Empire of the Odd

***

Thanks to RD Brock over at Aliens Ate My Buick….

From: keya.mason
Date: Nov 27, 2006 3:24 PM
Subject: Important please read! Great opportunity from ABC television! Looking for people who believe in UFO’s, paranormal, etc
To: (You know who you are!)

I am the Casting Producer for ABC Televisions hit show, Wife Swap. I am looking for a family who believes very heavily or is simply obsessed with finding out about UFO’s, Area 51, conspiracy theories, secret military projects, alien abductions, ET’s, paranormal, etc. to feature on the show! I thought it couldn’t hurt to reach out to you to see if you were interested in this opportunity or if you knew any families that might be interested. I apologize if you have received this email in error or if we have contacted you in the past!

In case you are unfamiliar with the show, the premise of Wife Swap is to take two different families and have the mom’s switch place to experience how another family lives. Half of the week, mom lives the life of the family she is staying with. Then she introduces a “rule change” where she implements rules and activities that her family has. It’s a positive experience for people to not only learn but teach about other families and other ways of life.

Wife Swap airs on Disney owned ABC television on Mondays at 8 pm- the family hour! There is another show that copies ours. We focus on having fun, learning and teaching. They focus on conflict. I just want to make sure our show doesn’t get confused with theirs!

Requirements: Each family should consist of two parents and at least one child between 7 and 17 and should reside in the continental U.S. (There may be other children living in the home who are older or younger than the required age…as long as one child is in the required age range.)

If you and your family meet the requirements as stated above and are interested in this opportunity, please contact me right away! If not, perhaps you know a family that meets the requirements and might want to apply! I also ask that you forward this on to the members of your organization or groups you are involved in so that if they are interested, they may contact me as well! This is a very unique experience that can be life changing for everyone. In addition, each family that tapes an episode of Wife Swap receives a $20,000 honorarium. I know your time is money as well so if you refer a family that appears on our program you will get $1000 as a ‘thank you’ from us.

I know this is an unusual request but I appreciate you taking the time to read this. If you have any questions, please call me at the number below. Please let me know if you may be able to help me. Thank you for your time.
Keya Mason| Casting Associate Producer | ABC Television | Wife Swap
RDF USA| 440 9th Avenue | 11th Floor| New York | NY 10001
tel. + 1 212 404 1422 | fax. + 1 212 404 1423

By: Aaron Sakulich in the Triangle

I can remember screwing around on the Internet once in high school, finding a list of things that might indicate that you have the reincarnated soul of some sort of space priest. Or something. I remember reading it and realizing how many of the things applied to me, and thinking how nice it would be to believe that I was a truly special individual. Even then, however, cynicism and skepticism, the hot older sisters of rationality, were with me, and I was instantly struck by the fact that all of those things could apply to anyone.

I don’t remember much about that list beyond the vague introduction I gave above. However, I have managed to find something similar: a list of possible signs that you have been abducted by space aliens. As a tribute to my high-school self, I hope you won’t think it tedious of me to go through the list, point by point, and examine them.

The list was found at a popular new-age Web site, Crystalinks.com; items from the original list appear in bold, and my running commentary appears below. Other than that, the list has not been edited in any way. All the “signs” are there, and even the ones with grammatical errors have not been changed.

Feeling you are special or chosen or have an important task to perform

This is one that I remember verbatim from the list I found in high school. Let me be absolutely clear: Thinking you’re special doesn’t mean that you were at one point abducted by space aliens. It means that you have good self-esteem, bordering on a bit of arrogance. This sign definitely applies to me: I think I’m a pretty good guy, and I have a very important task to perform. Thinking you’re better than others doesn’t make you a space man. It makes you kind of an asshole.

Have a memory of having a special place with spiritual significance, when you were a youngster

It would be a very sad childhood if you couldn’t recall a special place from when you were young. The first thing to leap to mind for me is the little plywood clubhouse my friends and I built under our deck, to say nothing of the little log fort we built way out in the woods. There was also the local creek, where we’d try and catch crawdads. I don’t know if I’d call it spiritual per se, but these were the places where I fell in love with the forest, which is surely a spiritual thing.

