Naveed's Realm

We are your Gods!

2012-02-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

Stephen Hawking, the famous cosmologist, astrophysicist, theoretical physicist and other things ending in ist, has been noted as saying, "If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans," meaning that the history of an advanced civilization meeting a less advanced one isn't pretty. The civilization on the lesser end of things might face anything from being taken advantage of to being nearly wiped out for the sake of “progress” of more advanced one. This very scenario has been played out time and time again throughout history and been explored more times then one can count in film. Today I found myself thinking about this very subject and also the fact that some scientists think it would be a bad idea for us to send signals into the black void we call space, all for the very reasons above.

The fact is, unfortunately we've already unintentionally been advertising our presence since the creation of the radio. While it might not be the biggest billboard in the world, we send all sorts of signals besides radio into space that increase it's size significantly. Advanced intelligences from other worlds could be listening to our music, monitoring our communications, or even watching our television shows. It was this that got me to wondering, could they be watching our programs on “them”, whether it be science fiction like Star Trek or documentaries like the History Channel's Ancient Aliens? In the case of the later, could that show or others on ancient astronaut theory be used to their advantage if they happened to harbor some not so friendly intentions? What better way to gain the favor of an unassuming, less advanced species then to come down claiming to be their gods of old despite the fact they aren't? We're essentially giving them a prepackaged cover story.

Perhaps I'm thinking to much into it, then again perhaps I'm not. We could for all we know been unintentionally shooting ourselves in the foot all those signals we unintentionally send into deep space. Blaming ourselves however is really worthless, after all, we have no reason to even assume that that's the case, and from what I know of the UFO phenomenon, things in the end are probably a lot more complicated then we may truly know. However before future scientists decide to fire up a new fangled super strength communication method, perhaps they need to stop and ask what might happen if it works to well.

Wandering the fields of my thoughts

2012-01-31T19:54:00.000-08:00

Many of you I am sure are beginning to think that I've vanished off the face of the Earth, like Mulder in at the end of season 7 of the X-files. Thankfully for all of you I have not and still intend to get around to blogging regularly here like I used to.

Anyways, 2012 is now here, which is in a way weird, yet not at the same time, despite the rumors of the end being nigh. We managed to survive two end of the world prophecies last year, so I have high hopes for us currently, but we still have to wait until December 21 for anything fun to possibly happen. I don't know about any of you, but I plan on going on a disaster and alien invasion movie binge that day, assuming that we're not all dead.

I was asked awhile back to write a guest blog post for one Renee Pawlish (her blog), an author of mystery and horror who wrote a book recently called Nephilim Genesis of Evil. The story revolves around a man's quest for answers after an encounter with the Nephilim, which lead him to a small Colorado town. From what I read from the sample chapter I got off Amazon, I was drawn instantly into the story (I intend on purchasing the full version when I finally buy a Kindle in the next couple weeks), which has a more classical supernatural variation of Nephilim. When asked to write the post for her, we decided I should focus on the more alien perspective that seems to be predominant in today's esoteric circles. So I highly recommend checking out her stories, and also keep an eye on her blog for when she publishes my guest post.

As far as UFOs are concerned, I'm still watching the skies and wandering the blogs and websites (many of which are listed here) just not as often as I did when I first started actively blogging. I burned myself out a bit I think, because I blogged so much (daily, sometimes twice or thrice) for nearly a year and a half to two years, the primary reason I think I've been such procrastinator on posting. With luck however, I should be back up and posting a bit more very soon. I know it seems like a promise I've been making every few months, but this time I actually have some posts I've been working on the last two months awaiting completion on my computer.

Last, but not least, I've been doing a bunch of space art lately, which is up at my DeviantArt gallery (space subsection), so check it out!

Ancient Astronauts and the Tao

2011-07-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

Readers of my blog probably know by now that I have a fascination with ancient astronaut theory, the idea that aliens had some sort of influence in humanity's past. Theories range anywhere from aliens creating us to them merely intervening and influencing our civilization through the ages. Evidence supporting these theories is said to exist in many places, from ancient ruins, artifacts, bizarre hieroglyphics and images, and religious texts (i.e. the Bible and the Vedas ). It was while reading one of these texts, the Complete Works of Chuang Tzu (info on the person) a Taoist master, that I found something that may have been overlooked by ancient astronaut theorists.

