the sighting was in the evening and a black hat would have further decreased light reflectivity and absorption. This thread could take us through to Christmas and would be a suitable point at which to rest.

Middle January in my opinion would be the best time to revisit one of John's favourites and a case which hasn't been touched for oooh, 18 months or so? I am of course referring to Trindale. Those of you who have experienced the sheer utter ennui of John, Jerry and others point scoring off eachother as they go backwards and forwards on the minutiae of this case will know what a treat they have in store. You might ask; what's left to discuss? I don't know for sure but I would like to help them if I can. Did, for example, the Almirante Saldanha have railings? Had they been cleaned? Were some of the witnesses perhaps looking at a reflection of the UFO displayed on these railings? Etc.

This one could stretch on say from mid January through to the end of March. There would then be a respite for Easter and we could then move away from hard case fact to something more ethereal. John has recently contradicted himself. On UFO UpDates he has commented on the differences between UK Ufologfy and American Ufology while on the British message board Ufologyuk, he has claimed that there is no such thing as British Ufology. Intriguing. I am suggesting here that John runs two threads simultaneously on both boards, playing devil's advocate on both.

This would of course be an exhausting experience as it could well run on right through the year and so for the sake of his mental health, I would suggest that these two threads be wound up sometime in mid summer, though I'll leave the exact date to John. That would be it for the year in terms of extended debate but I would also want to allow John precisely half a dozen additional windows so he can pop up suddenly on a board somewhere in that mad professor way of his and and shout that "All Ufologists are barking mad" which as explained before, he does regularly. I would be happy to leave those dates and choice of board entirely to John as after all, he is a grown man and can make at least some of his own decisions.

I hope John that you appreciate this gesture for the kindness that it is and I look forward to watching your performances in the coming months. Alfred. Are you ready?

2005-10-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

The End Is Near And We're All Doomed

Brad Sparks is highly in favour of Peter Davenport's passive radar get up for independently detecting UFO's. Jolly good, let's do it then.

That vast collection of data that Dick Hall was bimbling on about and how to sort it out or the best way to proceed? Good, let's do it then.

All the ideas that people have collectively suggested over the last 60 years? Good, let's do it then.

OK, now we've got that crap out of the way and are back in the reality of financial impoverishment and indifference, what actually is the reality of what we're doing?

Waiting. Either for the big one when ET does it for us or waiting for a breadcrumb of some sort from the table of the Pentagon. So, we're waiting for absolutely nothing then. Well, I'm glad that's sorted.

-----------------------------------

Never before, in my eyes at least, has UFO UpDates and for that matter the entire future of Ufology looked so uncertain and so shakey as it has done over the last couple of weeks. It had been building up to that with the endless discussions about the US secret project that Lonnie Zammora caught sight of just outside the White Sands missile testing base in New Mexico but was pushed over the edge for me by the revival, yet again, of the Father Gill sighting. This was not a good sign.

While the history of the subject is very important, it would appear that at the moment, the history of the subject is all we have to talk about.

It got that bad that it made me think favourably of Exopolitics. Seriously. At least it's progressive, at least it's fresh, even if it a complete load of old rubbish.

2005-10-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

Socorro

The Socorro case has raised its head again, thanks to our dear friend Rich, and I find myself being maneuvered into a position that I actually feel quite comfortable being in. It is this; As a Ufologist, I have very great pleasure in announcing that................I don't care about the evidence! I am simply not interested in Zammora's glasses, what special projects were or were not being made then, who came along to look at the trace samples afterwards, and in fact anything of any investigative or analytical origin whatsoever.Why? Because I cannot get past one very important fact that for me, knocks out everything else. Everybody knows about this fact but they ignore it because, while it might do it for me, for others it does not offer any sort of answer. Or it's a fact that they would rather just ignore. That fact is this. The Socorro incident took place right next door to the White Sands missile Test base from which secret defense projects were tested. That's it. That's all there is to say.

2005-10-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

What Is This Thing Called, Love? Dunno Hun, Give It A Twist And We'll See.

David Rudiak's recent attempt at savaging Rich Reynolds which included remarks along the lines that he couldn't see the purpose of Reynold's blog because all he did was attack people got me thinking. I think many of us have a very narrow perspective of what Ufology is.

It's not all about research! Oh my giddy aunt - I didn't really say that, did I? Well hush my mouth and smack my bum!! Some might actually argue otherwise and let's face it, where would we be without the OCD'ers, sorry researchers? We wouldn't be anywhere. We'd be back in the Dark Ages from whence we originally emerged, out of the swamps of ignorance and blindness. Today of course, as a result of the progress of researchers, we have absolute clarity about the UFO dilemma, we have answers and we know all there is to know about ET and his pals in the White House.

My point, besides being a sarcastic pain in the butt? Well, it's not to knock researchers, Oh no, God forbid, but to try and construct an argument that the parts are bigger than the whole. I think that means that there's room for everyone regardless of what their contribution is. I know, I would say that. Editing a magazine is an easy cop out to actually doing some serious heavy work.

Publishing opinions, shooting your mouth off, squabbling, nit picking, childish and illogical tantrums, utterly ridiculous infighting and back stabbing are all part of the fun of Ufology and anybody who indulges in all or some of the former can reasonably call himself a Ufologist. The contribution that individual makes in engaging in those activities is immense because if that wasn't going on, then the subject would be devoid of its humanity, which, when you consider that it's goal is the pursuit of non-humanity, would be somewhat ironic.

And besides, Rich is a pussycat. If you want nastiness, see this blog or Paul's or Alfred's.

