Empire of the Odd

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!

Whether the existence of extraterrestrials is an irrefutable fact or just a compelling theory, the media would do well to start telling the story
By Martin Keller
November / December 2006 Issue UTNE Reader

Given that the mainstream scientific community can’t even agree if the poor orbiting mass called Pluto is a planet, it may seem a strange time to ask people to consider whether or not extraterrestrial life has visited our troubled planet-especially since the mere mention of unidentified flying objects conjures stereotypes, reinforced in the media, that undermine credibility.

It’s hard to imagine, however, that even the most hardened of cynics wouldn’t be compelled by information published on the subject over the past 10 years. Sometimes raising as many unsettling questions as it answers, this serious research not only deserves notice, it demands consideration. The problem is that, no matter what mainstream science reporters are covering -from stories on nasa to promises of space tourism-they routinely ignore the subject altogether.
….MORE

Alfred and company, keep those guesses coming! I’m sure all of you are on absolute tenderhooks to know if I’m going to spill the beans on this Arthur person. Allfred Lehmberg thinks that I think it’s Regan Lee. Someone named anonymichael also thinks that I think Arthur is Regan Lee.

How very odd!

First off, I don’t think it’s anyone. I don’t have to think, or believe or fall for a bunch or red herrings, wild gooses, or even wild mooses.

I don’t have to do anything!

Second, I don’t have to tell anyone what I know about this Arthur person – not yet anyway.

Third, “Arthur” (whom ever he/she/it is) has done nothing wrong. Sure Arthu’s annoying. Since when is being annoying a crime? I’m annoying to a lot of people – so what? I’m kind of amused by the antics of this Arthur person. Were I to spill the beans, Arthur would in all probability vanish.

I think this is still a free country (unless Alfred thinks otherwise in which case, he’s wrong!) I think people are entitled to say pretty much whatever they want to say, on their own soap-box. If they are on someone else’s? I guess they have to abide by someone else’s rules. If they become too annoying on say, a free Blogger account that people complain about? They might get their feed cut off. Nothing more severe than that.

Somehow, someway, people need to learn a little tolerance. Tolerance for ideas, tolerance for other ways of thinking, Tolerance for Arthur the Odd Emperor or even Alfred! I don’t have a beef with Arthur, yes this particular character is crude, rude, obnoxious, noxious, insipid. Irritating and very very stupid. Yes this character tries very very hard to be irritating, (and British.)
Yes like anon #42 said, this character makes some attempt at self deprecating humor. I can also tell what it’s costing them.

Arthur is UFOlogy ladies and gentlemen. UFOlogy in its distilled and very frightening form. Nasty, abrasive, lying, dishonorable, insulting (both to one’s intelligence and more personally,) duplicitous, deceitful, disloyal, unfaithful, obscene and lest we forget, unscientific. All of these things are reflected in you; Arthur old dear.

And like a good troll, Arthur seeks to keep his/her identity secret. Even to the point of sending out a number of socks to get people scurrying off on other paths (do you really think that’s fooling anyone?) And they will keep trying for, one of the hallmarks of this Arthur character is to keep on trying, keep on trying till the cows come home and keep on trying some more.

Hah!

Studies have found that most Americans, including people of faith, embrace some paranormal beliefs.

BY JOE RODRIGUEZ

The Wichita Eagle

Does believing in paranormal activity conflict with a person’s religious beliefs? Two recent surveys indicate that more Americans are trying to find ways to balance the two.

In part of its extensive religion survey, released last month, the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion found a “surprising level of paranormal belief and experience in the United States.”

The paranormal includes: telekinesis, haunted houses, astrology and communicating with the dead.

According to a 2005 Gallup Poll, about 75 percent of Americans hold some form of paranormal belief in at least one of the following: extrasensory perception, haunted houses, ghosts, mental telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, communicating with the dead, witches, reincarnation and channeling.

William Dinges, professor of religious studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., said one explanation for such findings is the growing “spiritual, but not religious” mind-set among people.

“That’s become a fairly pervasive kind of mind-set in our society,” he said.

Additionally, he said, some forms of paranormal activity have become popular in recent years because of television shows such as “The X-Files.”

…More… 

From Aliens Ate My Buick

I found the Trout Lake website this morning, in the process of seeking more information about the historic events that are unfolding there (according to Ascended Master James Gilliland). Strangely, if as Gilliland states on his website (see previous post) that “…the technologies to end disease, clean up and restore the environment, fuel-less energy technologies, and the virtual keys to Utopia have been disseminated [by extraterrestrials] and are waiting for distribution and production….”, then it seems that the good citizens of Trout Lake are completely unaware of it.

Or could it be, that they are keeping it a deep dark secret? They do hide deep and dark mysteries in small towns…or at least they do in the movies. Could it be that everyone, right up to the Parson, has a free energy generator in their garage?*

…more

Many so-called “skeptics” (who are strangely not the least bit skeptical about reductionistic materialism and its explanations) tout the unawarded JREF prize as the ultimate proof that psi phenomena are bogus. I’ve discussed Randi before on AMNAP. But this time he may have really stepped in it:

Carol Lloyd

Sunday, October 22, 2006
What do you get when you take the real away from real estate?

Unreal Estate, of course. Otherwise known as space real estate, this intergalactic enterprise zone has been around for centuries.

About 250 years ago, Prussia’s King Frederick deeded the moon to a farmer with “healing powers.” In 1937, one A.D. Lindsay of Ocilla, Ga., claimed title to all “planets, islands-of-space or other matter.”

Since the Space Age got under way in the late 1950s, there’s been a steady stream of extraterrestrial claims issuing from every corner of the globe. In 1966, the moon was annexed by citizens of Geneva, Ohio. Whether a high-flown fundraising concept for planetariums or the ultimate romantic novelty item, the very idea of outer space real estate has inspired a motley array of charitable organizations, small startups and even governments.

More……

Arthur has been identified!

“Anonymous “author-Arthur of Updates, UFO Updates is a mystery no longer! Not that it ever was a mystery in the first place…

Film at 11!

“The Church of Scientology’s practice of auditing has been determined to constitute a form of coercive persuasion. Persons subjected to coercive persuasion without their knowledge or consent may sustain irreparable physical and psychological injury up to and including schizophrenia, self-mutilation, and suicide”

I like it! More…..