In the first section of his works called "Free and easy wandering" there is a section where the character Chen Wu tells another character:

"He said that there is a Holy Man living on faraway Ku-she Mountain, with skin like ice or snow, and gentle and shy like a young girl. He doesn't eat the five grains, but sucks the wind, drinks the dew, climbs up on the clouds and mist, rides a flying dragon, and wanders beyond the four seas. By concentrating his spirit, he can protect creatures from sickness and plague and make the harvest plentiful. I thought this was all insane and refused to believe it."

Ordinarily a person probably would have written this off as highly imaginative fiction, however I find it quite interesting. First off is the description of the Holy Man, "...with skin like ice or snow, and gentle and shy..." which bears in my opinion a similarity to the classic gray aliens, minus the large black eyes aspect. Then we come to the fact that, he doesn't eat normal food, and rides a dragon which could be an aircraft of some kind, described in terms familiar to the ancient Chinese. Finally we have the possibility of highly advanced or evolved mental powers in the "...concentrating his spirit..." portion. Overall it screams ancient alien to me.

There is also the possibility that it could even be connected to the Dropa stones story, where a supposed race of alien beings landed near the Chinese-Tibetan border and were unable to leave due to some sort of misfortune. After realizing their predicament, they settled in a system of caves and tried to fit in the natives of the region only to have been all, but wiped out by them. In the end they left behind hundreds of stone discs that show signs of advanced engineering.

All this is of course conjecture, but I feel the account in Chuang Tzu's writings make for compelling evidence of possible alien contact in ancient China and perhaps lends more credence to the Dropa story. Maybe the "Holy Man" is even a Dropa?

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The excerpt from the Complete Writings of Chuang Tzu is from an online translation by Burton Watson.

It's been awhile

2010-10-25T22:45:00.001-07:00

It's been way to long since I posted here last. Life has been busy since the birth of my daughter and well summer time doesn't make things any easier. The other problem is we only have one computer with internet access, and well, it's occupied a lot, and not by me.

Recently however I've been browsing the web a bit more, mainly for info on a news story out of Phoenix Arizona, that struck home with me...way to close to home. My cousin Sean (Those readers of mine in Arizona will probably know who I'm talking about.) passed away there last week and do to his job, he has been making headlines. And fortunately, although I was not able to attend his funeral with the rest of my family, I was able to at least see video and pictures from it do to the miracle of the web.

Anyways, not much has happened for me in the world of unexplained/esoterica recently. I'm still reading about, and actually sort of lurking in the background reading everyone else's blogs when I get a chance. I've also been diving into the ancient astronaut world (which seems to be my favorite esoteric subject) with Erich von Daniken's classic, Chariots of the Gods.

Well that's it for tonight, hopefully, it's not months from now until I post again. In the meantime, here is a sort little documentary I had e-mailed to me from someone at explore.org which looks like quite an interesting webpage, which I intend on exploring even more (hey a pun!). So for your viewing pleasure here is a link to UFO Baby where one of the sites founders returns to his home town of Roswell and investigates everyones favorite UFO crash. Quite good for it's length. Enjoy!

Two gnomes are better then one

2010-06-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

My gnomes

Garden gnomes are one of my bad habits. I collect them, at least slowly. I currently have 5 that I have collected over the last couple years, but I have to say I like them a lot. Every time I go somewhere that just might have gnomes, I go on a search for them to see if I can get in one at a good deal. Usually they end up being on clearance or small sized ones, but that works fine for me since I don't have much room to decorate my desk with the larger ones.

One of the first things that comes to my mind when I look at my small, but growing collection is obviously the tales of Icelandic elves and hidden folk tales or the infamous "Argentina gnome" videos.

Having already discussed those rather tired subjects, I figured I'd share and interesting thing I heard from a former coworker. This also isn't one of those traveling gnome stories (from Travelocity got the concept for their Roaming Gnome) and it doesn't have anything to do with garden gnome liberationists. In fact it's more of a question about whether what my coworker said has any basis or not. As far as I can tell by what he said, it is technically an urban legend, either way it fits quite well here, so here we go.

Let's say you own only one garden gnome and well, you decide it's lonely and needs a friend, so you go out and purchase it one. You get home, introduce the two fluffy bearded friends, and go about your business. That night you hear weird noises in your garden or wherever you keep your gnomes. The next day you awake to find things out of place or even trashed. You figure your cat did and ignore it, but then happens again and again in the same area the gnomes reside. Deciding to catch the cat in action you place a camera the area so the culprit can be caught on film.