2005-09-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

Rebuttal to Paul Kimball's "The Big Fish Flops"

The Toronto symposium has been and gone.

Paul Kimball thought that former Canadian cabinet minister Paul Hellyer's speech was a disaster.

It probably was.

As a consequence, the world has ended. Exopolitics has finally finished off mainstream Ufology and is now the predominant Ufological philosophy.

What lingering respect there was for Ufology before the conference has now totally evaporated.

All the positive strides that had been made towards mainstream science have now been rebuffed because of the events of September 25th.

The millions of people who attended the event were persuaded by the evil words of misinformation emanating from the podium and have now been converted. They have fallen into the dastardly trap of believing whistle blowers and eschewing Ufological fact.

The world will never be the same again.

And I'm going to have chicken for my dinner tonight.

2005-09-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well Done Mike and Victor

So, by all the accounts that I've heard so far, the so called exopolitical conference held this past Sunday (Sept. 25th) in Toronto was a success. That was despite the best efforts of the "Fascism In Ufology" brigade who did their best to stop people going and who probably helped the gate by their objections. What these "up their own ass" twerps don't realise, because they're too pompous, too arrogant, and in the end, just plain too stupid to realise is that however stupid other people are, they still nevertheless like to make their own minds up and seemingly don't like being told what to do by a bunch of stuck up pricks. Moreover, a bunch of self appointed pricks (and believe you me, that sort are everywhere) who have anointed themselves, because no one else has, as the guardians of authentic Ufology.

The trouble is that the arrogance that masks these people masks their vision as well. They haven't got a clue what a laugh they are giving the rest of us as they strut their stuff. Take for example the current pasting that Ed Gerhman has been receiving on UFO UpDates. There's no question that Ed brought a lot of it on himself and probably didn't help matters by his reaction to Nick Redfern's book. However, it was surprising just how quickly people became quite seriously aggressive towards him, eager to demonstrate their own superiority of knowledge and simultaneously take some pleasure in putting the boot in, no doubt feeling an awful lot better about themselves in the process.

So, the content of this conference may not have held my attention for more than a few minutes, maybe, but I'm sure glad I had that option of going if I had wanted to.

2005-09-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

Rich and Paul and Alfred

This isn’t Ufology; these are musings about recent interactions between three people. This is very esoteric and if you don’t know who these characters are, then your life is missing true fulfilment.

Lately they have been squabbling, which should of course come as no surprise. And yet, childish and often ridiculous though they may be, they are also to be congratulated for their maturity. Nasty things were and are being said and yet, when the emotion recedes, they’re still “kind of” pals.

Rich, now long hardened to Ufological abuse, lets it all roll over his back. He’s never ever really truly nasty. He prods and counters but doesn’t stick the knife in. He’s come a long way and has earned rehabilitation within Ufological circles. Once, it seemed that if you woke up in a bad mood and fancied taking it out on someone, Rich was your man, for some at least. It hurt, although much of it was self inflicted, but he rode it out. Well done.

Paul is “emotional”. He gets heated and for an intelligent man, speaks often without thinking the consequences through. Principles are important but he has needlessly now made an enemy out of a gentle man (Frank Warren) who is as inoffensive as it gets. He hisses and spits and makes dramatic statements. He can be childish in his rebuttals but he is forgiving and vents as a therapeutic exercise. He does recognise the parameters and accepts that though he may feel strongly about someone’s opinions and may exchange heated words with them, grudges are for others and calm and peaceful coexistence is eventually restored. I was tempted to say that there is one exception to his graciousness, namely Michael Salla, but I think there may even be the beginnings of a more accepting process going on there as well. Not an acceptance of the ideas but a recognition that he isn’t Canute and can’t stop whatever wants to happen.

Alfred and Paul needle each other while Rich looks on bemused, but they are now doing so for sport and no other reasons. Alfred holds no fear here but for Paul, Alfred is like an insect that won’t keep still long enough to be swatted. It’s a diversion while things are quiet or while there is nothing else to grab their particular attention for the moment. But, as soon as something more absorbing pops up, off they’ll go and if, horror of horrors, they actually agree on something, then all will be forgotten pretty quickly.

This is Ufology in 2005 and it makes me laugh. Nicely that is, not in despair.

2005-09-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Intelligent Design - You Bet

The debate in the States about Intelligent Design seems to have completely bypassed Ufology, and yet it shouldn't have done, for I feel we have a large stake in the outcome. To start with, and somewhat amusingly, I find myself on the same side as the Creationists, but for different reasons, although I'll admit the lines are blurred. No, I don't believe that God created the Earth and all on it 5,000 years ago and that somehow, penguins, the current American flavour of the month, confirm this fact.

I believe we were indeed created by Intelligent Design but this was done through directed panspermia by some alien race probably similar to us. Where the lines blur of course is that you might argue that any entity that can create Us and place us here is a God as seen through our particularly narrow spiritual perspective.

But do not underestimate the discomfort felt in siding with folk who are so out of touch with reality. Unfortunately, that discomfort goes on to amuse still further. For these folk, or would the more perjorative term "these people" be amore appropriate, also still think dinosaurs exist. Well, as someone with a keen interest in cryptozoology, I find there is one more connecting thread between me and them although I don't expect any reported sightings of dino in the near future. But should Bigfoot turn up one day, then have no fear that the Creationists will twist that one to their advantage somehow as well.