….more…..

I just love this stuff!

From Aaron Sakulich in the Triangle. — Anyone who gets their panties in a wad over this fellow deserves to!

Thousands upon thousands of people claim to know exactly where UFOs are from, why they’re here, and how they work. A quick survey of what it is that powers UFOs reveals a flood of technobabble that should make even the most scientifically inept wince: warp drives, atomic power, ion drives, gravitational repulsion, differential accumulators, tachyon drives, zero point energy, free energy… the point is, it’s like my high school physics textbook had sex with an episode of Star Trek and they threw their baby’s first diaper into my eyes.

bwaa hahah! .…More….

Some comments on
The Testimony of Colonel Otis “Mad Dog” Retchner, USAF (Ret.)

http://www.danielbrenton.com/2006/11/27/the-round-files/

There was a fascinating story over at Dan Brenton’s weblog the other day. http://www.danielbrenton.com/ Dan sends updates and comments to the Odd Emperor once and a while. Odd asked me to comment on this piece because, once, long ago I worked on equipment similar to that which is described in the story. I’ve actually been in similar situations as those portrayed in the story.

The years I served in the US military I worked on some of the era’s most sophisticated tracking and search radar, I’„¢m well acquainted with how this equipment operates, it’s limitations and it’s strengths. I’m also very familiar with some of the myths surrounding military operations but, more on that later. I was once trained and indoctrinated in the prosecution of uncorrelated objects, meaning I was given instructions on how to deal with UFOs, that tale can wait as well.

There were at least two USAF bases in Spain Mor Air Base, in Andalusia and Torrejon Air Force Base, in Madrid (which was turned back over to the Spanish Government in the 1990s.) There also seemed to be one in at Zaragosa Airforce Base

It seems the US Air Force and the Spanish Government did establish several Spanish USAF bases in 1953. A US tactical wing could have been in Spain a year earlier, or this gentleman was in command before the wing was assigned overseas. However, I haven’t find any USAF officer by that name. (just from checking the usual sources, I haven’t bothered to do a complete search of PD records.)

Anyway, according to the story.

‘“On August 4, 1956, I was awakened from a sound sleep when my second in charge rang me to notify me that base security had been breached by an unidentified slow-moving aircraft, which radar had tracked moving north-northwest across the base. “

I find it difficult to believe that a radar operator would have used the term “aircraft.”There are lots of things flying around that are not aircraft. The correct term is “uncorrelated target” or bogey. Most radar operators (if they are experienced) won’t jump to conclusions. Certainly not if it’¢s going to put the base on alert. It would also have been proper for the operator to relate what kind of aircraft. If they were sure it was an aircraft they probably had some idea what kind, how big etc.

Now the witness’

he was near the eastern perimeter when he said he ‘“felt like something was watching him’ and he looked up to see a pitch black section of sky suddenly filled with something that from his description sounded all the world like an oversized black Christmas tree that was trimmed with purple lights and stank of brimstone.

Strangely enough, this is not too far afield from a typical UFO sighting including the report of an odor.

However, when was the last time you smelled a helicopter, even one that was hovering close by? It’s not out of the question but very unusual to say the least as anyone who’s been around aircraft can tell you. I know the aroma of jet fuel very well and it’s very rare indeed that I detect it from a flying aircraft. My point is, the brimstone odor report and the ‘“I feel like someone is watching me’ statement are classic UFO components. Certainly no aircraft as we know it!

This thing passed overhead with its long axis parallel to the ground, maybe forty-five feet up and traveling at about fifteen knots*

(*About seventeen miles per hour, far too slow for a conventional aircraft. MPH= K *1.1508) about the speed of a balloon drifting with the wind.

Later, the wing commander sent a report of this incident to his higher-ups. That didn’t sound like a very good idea because’

When the report made it to the top of the chain of command, the response came back down in the form of an ‘“eyes only’ order to me which, reluctantly, I carried out: all personnel involved in the incident were instructed that they hadn’t seen or heard a thing about it; that it had never happened; that it would be considered a treasonous act to say that it had;

I believe this happened pretty much as related. Except for one thing,’“classified eyes only” is pretty much meaningless in this context. There is no such thing as “Classified, Eyes only.” You might have “Secret- eyes only” document but the word “classified” is a declaration of a classification, not a classification itself. The word “classified” is allways followed by the level of classification.