The next morning things are in disarray like always and you load up the video and watch it. What you see shocks you. Your two garden gnomes appear to come to life and mischievously fool around right before your eyes. Afraid due to the sheer strangeness of it all you dispose of your gnomes and life resumes it's normal course.

My coworker never actually had this happen and I've never found any reports of this happening before. He swore up and down though that if you place two garden gnome figures together that they would come to life at night and cause mischief. Whether he was pulling my leg or simply passing down an urban legend I don't know, but the idea is certainly interesting. Doesn't surprise me that he associated it with gnomes either; after all they are creatures of myth and not just lawn or desk ornaments.

What do you think, is it an urban legend? Or was he simply assuming I'm gullible enough to believe something he made up?

2010-06-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

Isabella checking out her big brother (Ian) and sister (Morgan) and looking cute...

Sleep paralysis and alien abduction

2010-06-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

One of the skeptical world's favorite alien abduction debunking devices is that of sleep paralysis, which all of you are probably quite aware of. If you don't know what sleep paralysis is however, the simplest explanation is that it is a malfunction in the dream cycle during sleep. More precisely it is a malfunction that occurs when you wake from a dream, but your body fails to fully leave the physical dream mode. Victims often wake up immobilized by a safety mechanism designed to keep you from acting out your dreams. People, although they may be conscious, will still experience some other dream like symptoms, such as feelings of someone being in the room, or bright lights that aren't really there.

Since it is similar in description to alien abductions, it's no wonder skeptics like to cling to this as a reason why abduction is not real. What if they were right, at least in the sense that the abduction phenomenon is connected to sleep paralysis, but in a totally different way then the skeptics believe.

It has been thought that while you dream you sometimes can have things happen to you physically. For instance, I've had dreams where I'm falling then suddenly find myself awake with and my leg jumps as if I've landed on it. A little bit more extreme is the idea that dreams can take you to other real worlds/dimensions. Perhaps the aliens committing the abductions only physically abduct people a few times and the rest of the time use dreams and/or sleep paralysis to their advantage, using the so called "implants" found in some abductees to initialize the abduction experiences and doing what they do in a dream world.

Throwing out the more far fetched ideas of that theory however, aliens could perhaps be aware of the sleep paralysis phenomenon and simply use it as a cover for abductions. Triggering it to make abductees believe they are simply experiencing this ordinary phenomenon when in fact they are unaware they are being taken by alien beings. Just another arsenal to hide their actions just like screen memories.

Isabella Joy Westby

2010-06-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

Born 6-3-2010 @ 11:23 am - 10lbs 13ozs by c-section and wife and baby are doing fine.

Hard to believe I'm now a father to three beautiful kids...anyways new posts soon. Have to pay to register my tethering program (which I discovered after the barely - as in practically not - mentioned trial ended and I can't access HTTPS sites) at home. We are still in the hospital (free wi-fi!) for a couple of days or so and we're using my stepmother-inlaw's laptop today, so I figured I'd share my daughter with my friends and readers here.

UFO sighting roughly a week ago

2010-05-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

Oregon (at least my section of it) spends a good chunk of it's time either being rainy or mostly cloudy. It was on one of these mostly cloudy, sometimes rainy days last week when I was outside at work and happened to look at one of the those dark "I'm going to rain on you..." cumulus clouds. Up towards the peak of the cloud, there appeared a glowing white orb, which conveniently disappeared inside the cloud when it realized it had been spotted (if it knew it was spotted...). As always my first thought was "airplane", but ruled that out when I realized that even white planes appear rather dark against storm clouds. I even kept an eye out to confirm that theory (very convenient working near an airport) and indeed it was as I thought. Rationally I determined it wasn't a glowing weather balloon, and well, swamp gas simply has no business being up that high, so I was left with no option, but to label a UFO.

Since I was at work I totally forgot to record the day or time, unfortunate, but not to bad. I was about to check MUFON's reports as I was writing this, but I can't get their page to load properly. I'll have to check back later to see if someone else saw something.

In the meantime, a few of you may remember that my wife and I are expecting our third child, well, today is the due date. That of course means that well, she could be born any day now, but I guess the average birthday is 5 days after the due date. Why they just don't extend due dates out by 5 days, I'll never know, but expect pictures when the little one is born.

Back online!

2010-05-17T14:14:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the wonders of modern day technology I'm back online! Expect new posts soon!