And yet more similarities emerge. Although I offer the Creationists absolutely no support, I feel attached to this debate in much the same way that many neo con Christian right wing groups feel attached to the Jews and the mess in the Middle East. Their rational for their views in the Arab/Jewish conflict is based on a particular interpretation of the Old Testament and their messianic faith in Jerusalem. They're on the same bus as the Jews but for different reasons, much as I am on the same bus as the Creationists but also for different reasons. Gee, it gets complicated.

To make matters even more messy, Science is at last waking up to what is going on and is starting to get involved, and inevitably, in blinkered fashion, is taking the side of evolution. They haven't looked outside of the box. My perspective would appeal to them, or at least to the astrobiological crowd and yet, unless I've missed something, no one else seems to be extending the argument as I have done.

And to screw the whole dammed thing even further, the debate is a non starter in the first place. The Intelligent Design debate is about who put us here. Evolution makes no such claim and has never ever tried to unravel that one. Evolution simply explains how we developed once life got started.

What a load of old balls the whole thing is.

2005-09-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

What?! How Much Do You want for that?

Do you have to be stupid to be into New Age interests? Do you have to be a shallow, unfocused, aimless individual who has to pay people to point you in the right direction?

I ask this question because having recently expanded the area of news gathering for my web site, UFO Review (http://www.uforeview.net), I have had to go on to several New Age sites looking for news stories. And the number of people offering courses for this and that, which all amount to fundamental personal development of one sort or another, all couched in airy fairy terms, is staggering.

We complain in Ufology about Snake Oil Salesmen. I love that term because it is quintessentially American but despite 3,000 miles of water, the meaning is still very clear. We moan about charlatans and other creeps but it seems to me that the only area within Ufology where there appears to be some anxiety to relieve large numbers of folk of their easily earned cash is in the area of remote viewing, where courses are biggish business. It's true some might complain about conference prices or the hard sell that goes on at many of them, but, and this is a matter of opinion, I think we get off fairly lightly.

But New Age commerce is very different. Here people are sold a life style and even the trading name "has to be right". Anything with a hint of native American is in while calling yourself Michael Jones might not produce a livable wage. It's all so cynical and so obvious and rather off putting and yet you've got to assume that if there wasn't a market, these people wouldn't proliferate as they do.

So, am I begging for their removal? Do I despise them? No. They're entitled to try to make a living and no one's holding a gun to the heads of their customers. Are they taking advantage of fragile personalities? Possibly, but, as with mediums, if folk get comfort from such things, who are we to judge? So what exactly am I whining about?

The cynicism of it all. Why? Branding and marketing goes on everywhere so why should the New Age arena be any different? Ah, got it now. New Agism is about errrr, it's about em, purity? Honesty. Kindness. Thoughtfulness. Consideration. Taking care of honest to goodness things like this planet. All these concepts are of the highest moral standing and status and should not be soiled by being tarred with money. Money is dirty and disgusting because.............well because it is. It brings out the worst in people.

Gee, I'm real glad I got all that sorted out. I was struggling for a minute there.

2005-08-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

Where Are The Dead Cows?

So where are we now with cattle mutilations? We still get occasional reports although these days they appear to be few and far between. Such is the reduction in activity in this area that some folk, no doubt suffering withdrawal symptoms from the sight of miserable looking beasts rigor mortised in a grim pose, are even now turning their attention to cut-up pussy cats. Somehow, it's just not the same. All a sliced and diced cat means is that there is a local psychopath in training and if you are a resident of an area where deceased pussies have been found, then prepare to be slaughtered yourself in the next year or two.

To me, it seems that the cattle mute syndrome has quietly morphed itself into an area of often unstated acceptance. There is one general theory that appears to have been taken on board about what was going on which is this; the mutilations were carried out by some group tasked by some department within the U.S. government to check on the health of the national meat herd. In particular they were looking for signs of CJD and whether it had infected the food chain. As CJD is linked to Alzheimers and this illness/disease is on the rampage in the States, it would appear that these covert monitoring attempts have not been successful and it surely won't be too long before some enterprising lawyer puts two and two together and starts digging around. Result? U.S. government goes in to hock to pay out on all the law suits that will follow.

Alas, this theory doesn't take into account any alien involvement and their desperate need for "something in the cow" that helps keep them alive. Nice one Rick Doty and it kept us going for a while.

A variant of the above explanation is that some mysterious and virulent bio-chemical thingy escaped from somewhere, which, when you consider where the majority of mutilations took place, is certainly a possibility, and that the mutilations were an attempt to monitor the progress of that particular virus.

Having just read "Alternative Three" by Jim Keith, a re-publication, I am intrigued by his views on what he thinks it was all about, which differ from the above. Bovine blood has certain similar properties to human blood and the samples were taken from these poor, unfortunate beasts in order to progress a project that was/is trying to create a form of cloned human for space flight purposes. It is understood in some quarters that a manned mission to Mars, as demanded by someone's esteemed president a few months back, will, when it eventually happens, be manned not by Man but by another type of man - one that will be able to withstand the rigours of lengthy space flight, radiation, and all the other little pleasantries that await us in the great far beyond. If so, then the deaths of all those cute cows will not have been in vain as after all, the progress of Man is an over riding requirement for something or other.

However, I still can't juxtasupose all of the above in my over worked brain because I keep coming back to one point that I know many others have also brought up. Why go to all that trouble with all those black helicopters and all the distress and upset caused to the farmers when it would appear to make much more sense to set up a meat wholesale company, buy the cattle in legitimately, and then dispose of it afterwards? What would be the problems with that? Perhaps I've asked the wrong people in the past but I've never ever had what I would consider to be an acceptable answer to that question.

So, maybe it was the aliens after all?!