Many people seem to put a lot of weight on the military classification system, some seem to think that the system is a license for military people to lie. That it’s evil and should be done away with. As a matter of fact, classification systems are not licenses to lie or to deceive people. They are systems to control information in organizations where the control of information can literally mean life or death. … for billions of people… for you and I this very second.

“A government is responsible for the survival of the nation and its people. To ensure that survival, a government must sometimes stringently control certain information that (1) gives the nation a significant advantage over adversaries or (2) prevents adversaries from having an advantage that could significantly damage the nation. Governments protect that special information by classifying it; that is, by giving it a special designation, such as “Secret,” and then restricting access to it (e.g., by need-to-know requirements and physical security measures).” http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/quist/index.html

This is pretty cut and dried. It’s is to be expected that a government agency designed for conflict (like a military arm) will have and hold secrets. No military organization can survive (or really exists) without it. Today, everything is classified! Try finding out exactly how many plastic forks are used daily on a US aircraft carrier, you will discover that even this seemingly innocent information will have some kind of classification stamped on it.

Today, the lowest level is “unclassified.” “Confidential” is the next level.” followed “secret” and “top secret.” To my knowledge (and I could be wrong.) there really are no classifications above “top secret.”

Your retired military person for whatever reason did not give the classification of his order (BTW, when you muster out it’s still illegal to divulge classified material as he well knows.) I suspect the order was indeed, Top Secret. If the order was for his eyes only and I suspect (unless he has a screw loose) he will not divulge to you exactly what the message said or why to this day. Any order like that is probably no more than a ‘“please don’t send any more of this stuff OK? command.

Now as to why the USAF asked him to in a sense shut the hell up about the incident? First of all, there was really nothing to go on. Radar operators routinely see stuff that they cannot immediately identify. Back in the day, an operator would be looking at raw returns in a mountain of ground and air clutter. What they saw (in all probability) was a large, sharp edged return that was moving slowly over the base with the prevailing wind.

We don’¢t know what the weather was like that night, I’d be willing to bet it was cloudy-rainy with a 10-15 knot surface wind. If so the target was almost certainly a cloud.

It is quite possible for clouds to reflect radar. If you want proof I suggest you go over to NOAA or your favorite weather page. Radar reflects off of anything, even air. We turn the receivers down to make air and clouds (even flocks of birds) transparent to the receiving equipment.

There is no fundamental difference between the radars used today and the ones they used in the 1950s (other than a lack of vacuum tubes today and MUCH better computers.) Nowadays it’s very rare for an operator to even look at raw data like they did back in the 1950s. Radar targets are automatically “recognized”depending on the type of radar set that is being used (weather radars for example reject aircraft while aircraft tracking radar rejects clouds.) There was probably no such equipment between the radar operator and the raw data that night, just an attenuation knob and a certain amount of training.

They probably were using a PPI display (that’s the round one with the radial-sweeping trace.) I doubt that they had 3D sets or Doppler tracking equipment. If they did, it’s quite possible that they not only saw the trace on the search radar but they could have actually locked onto it although this story doesn” mention it. I actually have locked on to clouds with Doppler targeting radar designed for aircraft.

Depending on the conditions, a cloud might have enough ice, water vapor or rain to stand out from the rest and look very peculiar. Radar people call these clouds stuffed with rocks. They can look quite striking, a slow moving-huge blip that looks perfectly solid. I’ve seen these fool people more than once.

Now the witness– we know almost nothing of him. He’s an Airman (about an E3) What was his capacity on the base? What was he doing on the perimeter so late at night? Was he on watch? Was he coming back from liberty? Had he been drinking?

There is no way to determine any of this. All we have is a blank statement that ““I saw an unusual object that smelled like sulfur. Coincidentally we have a radar operator saying that they have an unknown aircraft and a grumpy-sleepy wing commander.