Going to be offline for awhile

2010-04-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

Probably doesn't make much difference since I haven't been posting much, but I'm going to be offline for awhile...accepting my wife's droid cell phone...touch screen...pain to type...at least for me. Hopefully it won't be to long, but I know it'll be for a month or two. Then I should be able to get back on the web. Until then, the blog will still be here, so check back into the archives and read things you all might not have read and I hope to be back in a jiffy...however long a jiffy is.

Unexpected twists and werewolves

2010-03-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

Life it seems is constantly throwing unexpected twists at me recently. Sort of annoying because they were not totally unexpected, but I couldn't really do much about them. First off I was demoted at work, while kind of negative thing in the career world, it's sort of a relief because I'm not as stressed now, plus my pay won't be cut to bad. Most annoying however is that my power supply on my desktop decided to kick the bucket, so I'm writing this from my wife's laptop which I have issues with (likes to trick me with it's keyboard). Worst part is that do to a freak accident with gamma radiation, I turn into frothing werewolf when it pisses me off...

Ok...so I'm not really some Incredible Hulk werewolf, but between seeing Twilight New Moon with my wife recently and also Monsterquest's most recent episode (about werewolves as well), I've formulated an idea about paranormal creatures. It's sort of a play on the idea of thoughtforms (physical manifestations of thoughts), or Tulpas (for those more familiar with that term).

This isn't really an original idea, but the theory that Fortean objects or phenomenon, be it animals or UFOs are physical manifestations of thought is actually quite common (heck some believe the world/universe is basically a gigantic thoughtform). However I found myself wondering how many paranormal creatures exist because of a community belief in them, not just from an individual's. Basically the communities themselves believe these to be real, so they become real.

Sadly this post is almost a repeat of one I wrote around year or more ago about gods existing because of belief. Actually it somewhat makes sense. Both the Bible and Koran make it a point to try and make one's beliefs in other gods (besides Allah/Jehovah) falter or be flat out eliminated. It's almost as if the writers of those ancient texts knew that the existence of these gods depended on the amount of belief in them, sort of like in Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods in a way.

Anyways expect more on this idea the near future. Also if things fall into place expect to hear about a crazy plan of mine soon as well...something involving a road trip and of course...strangeness...

A time for change?

2010-03-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

Part of the reason I haven't been blogging as much is because I've been assisting my wife with her barn chores (gotta keep horse board low). Recently I've been doing more of the chores on my own and so have been listening to esoteric themed podcasts while cleaning horse stalls. Yesterday happened to be a chore day for me, so I loaded up my MP3 player with an episode of the excellent, Paratopia (hosted by Jeremy Vaeni and Jeff Ritzmann). The episode was an interview with Gregory Sams, author of a book called Sun of gOd, which makes a case that everything may be alive.

There were many interesting conversations throughout the show, many revolving around how science now at days (at least in the western world) is driven by need (or greed) for funding, which prevents many scientists researching more "out there" subjects. This is something I've pondered before, particularly how it effects us as a society. I can't tell you how often I wonder where we'd be now if we just eliminated the "need" for money. Sincerely I believe that it's keeping us from truly "progressing" as a society and I feel we need to strive to get away from it.

Another thing they covered was the interesting relationship between science and religion over the centuries. Sort of a love hate relationship from the start, with religion oppressing science, then vice versa. Related was the subject about how when science begins to find stuff (such as some quantum mechanics theories) that began to almost transcend the "science/religion" barrier, they are often avoided (although not necessarily by choice), largely in part do to fear of loosing funding. That of course brings everything back round to stuff mentioned in the paragraph above.

This whole idea that money is standing in the way (not because of a lack of it) of things is one I've had for awhile now, even before listening to the podcast yesterday. I've noticed as I watch the way our society works, money is pretty much necessary to live. It drives everything. Basically it comes down to, either you have money, or you don't deserve to be happy. At least that's the feeling I get from our current consumer driven world.

The problem itself extends far beyond happiness however. Our health care system here in the US for example, is well, crap. Sure we have good doctors and can do a lot more then most countries can, but if you don't have much money, you're screwed. If faced with a life threatening event (illness or injury) you're forced to either basically choose death or massive debt. To me neither one is very satisfactory. Sure there is insurance available, but not to everyone, and now at days it's almost as if it doesn't even cover enough. Plus a large portion of society knows that if you have any medical conditions (like diabetes or heart problems) before you get insurance, they might chose to not even cover you. Why? Because you're a risk between them and the almighty dollar.