2005-08-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

Ufology and Money

The subject of "money" within Ufology seems to be a delicate one and there appears to be a divided opinion on the matter between two groups, one group being much larger than the other.

The larger group seems to think that those within Ufology who ask for money for doing things like lectures and so on are in the wrong. Considering some of the slurs I've read, "wrong" might be viewed as a bit of an understatement. There is often a real sense of derision and disgust aimed at those who appear to want to pocket a buck and the underlying feeling, unquestionably, is that services should be donated for free in order to further the cause of the subject and to remove from it the dubious stink of pecuniary greed that has dogged Ufology in the past.

The other, smaller group consists of those who pocket the cash and who seem to have no qualms about asking for fees.

I have somewhat torn sensibilities on this. On the one hand, I can't see a problem with a speaker asking for a fee (as well as expenses) for an appearance at a conference or for writing something for a publication. Market forces would of course apply and if the fee was too much for the entrepreneur or publisher involved, then he has the option of haggling or going elsewhere.

I don't have much of a problem either with folk who market product; their speaches, films, CDs and so on. But I have to admit that on one message List I belong to, there are at least two senior members of that List who use the board to promote what they're selling and they do so to the point where I find it offensive. So it would appear that I don't mind people asking for money and yet at the same time, I do, which is hardly helpful. Perhaps it's the frequency of the promoting that is offensive.

This isn't a problem for which an answer is required and inevitably, because Human Beings are involved, there will be a large element of hypocrisy involved. It might for example be argued that authors who also lecture and who don't ask for a fee aren't being quite as saintly as they appear as the likelihood is that their speaking engagement will generate further book sales. On the other hand, they could still ask for a fee and make even more money and the fact that they don't is a feather in their cap.

And so the argument bounces one way then the next. What's this blog worth?

2005-08-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd better stir myself again.

Going on holiday and coming back to a mailbox of 1200 messages is not everyone's cup of tea but this year, I actually enjoyed the experience. For one thing, it gives you an objective view of what's gone on, on various threads on various boards without the immediacy of the emotional kick back that would have occurred at the time.

So naturally, my attention was drawn to the continuing battle on UFO UpDates in relation to Nick Redfern's theory on Roswell and the fact that this time, it was Brad Sparks who had stepped up to the plate. And what an unpleasant so and so he's turning out to be. I thought I was "in your face" but he gets so close that you can smell his halitosis. Like others before him, they huff and they puff but no real cracks seem to appear. And so we wonder off into what I call "Dianne Land". Dianne was my mother-in-law, now deceased, who we used to mock and tease endlessly for her habit of just plain making things up. Not lies but just sheer fantasy. She would see a guy on a bus for example and without even engaging him in conversation, would return and explain his whole life story to the rest of us. In fairness, there were lots of "maybe's" and "perhaps"in the tales that followed.

And so it has become with Brad. "Maybe they did this", "Maybe they did that" and so on. We've now left fact for what Brad would no doubt describe as his vast experience and insight of the intelligence community but what I would describe as sheer desperation.

But there is a complication with Brad's extremely tenacious approach that others have either chosen to overlook or have just plain forgot. On more than one occasion, Brad has announced that he has research that he feels would blow the lid off Roswell (or something like that) and advance the progress of the case, regretfully, according to him, in a non alien direction. When pressed of course, as he has been numerous times, reasons are offerred as to why this research cannot be produced.

And then this bastard Redfern comes along and steals all the thunder.

Plea; Would someone, somewhere, please step forward with a reasonable counter argument to Nick's case so that we can put it all to bed and go home.

And then there's the other joker in the barrel, Michael Salla. This saga has turned out to be very, very funny. In fact, absolutely hilarious. There is no other name for what has been going on with this guy that applies more accurately and succinctly that whack-a-mole. Up he pops, only to be whacked about the head, only to pop right back up again, only to be whacked about the head, only to pop back up again. And again, and again, and again. He may be talking rubbish but he has utterly and totally out argued, side stepped, and generally jinxed his way right round the so called best brains in the game. And he's still standing there, smiling, waiting for the next hit. Dear oh dear.

Other than that, yes thanks, I had a very nice holiday.

2005-07-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

I am away on holiday/vacation until August 5th. Yippee!!

2005-07-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

F....................acile Nonsense

It is common to criticise the Ufological community when it turns in on itself, as it frequently does, and starts hacking itself to pieces. Frankly however, I love it, and just at this moment, we are having a fabulous time. Battles are being fought on more than one front, the emotional temperature has shot through the roof, and one or two folk are out a' hunting. With knives to plunge deep into other people's backs.

Firstly, it was my turn to have my ass kicked by Paul Kimball over at his blog, in relation to this conference business in Toronto in September. While I have one or two minor issues with what Paul wrote, it is nevertheless interesting to see another viewpoint and to see how someone else has processed what he has read. But, it just goes to show that you can't pigeon hole someone permanently and somebody you had tucked away in your mind as "OK" (me) suddenly starts shooting his mouth off and turns out to have weird ideas, a nasty turn of phrase, and a line of sarcasm that is deeply irritating.

Paul too has had the boot put in very firmly between his two cheeks, but by a master of the art. Masquerading as a dear, sweet elderly lady in ill health, Wendy Connors, who I love dearly and will forgive anything, drove a stake right through Paul's torso by ripping his professional approach asunder while at the same time managing not to name him. This is vitriol at it's sweetest. Only someone who actually takes an interest in Ufology, unlike the rest of us who are consumed with our own agendas, would have failed to recognise who she was talking about. There is no love lost between the two of them. Paul "bottled" it as we say here. He replied to Wendy's comments but not face on. A nod, a wink, a little dig was about all we got. Paul; we want full scale warfare please - bodies, wreckage, machinery.