Is that enough to have generated a bogus UFO encounter?

Absolutely! Would the airman have related the account without being asked? Perhaps he was on watch, asleep and dreaming when the phone rang. He answers the phone half awake. One of his superior demands that he to relate any unusual occurrences. The airman blurts out that he saw something just before the call, which in reality was a dream.

He’s going to stick with the story too, especially before a grumpy wing commander, or he’¢s going admit he was sleeping on watch? Probably get court-marshaled and drummed out? What would you do?

The wing commander sends in a report (probably following regs.) His superiors react by saying“shut the hell up about that!” Why? Because even investigating something like this would call a lot of people in question.

Believe it or not, the Air Force is not in the business of chasing UFOs. The Air Force is in the business of hurting the enemy, setting fire to their aircraft and their cities. Strange stories of wild looking aircraft and odd radar traces might not fall under this mission.

Your retired officer’s superiors had two choices, investigate something that on the surface sounded bogus or, just forget the whole thing.

It looks like they opted to forget it.

If they investigated? Was the airman on watch and awake? Is the radar staff well trained enough to determine a real aircraft from a meteorological? The base commander? Is he competently leading his men in this high profile location? Do we really need to be investigating this stupid shit (I’¢m sorry but that’s exactly how MY superiors would have looked at it.)

Now I’m not saying that the event was completely bogus. The Airman did sight a UFO. The radar people probably didn’t see anything significant at least, according to the way this story is related. Since radar can (and does) reflect off of things that are not aircraft all the time I strongly suspect that they were simply mistaken.

It”old-man was shaken out of a deep sleep for and you must tell the old-man something or else! The old-man shoots off a twixt of his interrupted night to HIS old-man, I can only imagine what Colonel Otis “Mad Dog higher ups might have said

The Place — (US European command HQ- Up the chain of command.)
The time, August 5th, 1956, 08:34
Honcho= Mad Dog’s CO.
Numbnuts= Honcho’s adjunct.

(Numbnuts) “Sir, did you see that report from Morn- it was on your desk this morning“

(Honcho) ” Yes I saw it–you tell what his name..Retchman TO put a lid on it.”

(Numbnuts) “Sir?”

(Honcho)“Stow it! Put it where the sun don’t shine! That’s all we f$%^ing need,  flying saucers!

(Numbnuts) “Um-it was bad smelling Christmass trees sir- and they had a radar trace-“

(Honcho) “yah sure-sure! you can tell them where they can cram their radar trace! If it aint got red stars on the dorsal fins, I don’t want to hear about it ‘ if it DO have red stars, I want you to shoot it down – CLEAR?

(Numbnuts) “Perfectly clear sir!”

And the rest as we say — is history.

There’s a thread bopping about UFO updates entitled’“What Should Ufology Be Focusing On Today” There has been some interesting commentary. Wendy Conner’s says that UFOlogest should develop a textbook –”

“to teach younger generations of who, what, when, where and how the subject developed. If a person interested in the subject doesn’t know the history, they are wasting their time on anything new. “

Much of the time I don’t agree with Ms Connors, this is an exception. A historical perspective is necessary when approaching most any field. A history of UFology is not only necessary but vital. But, the history needs to be objective. It must focus on people and events, not wild hypothesis-as-fact the way most UFO literature reads.

The question in my mind is not, What Should Ufology Be Focusing On Today? It’s “What should UFOlogests focus on to get UFOlogy out of the silly-circuit and get it established as a more main-stream field of study?” The short answer is for UFologests to start taking the subject seriously themselves. Stop treating it like a carnival. Begin applying the rigors of science to the subject and stop expecting certain results.

UFOlogy is a joke in academia, a circus side-show. It’s the world’s largest pig, the bearded lady and the Montana Iceman all rolled up in one ugly-shrieking package. Like the Iceman In a long power failure, it’s melting even as we speak, a puddle of stale smelling water is congealing inside the tent causing most people to move towards the door and into fresh air.What will be left is an unappetizing latex carcass, smelling to high heaven and the only question will be, who foisted this fake on an otherwise interesting subject?