I could get even more into this subject, beyond health care and into to the corporate sector, but I do believe that is another post. Partly because I want to actually clarify my thoughts on the subject in full post, and also if it's not clarified, I might sound crazier then I actually am. So until next time, I suggest checking out Paratopia, as well as the blog and website of this guy called Suelo who is living moneyless in Moab, Utah. I think he's onto something.

Flight sims' lack of UFOs and pilot synchronicity

2010-02-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

Aviation has been something that has had a influence on my life for a long time. My father is a major aviation buff and my best friend is a pilot. Because of both of them I've seen and played a number of flight simulators, most recent being Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X on my 360. Over the years I've noticed something that only someone with my interests would notice in flight sims and that is a disturbing lack of UFO sightings. There are never UFO sightings in flight sims. It's like the whole simulating airplane flight thing has gotten as real in simulators as possible, but they left out the idea of seeing UFOs.

Aside from that, I've been contemplating getting myself financial aid and going through the flight training program at the local community college. Partly because I think it'd be fun and also because I feel I need a career move. Oddly these thoughts have been accompanied by two weird bits of synchronicity today. The first one was that when my wife went and checked out the web page for the aviation program I'm going to look into, low and behold my best friend who went through it, had his picture next to a plane on there. The second was that I mentioned the idea to coworker today only to find out he is going through the program. It was truly like weird.

Autumnforest of Ghost Hunting Theories once said in a comment on another synchronicity post of mine "I usually look at those serendipitious events as an exclamation point -- a sign I'm following the right path.", so I wonder if today's synchronicities were saying that to me.

Zombie news & synchronicity

2010-02-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

All day long I've been in a bit of a zombie mood. I've been wanting to play zombie video games, watch zombie movies, and just tried renting Zombieland (been hearing good things about it) from one of them magic rental boxes, but it didn't like my debit card (modern tech is overrated!) Just a few moments ago I actually bought one of the tracks from the original Dawn of the Dead soundtrack (creepy synth-goodness) which is one of the best zombie movie soundtracks ever. Point is, zombie mood, straight up zombie mood. Now that being said, I had a bit of zombie synchronicity happen while browsing through the blogs I follow today.

Over at Ugly Overload (focuses on the uglies in the animal kingdom) I found out that scientists are experimenting with zombie producing wasps to help fight crop infesting insects (sort of making an all natural pesticide...if you consider genetic alterations all natural). The frightening part is that while it is unlikely, there is always some freak chance they will produce wasps capable of infecting humans and turning them into everyone's favorite flesh eating undead. This same concept also happens to be part of the plot in the zombie game, Dead Rising, which although fun, I would hate to have to deal with in real life.

Anyways, you can read up on the full story over at Popsci, and I will go and work on my zombie outbreak survival plan just in case. Lets see...cricket bat, shotgun, 45. magnum, lots of ammo...plenty of food for wife and kids...loose the easily startled chihuahua...

Getting off my butt

2010-01-31T12:34:00.000-08:00

I just started reading Nick Redfern's book Three Men Seeking Monsters which chronicles Nick's monster hunting adventure with Jon Downes and Richard Freeman of the Centre for Fortean Zoology. So far I'm only a few chapters into the book, but can't help feeling a longing to do the same thing they are doing, traveling across country investigating strange phenomenon. Unfortunately I've never really done any investigation besides what can be done through books or the internet. Part of it is due to not having much time, but more of it is the fact I've never really tried, nor do I know where to start.

One of the biggest setbacks for me is that I don't really know anyone who is into the esoteric other then through the internet. The result is sort of like trying to form a band when no one you know personally have any instruments, it just doesn't work. I could seek out a local ghost hunting group or something similar, but those seem to come and go in my area like cars through gas stations. I also thought about maybe seeing if a group around here is doing a Bigfoot search, but that is a bit harder to find because they don't advertise the same as ghost groups do. There is also Oregon's MUFON branch, but for some reason I can't bring myself to fully trust MUFON.

There is always the private route I suppose; investigating bizarre occurrences, creatures, and locations on my own. However I think there are too many disadvantages to tackling stuff like this by yourself. For instance it could be dangerous, you'd have no one to back you up, and only one brain to do the brainstorming. Plus there is just something fun in the thought of having someone besides yourself along for the ride.