In the meantime, with all this going on in the background, there are a group of people busy grandly reorganising the future of Ufology. This involves the usual ritual of innovative ideas being placed before "the people" with earnest pleas for action now, if we are to get out of the mess that we are currently in and move forward. The suggestions are pretty flawless and of course are no sooner read than forgotten. No one will do anything because no one ever does. In fairness, it's not that we're lazy or indifferent. It's because we have no money, aren't properly organised, can't agree among ourselves, and no one can sacrifice the time that would inevitably ruin their lives and their relationships that would be needed to implement these schemes. Gosh, we're even busy trying to rename this particular "ology" because after all, that's really important.

Gildas Bourdais is busy in the meantime, trying to hack away at Nick Redfern's new theory on Roswell. It is like watching a man drowning slowly. He keeps coming back but each time he is a little weaker and a little less sure. At the moment he is now treading water. In a shorter while, I expect him to sink.

Sat on the sidelines, watching all this, is a man with a supercilious grin on his face. Of unknown origin and source, is James Smith..............

2005-07-20T04:17:00.000-07:00

UFO Conference, Toronto, September 25th

I have been engaging in a torrid debate on UFO Updates with Eugene Frison and others about the above mentioned conference. As soon as the PR notice about it hit the boards, in they jumped with both feet, with bland, sweeping, negative declarations about how people shouldn't attend because part of the conference will be about Exopolitics, the greatest evil ever to drop down from the skies to affect Ufology.

As is the way with these types of arguments, both sides weren't really hearing what the other was saying.

Their argument, and I stand to be corrected, was that Exo is such a load of negative, harmful rubbish, that there was a danger that the more naive attending might be drawn into it and become ensnared by the evils it proffers.

My argument was, let people make decisions about it themselves, don't try and dictate to people what they should and shouldn't see and hear. Oh, and may be also, support the conference if not positively, then by at least muting the criticism.

I was profoundly disturbed by the reactions.

Nobody was interested in letting others decide for themselves. Canadians weren't interested in encouraging a fellow countryman to stage a conference by at least offering support. No one was interested in extending any personal kindness to anyone. It was all about the evil of Exo and how it should be crushed.

I said a moment ago I was disturbed. It went deeper than that. Sickened and shocked would be a more appropriate terms. These aren't normal human beings. These are arrogant obsessives, desperate to show how right on they all are towards their colleagues. All towing the official party line, but without thought or intelligent comment. Sheep like herd followers, many without an original idea in their heads,

Surrealistically, and somewhat amusingly, in the background to all this, Michael Salla continued to post in a detached manner about this and that, while the argument about his philosophy went on around him.

I've certainly lost debates or run into a brick wall before, but this time the feeling I am left with is very different. It's a very uncomfortable feeling. One can fundamentally disagree with someone's opinion but still respect and like them. Not this time. I've been appalled by the closed minds, the shallowness, the vacuous content of many of the posts, the sheer lack of depth or weight to some of the replies I received. This from people I thought well of before.

So, what to do? Two alternatives. Retire gracefully or, up the tempo one more notch and see who's got the stamina to continue with it. Hmmmmmmm

Stuart Miller

2005-07-19T00:14:00.000-07:00

Fascism And Stupidity In Ufology

That heading would have brought a smile to a face or two of those who have been following my latest displays of subtlety, tact, and self restraint on Updates. But it does raise some interesting questions.

There are a number of people on Updates who have made a massive contribution towards Ufology over the years. They are respected for their achievements and their knowledge. As most of them are elderly, inevitably a few have become grumpy, mean spirited and often cruel in their impatient replies to some. How should they be dealt with?

Is it only right to recognise their careers and their age and out of respect, make an allowance for their behaviour? Or, should those elements be ignored and should responses to them be in keeping with their own style and way of doing things?

I have a nasty feeling that Rich might have one or two strong views on this but if you do read this Rich, try and be as objective as you can. In other words, try to set aside the memories of how you have been treated by some of these folk. Not easy, I grant you. Mind you, I've answered my own question. I recall your responses, which were polite.

There is a fascism in Ufology and frequently, it is the above mentioned folk who are at the forefront of it. Their desire to decide what is right to accept or believe and what isn't, and the manner in which they try to impose their views on others is, quite frankly, sickening. It's bullying by any other name.

It is almost certainly the reason why there are so many people who are members of Updates who choose never to post a message. There's a part of me that says, "Who can blame them" and yet another part of me that thinks they're a bit wimpy. But, their lack of action is at least understandable.

So what's to be done about it? Well, going off and forming the UFO Forum is one tactic but, unlikely though it probably is, they might go and follow you over there. Membership is open to all and anyway, it is rather running away from the problem.

Fight them on the message board? Battle with them? It's a pretty pointless, futile pursuit that gets no one anywhere and just creates further division. So, back to the status quo.

Step around them somewhat gingerly maybe, but should one really have to do that?

It would appear "yes".

So we wait. We wait no doubt for them to be replaced by yet more grumpy people, and the cycle continues.

Of course, we age as well. And as that process develops, there is a suspicion that I too might turn out to be a grumpy old git. Please take me out and shoot me if I ever get anywhere close to being like that.