Is it desirable to take UFOlogy out of it’s present state and formalize it? I think so. Despite the carnival-like atmosphere there is still a core of weirdness driving the whole thing. People do see strange stuff in the sky. It would be nice to be able to explain all of it but we can’t.

In its current state, UFOlogy is rapidly becoming more of a religious movement than a field of study. It’¢s becoming a church, the church of the unscientific, a church of the believers where faith and a loud insult are the only credentials one needs to have influence. Oh, it helps to have a self-published book too.

Instead of the nativity and Bethlehem we have Mount Rainer. For Nazareth we have Roswell, for Gethsemane we have the Internet which is puzzling, one would think a less restrictive media would foster better understanding and a free exchange of information.

Instead, free speech of some people is being shouted down by the free-shrieking of others. The lunatic fringe in UFOlogy is so intent on squashing any ideas that go against cannon that they demonstrably will stop at nothing to silence people.

Does that really further the goals of UFOlogy? Is that really the direction the field wishes go? Every time it happens, UFOlogy gets nudged further into the abyss. Each time someone gets silenced, UFOlogy shrinks just a little bit and becomes more extreme, more silly until one day only the clowns will hold center stage.

UFOlogy requires a more serious attitude, more discipline, a scientific bent and that means allowing the data to drive hypothesis and not the other way around. It means a truly free exchange of information, not condemning people just because they have a different opinion than yours. It means taking a more centrist view than the luminaries of UFOlogy. It means becoming truly open-minded, not pretending to be while chasing off people you don’t like. It means listening once and a while, even if you don’t like the message.

With some people in UFOlogy this will truly be impossible. Too jaded, too bitter and too angry, they will continue to lash out at the things they don’t like. Too tied up in their own situation they will seek out others to blame their problems on. These people are truly the driving force behind UFOlogy.

Driving the good people away.

And in an empty ring of sawdust and trash, the clowns hold counsel on how many flying saucers can dance on the end of a needle.

This is the future of UFology. They can continue to embrace this future, and probably end up as a religious movement in a few years. The ground work for this has already begun. Or, Ufology can begin taking a good, critical look at itself. Compare it with other fields (psychology is a good one, it’s real field of study that returns actual results.)

As with anything, the choice will be with the people who participate. They (as always) are the final arbitrators to their own reputation. No government, media installation or business will do it for them.

Share and enjoy!

..As found on someone’s blog, I forget which! 😉

Sometime next spring, the Prince-ton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory (PEAR), a little-known but sometimes-controversial participant in the University’s research community, will clear its shelves and close its door, bringing an end to 27 years of exploring mind-matter interactions in a scientific context.

Located on the ground floor of the E-Quad’s C-wing, the lab seems out of place, with a well-worn couch, wood-paneled walls, and a collection of aging game-like devices on which many of the lab’s trials were performed. When Robert Jahn’s ‘1 *55, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering emeritus, first proposed the lab in the late 1970s, its mission also seemed out of place, or at least out of the mainstream.

Jahn, the dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences from 1971 to 1986 and an expert in rocket propulsion, was intrigued by a student project related to psychic phenomena. He recognized that many engineering disciplines  electrical, chemical, and bioengineering  had roots in other sciences. “The one interface that hadn’t really been explored was that of psychology ”the human mind,”Jahn said in a recent PAW interview. “What could engineering utilize, in terms of basic knowledge of how the mind works.”

[[[[more]]]]

In the world of UFOlogy it’¢s obvious that there are many different ways of investigation and analysis. UFOlogy, as it is cannot be relegated into any formal scientific inquiry (or at least ,only on rare occasions.) Without phisical evedence, UFOs remain an observational phenomena, a field that is more like deep space astronomy or perhaps, quantum physics.
At least in astronomy we have reproducible evidence, same with quantum physics. What would they be like if all they had to go on was inconstant testimony from eyewitnesses? I think they would be something like.umm –  ¦UFOology!

Since UFOlogy has no formal standing in the sciences it attracts (more or less inevitably) a mass of amateur investigators and passionate advocates, also a motley of entrepreneurs who try to make money from the whole mess. Not to mention a whole zoo of complete nutcases. (OK–we won’t mention those.)