In the meantime I'm just going to sit back, keep reading through the varied tomes and searching weird wide web. Who knows, maybe I'll find my way out into the field as well.

Almost crossing that hill...maybe...

2010-01-24T14:23:00.000-08:00

Many of you who have me as a friend on Facebook know that today is my birthday, which means that as of today I am now 27 years old and getting awfully close to 30. When a friend of mine on Facebook asked me "what's the weather like on the other side of the hill?" today, I had a sudden realization...I might not make it to 30! Now don't go flipping out, I have no intention of leaving the Earthly plane anytime soon, but 2012 is only 2 years away. That means that if there is any truth to the "end of the world" theories floating around about 2012, I might not be around in January of 2013 to celebrate my 30th b-day. Sort of a downer if you ask me.

There is however a brighter side, which is the fact that %100 of the time, we humans fail at end of the world predictions. If you just do a search for end of the world predictions you'll find failed prediction after failed prediction. Recorded history has an unending smorgasbord of them. I guess in away they are kind of like history's pennies, being dropped and picked up by everybody, but basically worth nothing.

The scary thing is though that one day there will be a end of the word prediction that comes true. Most likely it will be a big natural disaster, or perhaps a man made one, but it will happen bumping the failure rate down to %99. Let's just hope that doesn't happen anytime soon. However if it does, I hope the world goes out in a rather cool entertaining manner rather then something stupid like nuclear war. Perhaps a robot apocalypse or a man made black hole from CERN or something. Those could be fun, just not during 2012 because when I die and make it to wherever we go next, I at least want to say I made it to 30 before I have to choose which alien species I want to reincarnate into for my next life, seeing as humans would be, well extinct.

The writer's block...it burns!

2010-01-18T17:01:00.000-08:00

This is by far the worst part of blogging. Being so...lost that you can't figure out what to blog about. I don't know if it's just lack of inspiration or something else, but I'm seemingly stuck in this state where I can't figure out what to post. Hence the sudden drop in postings over the last 6 months or so.

The annoying part is it's not really that I have no idea what I want to blog about. I have tons of ideas floating around in my head, but I either forget about good post ideas or I can't put them into words. Often times when I'm not at the computer I find myself even writing a post in my head, but then when I want to write it...like I said, I forget it.

I wonder if part of the problem is stress from work, which has been very aggravating as of late. I don't know...hopefully this writer's block passes soon...or dimensional portal opens up so I can go and explore some strange world...ok...I'll just hope the writer's block passes...don't want to stuck in the strange world and never blog again...and now that I think of it...our world is pretty strange itself...

More Sumerian alien gods...

2010-01-15T17:16:00.000-08:00

Having dove head first into the world of religion my mind has been teeming with ideas, thoughts, questions, and realizations. Not only do I find myself pondering my own spirituality, but what is real and not real, what is truth and what is myth, what to believe and not believe. It's an unending enigma to me and one that only gets more and more confusing as I read the wealth of material on the subject. The waters get even muddier when I read books blurring the subject of religion with that of UFOs.

Currently I find myself in the middle of such a book called The Gods of Eden by William Bramley. This is another one of those books focusing on ancient astronaut theory (aat) and like Zecharia Sitchin (from whom he drew some inspiration), Mr. Bramley starts with the gods of ancient Sumeria. In the beginning it tells virtually the same interpretation you find in Zecharia's The 12th Planet, of the Sumerian gods coming from space, creating mankind as slaves, and somewhere along the line seemingly leaving mankind alone (or appearing to at least).

From there it delves into a theory that most all of the Earth's religions stem from teachings of the "gods" designed to keep us from learning true spirituality which would somehow enable us to escape their grip. Unfortunately from my own studies of religion I can't agree with him, however he does make for a pretty convincing case. On top of that the book goes into some great detail on religious history or at least a good overview of it.

Sticking with the alien and religion theme I'm going to take this post into a different direction and respond to a question asked over at About.com's UFO section, on whether E.T.s would have a God. I think the answer is an inevitable yes because we must assume that these E.T.s are intelligent in order to even have beliefs. So assuming they are intelligent, they most likely would have a belief in a God, gods, or some other form of religious expression. Who knows they may even be related to our religions assuming that God or perhaps some of the gods of old are indeed real. I make these assumptions because religion is partly a way we try to explain things we don't understand. We also don't fully know whether our religions are real which pretty much means we'll find out one way or the other when we die...kind of sucks don't it?