I've always had what I regard as a realistic view of my own intellectual gravitas. While I have never sat an intelligence test, I have no reason to believe that my IQ is much above average and I recognise my limitations in terms of speed of thought as well as depth. But I'm beginning to have second thoughts. I just cannot believe the incredibly dumb posts that have been aimed at me recently by people I regarded as bright. And therein lies my mistake probably. I am most likely confusing one form of intelligence with, for example, an ability to articulate. Because one is accomplished in one direction doesn't mean that one is gifted in every direction.

But I still can't get over the sheer recent stupidity of both John Rimmer and James Smith. One intimates that getting rid of all UFO conferences may not be a bad thing, while forgetting that once a month, he stages a small scale version in a pub down in Putney in London. And the other speaks of Ufology and Ufologists in the most derisive of generalised and abusive terms, seemingly also forgetting that he is an active participant in the very same activity he has just abused.

I somewhat suspect that Rimmer will strenerously deny that what he does could in any way be called a conference. On that basis, I would strenerously deny that Rimmer could in anyway be called a Ufologist. Trouble is, he'd probably agree.

Stuart Miller

2005-07-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Where the Working Classes Go

There was a fascinating forum on the web site of Crowded Skies, a UK based site I think, that unfortunately has now been closed down. It got too much for Daz, the webmaster and he pulled the plug.

You didn't have to join anything. You could just compose a message in the box provided and post it. Virtually idiot proof which is why so many idiots used the site. That statement is a bit unfair but the simplicity of use was, shall we say, welcomed by many.

What you got though, because of the set up, was fascinating if you were interested in anthropology and sociology. It became the haven for those disenfranchised or intimidated by Lists such as Updates et al. These people had no voice and Crowded Skies provided an outlet.

The exchanges were fascinating. "Fuck you" was a common rejoinder as was "You're full of shit". Threads were very rarely developed and never had any duration and wild statements along the lines of, "I've got proof" always went unchallenged. No one ever seemed remotely interested in anyone else's ideas or thoughts and the whole pot pourri was amusingly interrupted on a regular basis by desperate posts from Daz asking for the language to be moderated.

Where will these people go now? Who will offer them a voice? Will they disappear back into the Underworld of Ufology, festering away in their frustration and take to disrupting UFO conferences with cries of "There's a Reptilian behind you. Oh no there isn't. Oh yes there is."

Daz should have left them be. What harm were they doing? They seemed to be having fun and no one was really getting hurt.

Stuart Miller

2005-07-16T05:41:00.000-07:00

The World Has Turned Upside Down and Back To Front

First we have a book from a believer, Nick Redfern, which kicks away the principle prop of mainstream Ufology in the shape of Roswell, the coat peg from which virtually all is hung.

Then we have arch sceptics turning out work that removes from the sceptical armoury one of the heaviest clubs used to beat Ufologists around the head with, namely that UFO sightings apparently do not increase after the release of a major Ufological based film.

Magonia Supplement No.57 http://magonia.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ms57.htm

Stop this boys. I'm getting a headache and I'm very confused.

Stuart Miller

2005-07-15T03:49:00.000-07:00

Winning the Ufological PR Battle

There has been an interesting debate on Paul Kimball's blog at http://redstarfilms.blogspot.com/2005/07/winning-ufological-pr-battle.html in response to Seth Shostak's latest pronouncement of the UFO subject - a to and thro between Paul, Owen and Rich. If you stand back and just look at the exchanges between them in their entirety, what you see and feel is what you always see and feel in discussions like that; frustration. Frustration at the fact that Ufology is still stuck in the same quagmire it's been stuck in for the last 50 years and that a new initiative is needed, a new leader maybe, but whatever, something has to be done to get this stupid subject to be taken seriously somewhere by someone.

We do this often. We vent. We rail against "science" for not taking an interest, for being scared to poke its nose in. We demand action. We flail around looking for a direction that can help us move on.

Any call for a collective, unified facade is an absolute waste of time. It's not an invalid suggestion by any means, far from it, and if it could be achieved, it might well achieve the desired affect that we want. But you have to be seriously kidding yourself if you think that any of the personalities in Ufology could even get close for a second to suppressing their own agendas and agreeing a common way forward. It will never happen in a million years.

And when someone brave enough tries to give it a go, what happens? We shoot him down and while he is wriggling on the floor, we dissect him and feed off the carcass for years to come. We have one obvious example to point to and that is Steven Greer.

Now, most of you reading the above line will mutter something like, "Ah but........" meaning Greer is a flawed example. After all, he did this, he said that, he tied Ufology in with other crackpot ideas, he ripped people off, and so on.Anybody that stepped forward as Greer did would attract the same level of intense interest and criticism. It would be different points of contention, different niggles, but unquestionably, that individual would be hacked down in some way and in some manner. That would be an absolute given. So one can hardly be surprised if the next messiah is biding his time and wondering if any effort would even be worth his while.

In Ufology, we criticise, attack, gossip, and bicker about everything and everyone. And why not? We are after all, not aliens but humans and we do what humans do.We're stuck. It will never happen. Well, actually it might but it won't be by any collective action. It will happen through one individual's research, or, possibly, a whistleblower of impeccable background and credentials.

Instead of grinding our dentures in frustration, we would be better off turning our gaze inwards and coming to terms with our own personal limitations. And, becoming comfortable with them. If we really were interested in moving forwards, we would have done that years ago. We're not interested. We enjoy the chase, the fighting and arguing, the personality clashes, the ego bruising, the sniping, the back stabbing, the feelings of self righteousness; in other words, we like having fun. Getting to The End wouldn't be fun. Where would we go after that?

Stuart Miller

2005-07-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Nick Redfern

What a thoroughly nice man this guy is.