The entrepreneurs seem to make the most successful group, consisting of writers, filmmakers, convention and lecture promoters, many of them make their living off of the others. At least they make a living, some of them anyway.

The passionate advocates are largest and most vocal group. It’s rather difficult for me to be objective about this bunch, I’e been under assault by several members of the nutcase-contingent for my opinions and their actions truly color my opinions.

Passionate advocates are sort of the counterpoint to the so called “Klassin skeptibunkies ” or whatever bigoted derogatory term they happen to be using this week. Passionate advocates (PAs) tend to be fairly intelligent and some of them are relatively articulate. What sets them apart is the backwards method of approaching most problems and particularly the UFO issue.

Most of the time, new phenomena are analyzed in a fairly systematic manner. Evidence is gathered, hypothesis formulated based on the evidence, then tested and re-analyzed into further hypothesis and so it goes. Eventually a conclusion can be reached based on this process. Look at how atmospheric sprites were discovered.

Not so in UFOlogy. Many armchair UFologests see something strange, form a belief about what it could be and then defend their belief against all dissenters. This is a really poor way to investigate a phenomena, doomed to failure as demonstrated by 60 odd years of absolutely no progress whatsoever.

For example. I have before me a shiny red object, shaped like an irregular ball about the size of my fist. It seems to have a short stem poking out of the top with a tiny green leaf attached. It looks very much like an apple however without touching it I cannot discern more of its nature than it’s outward appearance. (It could be a plastic apple in which case it’s not really an apple at all.)

A Passionate advocate might look at the same object and say It is an apple (a skeptic) might point out that we really cannot tell the nature of this this thing without examining it. A conversation between us might go thus;

(I) It looks like an apple but it might not be. At this point I don’t think it’s a good idea to jump to any conclusions.

(PA) I believe it’s an apple!

(I) How can you be so sure that it’s an apple and not a chunk of plastic shaped like an apple?

(PA) I’m a world famous Jet pilot ace from the first Gulf War!

(I) I don’t see how that has anything to do with the question

(PA) You’re stupid!

(I) What does that have to do with the identity of this round object?

(PA) It has everything to do with the situation, you are an idiot!

(I) I suspect that you really don’t know if that’s an apple or not. Furthermore, saying that I’m an idiot is a logical fallacy and it’s insulting.

(PA) It’s not an insult, it’s a statement of fact. I”m insulted by your attitude. Asshole!

(I) What? I wasn’t trying to be insulting.

(PA) Well I’m offended now and you have to shut up because I’m offended!

(I) I don’t think I need to shut up just because you say you are offended.

(PA) Now you are calling me a liar! You fraud! You stalker! You maniac!

(I) I think that’s pretty rude and that doesn’t get us any closer to what that object is.

(PA) I”m not talking to you any more! I’m telling all my friends about what a horrible person you are!

Of course this is somewhat oversimplified and describes the extreme case, but a true one nevertheless. PAs can be told by a predilection towards insulting people with an marked inability to take even an offhanded slight. It’s pretty unfair but I’ve found many of these people to be unfair and unapproachable. If you don’t agree with their agenda (and for some of the extreme ones, their agenda is nothing more than self promotion.) than you inhabit the lowest reaches of their imagination, it’s OK (in their minds) to do anything legal or illegal to get you to be quiet and allow them to yammer. Smear campaigns are not below these types. They lie without a single qualm, as a matter of fact, I’ve found that the closer one gets to the truth the more frantic an insulting they get.