That sentence will drive him mad. He thinks it's funny that most of Ufology sees him that way. He will respond by running off a list of character traits that he regards as negative. And because he has bad thoughts or does bad things, in other words human things, he feels being seen as "nice" is fraudulent.

You can't argue with him on this, which is why I'm going behind his back this way. He's just too modest. He can't take a compliment. The moment you start saying something nice about him to him, he changes the subject.

He is approachable, friendly, generous, principled, honest, and helpful. He cares about people and he has time for them. He cares about animals. He cares for example about what happened to Paul Bennewitz more than I do. While I regard what happened to Mr. Bennewitz as extremely unfortunate, when it comes to the greater good and the number of lives that may well have been saved as a result of counter intelligence activities, then it's a no contest. I don't think Nick totally disregards that line of thought, but his sympathies definitely lie in the direction of the victim.

Likewise with his current book on Roswell. A substantial part of his motivation is about what happened to the victims of Unit 731 who were brought back to the States and who still had to endure the barbaric activities that were planned for them in Japan, but this time under the command of Americans. He is angry and wants justice.

Emotion is hard to find in his writings actually but if you look hard enough for it, it is there. Take the last page of Body Snatchers In The Desert for example. In fact, take the very last sentence of the book. He has phoned the Pentagon to tell them what he has found out. They are indifferent. His concluding line is filled with anger; anger at the way we Ufologists, as members of the public, have been jerked around for the last 50 years. Anger at the injustices done to cover up the fact that the moral division between the American and Japanese military at the end of the war was paper thin. Anger at the lies, the manipulation, the deceit, the dishonesty, and so on.

It's a pleasure to know him. If you want some amusement, next time you speak or write to him, tell him he's OK. And then wait for the reaction.

Stuart Miller

2005-07-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

The London Bombings and Ufology

Firstly, can I again thank everybody who sent messages of goodwill after the recent bombings in London. I was actually very surprised by the volume of messages that came in and was very touched.

I make no apologies for the fact that what follows is going to sound a bit schizophrenic.

What is it these days with UFO Roundup and for that matter, Filers Files? The latest bulletin from Roundup has just come out and the lead item is about the outrage in London. What the feck has that got to do with Ufology? They do manage to twist into it some bizarre connection between the bombings and Jack The Ripper which makes the whole bulletin seem even more ridiculous than usual. But John H, if you're reading this, you're losing your way pal. And the conspiracy stuff is just inane.

I think I'm slightly pissed with the fact that these guys can include material that has nothing to do with Ufology and yet they both managed to totally ignore the biggest Ufological story for some considerable time, namely Nick Redfern's new book on Roswell.

A few days ago on the British site UfologyUK, Robert Rosamund, these days a leading light in BUFORA, was severely chastised by the List moderator Joe McGonagle for criticising him for an extremely parsimonious post about the bombings that Joe had put up. Joe's message was; no references to the atrocity here please, keep it strictly on Ufology. Go elsewhere if you want to express any feelings about the incident. Robert criticised Joe for what he considered was a nasty and unsympathetic post and was placed on moderation immediately because of it.

In terms of the principles involved, I can actually see both points of view. After something as shocking as the events of last Thursday, people are naturally very emotional and distressed and want to express their feelings. Would there have been any harm done if for a day or two, people had talked about what happened, even if it wasn't remotely connected with Ufology? Of course not.

On the other hand, Joe's point was that if the bombings were allowed to sway people away from the principle point of discussion of the List, then the bombers had "won". They were getting the publicity they wanted and were affecting people's lives when it might be better to ignore them as if they were insignificant and incapable of seriously reaching out to us. I can see where he's coming from with that too.

It was clear from Joe's irrational response that he obviously was affected by what happened and his actions towards Robert displayed a high level of emotion. On balance, I would side with Robert on this and I think Joe's response may have been a bit different if he actually lived in London instead of Stoke, 180 miles away.

Joe is prone to these occasional Machiavellian gestures at times and the results can be seen on the List. Of approximately a thousand members, maybe twenty to thirty, if that, actually post.

Elsewhere, the conspiracy crap has started about the bombings and I'm staggered by the crass ineptitude, insensitivity, and just plain utter stupidity of it all. I say to these sad excuses for humanity that are propagating this stuff, for God's sake go get a life. Tell you what guys, try talking to members of the opposite sex. You know, women and things. Oh, you've tried that and that's why you're turning out all this drivel. 'Nough said.

Stuart Miller

2005-07-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

In Defense of UFO Updates

The UFO Forum has kicked off and I wish it the best of luck. I sincerely hope it does well and I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't. I've joined and I'm sure many others will as well.

Part of the reasoning in the minds of the List owners in setting up the Forum is an attempt to wrest control away from Errol Bruce Knapp, the moderator of the UFO Updates List, as the major dominating force for intelligent discussion within the Ufological community. That, it won't do, and it really doesn't take too much of an effort to work out why.

For example, one of the reasons given for a sense of dissatisfaction with Updates is that it all rests in the hands of one man, namely Errol. There is no open posting policy on Updates. Posts are sent in, scrutinised by Errol for formatting and content, and then posted if he feels it is appropriate. That means that some people don't get their messages on to the List for a variety of reasons, and of course that leads to frustration.

I've been there. When I first started on the List, being not only somewhat dense but also bemused by the demands of actually being neat and tidy when composing a message, loads of my posts went awol. Although it irked a bit, I accepted I wasn't getting it right and just pressed on. Eventually, I got there. But some might argue that they are being censored or that Ufological thinking is being fashioned by just one guy.

That last one actually is an odd one. If you listen to Errol's radio shows on 1010 Talk Radio Toronto, you will quickly discover that Errol's own personal views would see him hung, drawn and quartered on UFO Updates if he was an ordinary subscriber. Errol is a believer and believers are generally looked down upon with disdain. What he posts from others does not for one moment necessarily reflect his own personal views. And in fact he tends to screen out some messages that might reflect some or part of his own philosophy simply because they are not in keeping with the range of views his subscriber list expects to see.

He's also partly been pilloried for taking a holiday, which he's doing right now, and as he's away, the List has shut down for a week and a half. That means no voice or outlet for some and as far as most are concerned, the end of intelligent discussion for a few days simply because one guy has frigged off for a bit of peace and quiet. The damn cheek of it! Daring to take a holiday.

Updates can be an intimidating place for some. The big knobs of Ufology are there and they post messages that make cogent points often using words involving more than three syllables. You are in the company of those who are extremely well read and who are obviously in the main, highly intelligent. Sometimes, it goes off and arguments start. Ridiculous to'ing and thro'ing over the most pathetic and vaguest of points. For many, the bear pit arena of Updates is just too much and so they stand on the side lines, raiding the archives and enjoying the sport.

But all of this is part and parcel of the attraction of Updates. The sometimes hit and miss nature as to whether a post you've sent in actually makes it on to the board is part of the thrill. It maintains the standard and creates an air of exclusivity about the place. That is not meant in a snobbish manner and List membership is open to all. But it does mean you have to write well, have a valid point of view, and generally not have the demeanor of an idiot. That's not asking too much but it's a lot more than is asked on virtually every other List going. And that's what makes Updates unique.

Another factor not to be overlooked is the sheer hard work Errol has put in over the years. A List does not become successful overnight. It takes constant monitoring and effort. Errol has done that, at, it must be said, a financial cost to himself in that his dedication to the cause has taken him away from more profitable lines of work.

A nod must also be given in the direction of the Updates archives. Having been going now for some considerable time and having had the very best of the Ufological community as its membership, those archives are a gold mine for anyone attempting serious research. And they didn't appear overnight either.

If I was one of the List owners of the Forum, I wouldn't even attempt to have Updates in my line of fire. It would be a waste of time. My focus would simply be on every other List. I would attempt to make mine different to the others by raising the level of discussion and that will mean hard work on the part of the owners. Material will need to be fed to the List in order to generate debate. Appropriate material at that. It needs to be kept going and it needs an effort to be made. That is within the scope and abilities of the owners. It's up to them.

Stuart Miller

2005-07-11T05:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to UFO Disinfo R Us.com

While the name of this site suggests that I might not be overly serious about all this, I wish to reassure you that I am. Not about spreading disinfo within the UFO community because I haven't got any really good stuff at the moment but I am serious about entering into the true spirit of these things which seems to involve a supreme arrogance that others will be interested in your opinions and also because I think I would enjoy slagging people off and generally slating them, which does appear to be the principle objective of these sites.

For example, today we have Kyle King on his site (http://www.uforeflections.blogspot.com/) severely criticising his pals over at RRG. Kyle has always been wrong footed by Alfred Lehmberg with whom he seems to be slightly obsessed and seems desperate for Alfred to throw his arm around him and to be nice. Alfred I think likes to pick his pals carefully and a lot depends on their philosophy, and Kyle is perhaps just a little too "objective" I would say for Alfred's tastes. The RRG group and Alfred are all tied up in the same posting from Kyle. Well, I suppose it's all good clean fun.

As I swing the target site round I find it rests in the direction of Amy Hebert. I think Amy is a Ufologist but I'm not sure. It may be that in reality she's a pop psychologist as she seems to spend more time in wittering on in this area than virtually any other. Amy is confused. She declares often that all she's interested in is the truth but when it is presented to her, she doesn't like it. She has to see behind it, to see the motivation, the players as she calls them, and so on. She asks lots of questions but doesn't seem to find answers so I guess she's in a permanent state of confusion.

She's also not capable of looking beyond her own belly button.

This is an extract from a message she posted to the British site UfologyUK in connection with the Guardian interview with Gary Mckinnon (Game over
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1523143,00.html#article_continue). Gary, you will remember is an English computer buff who the Pentagon have labelled as the biggest military hacker of all time. We breed 'em big here.

"The article makes just about anything American look stupid, barbaric and moronic. Did you notice the negative undertones? Shut down the US military? "Non-Terrestrial Officers"? "Rednecks"?

Uh, reality check."

Reality check indeed dear.

Some of my best friends are American/love the place and the people etc. etc. and while I roll all that stuff out somewhat flippantly, it happens to be true. But it doesn't blind me to its faults, and there are many. Like the little matter for example of capital punishment. Any country, in this day and age, that still carries out this kind of shit is nothing more than a third rate banana republic. Period, as you guys say. Any country that can threaten someone with a potential 70 year prison sentence, as has happened to Gary Mckinnon, is nothing more than a joke. Any country that can elect a leader so blind to the consequences of the environmental impact that his nations' "waste disposal" has on the climate because he' so unashamedly wrapped up in "special interests" and repaying folk who helped get him re-elected don't deserve the franchise. Any country with gun laws like yours Amy is just plan stupid. Any country that has vast numbers of people who live in some religious time lock divorced from reality and who don't even know where New York is let alone such radical concepts as "Europe" or "The Middle East" does not deserve to sit at the international table. And so on.

So a reality check is indeed needed Amy. Indeed.

Stuart Miller