Happily, most PAs don”t feel it’s necessary to defend their territory in this manner. I’ve had many conversations with people who are very passionate regarding the fringes UFOlogy. We never devolved into name calling and the like. Respectful discourse can be experienced by both sides of a controversy so long as each party keeps a certain amount of respect for each other. Of course that’s not the intent of an extreme PA. They are more interested in ensuring that no story save their own gets out. See, they believe by repeating something loudly and often they can change reality to better suite themselves. If they repeat that all skeptics are stupid (a forgone conclusion for some of them,) all skeptics are indeed stupid unless the skeptics loudly proclaim that the PA is stupid etc. This is where the conversation breaks down because, it’s not up to another person to pre-judge anothers intelligence based on their opinion. They may have a stupid opinion in which case it might be OK to say in effect “I don’t agree with that opinion because’ That’s to the point, objective and constructive. How anyone can think beginning a conversation with ‘“you’re an idiot!’ is somehow going to change someone’s mind is beyond me. But many extreme Passionate Advocates believe that simply trashing their opinion is trashing them in a very personal way. I really don’t understand that either.

But that’s why  I’m the Odd Emperor and you are whoever you are!

Share and enjoy!

2006-11-13
By Andrew Tillotson
Athens NEWS Campus Reporter

Intelligent life is likely abundant in the cosmos, and we will find evidence of it soon, according to one of the world’s top experts on the ongoing search for extraterrestrial life.

Seth Shostak, the senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., gave a pair of talks in Athens last week about what his organization does to search for alien life, why he believes it is out there, and what might happen when we find it.

SETI is a general acronym for “Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” that can apply to any group that does such work, and does not exclusively refer to Shostak’s institute.

“The bottom line is we will find E.T. in the next two dozen years,” Shostak said. “I’ll bet you all a cup of Starbucks on that.” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” of course, was the name of Steven Spielberg’s popular 1982 film about a lovable alien.

His prediction of such a specific timeframe relies on statistical projections of how many intelligent civilizations lie within our Milky Way Galaxy, as well as how his institute’s searching capacity will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years.

In fact, he said each SETI experiment usually gathers more data than all the previous ones combined.

….More…..

Sometimes I forget what all this bullcrap is about. You see, the UFO biz can be fraught with broken, shriveled up egos. Tarnished reputations and generally freaky people. People who just might be like some of your relatives, you know the one’s I’m talking about. The one’s who get locked up in the attic most of the time. We bring them out neatly scrubbed for Thanksgiving dinner or Christmass and hope they don’t embarrass us too much. Then they are quietly spirited away while the grownups chat over snifters of brandy and cigars. These are the misbegotten of UFOlogy, the near-do-wells. The kids! They might have a crappy self published book to their name (that makes them authors!) They might have a web page full of ranting and silly self absorbed nonsense. You can tell some of these by counting how often you see the words “shameless plug” on her – I  mean their web pages.

What’s with all this ego stuff anyway? And the less influence a UFOlogest has the bigger and meaner their egos see to get. Look at Lehmberg (I don’t very often but if you MUST!) That guy has lost every shred of decency and good humor (if he ever had any.) in its place is a tired old song of recrimination and regret. Regret! Why, he’s seen and survived more changes than most people dream of. He’s served his country, retired to a comfortable lifestyle. He’s got his health (mostly) and he gets mocked weekly on the radio. Why such a sourpuss? Life’s too short for all that anger Alfred.

And Regan? She’s turned over a new leaf don’t-ya-know. No regrets, no apologies. Unable to comprehend where she’s been and where she is probably headed, Reagan will most likely waddle along the way she always has. At the edge of complete catastrophe but never quite falling into the abyss. She seems to like it that way. Of course, I’ve been wrong before! (Hey, call me dear, you know the number. We need to talk!)

Arthur? He/she/it seems to have more than one person in there. I’m not sure how many, three perhaps? Sometimes this Arthur blog-sock (a block?) makes sense. Other times he seems a bit – .well nutty!

And the Odd Empire? Well we’ve been around for a while and I don’t see us vanishing in a puff of Alfred induced embarrassment any time soon. Perhaps this is a complete waste of time, perhaps it serves some strange kind of public interest. Perhaps it just relives an impulse for snarking. We look at each other and say, why the hell do we do this? And keep right on going.

So as I retire to my attic I sneak a snifter of brandy from the “grownups.” I raise it to all my misbegotten brethren– everywhere.

“May we all fight the good fight, whatever it may be! May we find it in our hearts to listen to each other every once and a while and may we always remember what it feels like to laugh –   at ourselves!”

Skoal!