Sticking with that death thought, one of the assumptions brought up in The Gods of Eden, is that reincarnation is real and that there is a somehow a way to remember your past lives when you reach a certain spiritual state. I'm almost inclined to agree with that actually. Reincarnation is after all, a primary part of most eastern religions. Believe it or not, evidence for reincarnation is even found in the Bible, very minutely, but it is there...Google it and you'll see for yourself. And now off to watch True Blood season 2.

Disturbing Bible Passage: Ancient Astronaut?

2010-01-05T22:32:00.000-08:00

In 1 Kings, King Solomon has the temple in Jerusalem built for Jehovah and they proceed to place the Ark of the Covenant into it's permanent (at the time at least) resting place. When the priests proceed to lay it down in the "Holy of Holies" and leave the area when the following happens:

"10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple. 12 Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever." - 1 Kings 8:10-13 NIV

For some reason I'm almost disturbed by this section. First off, it's not as "glorious" as one would picture God. There is no brilliant white lights and no chorus of angels, just a dark "gloom" as they call it in some translations. It just doesn't have that Godlike feel to it and almost seems more sinister. You could argue I guess that it's to conceal God's image from people so they won't die, but then again, I've heard just being in the Ark's presence can kill. In fact they would tie ropes onto priests going into the "Holy of Holies" so if they did die they could be pulled out.

Surprisingly, as far as I know, this section has yet to have been brought up by ancient astronaut theorists. The dark cloud almost makes me think of an artificial atmosphere, designed for an alien entity. I mean who say aliens breath our air right? Not to mention if their atmosphere is poisonous to humans, it would explain why priests would die when in the presence of the Ark. Either way, it kind of gives me the willies...unless of course God was going through a moody goth phase...

Worktime synchronicity

2009-12-31T13:24:00.000-08:00

Weirdness was in full force at work yesterday, a little bit at least. A coworker and I were discussing the X-files (mainly the UFO aspect of it) and in a weird twist the first customer I had immediately afterward was named Kenneth Arnold. For those that don't know, in June of 1947, a pilot by the name of Kenneth Arnold witnessed flying above Mt. Rainer a series of crescent shaped objects kicking off the "flying saucer" craze of the 50s and 60s.

Something just occurred to me as I was writing this as well. It's weird that a coworker and I were just talking about the X-files and UFOs and then had a guy name Kenneth Arnold walk in. It's even weirder though that the X-files is a show about people investigating the UFO phenomenon and Kenneth Arnold also investigated UFO sightings after his own initial one. Weird...

We'd so be Star Trek if...

2009-12-22T16:06:00.000-08:00

Ok...well not necessarily Star Trek, but for the purposes of this post it's the best comparison I can make.

First off I must note that I saw the latest Star Trek flick last night and quite simply...it kicked butt...big time bending butt. Not to mention it seemed to go with the idea that I have where when you travel back in time it creates a new time line to avoid paradoxes...ok getting of track...let's turn this ship around.

As I was watching said Trek film, I couldn't help, but wonder...why aren't we doing stuff like that now? The simplest answer is we don't have the technology. However that brought up another question...why don't we have the technology yet? Now you can say that it's because we haven't achieved it, but that's the same as saying we don't have it. In my opinion the answer lies in the way we do business now at days...particularly in the corporate sector...and the very entertainment industry that brought us the latest Star Trek.

We as humans are self serving to say the least. Most any individual does things to satisfy their own wants and needs. There comes a point however where it becomes not about just basic wants or needs, but simply about wanting as much as you can horde up and well...waste. The best evidence of this is the recent "recession" which I believe was brought on because of greed which caused miss management of money. For instance, the whole fiasco with that one company who used most of their government bail out cash to pay their top execs bonuses. The name of the company is flying right over my head at the moment, or I'd give you a clearer example. Anyways the point was that these are people with quite a bit of money who...felt they deserved more.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that we pay all those who have the most money more money then the average person simply because they are the ones who decide where all the money goes. And guess what...it primarily goes to them. And what do they do with it? Waste it on extravagance mostly.

I'm sure some of you reading this are like "well they work hard and deserve to spend it how they chose.", but I must ask how much harder do they work then you? Yeah, I'm sounding a bit communist, but sit back and think about it. Then ask yourself this, what would you do if you made as much as these execs and corporate guys? Would you buy clothes with $10,000 dollar price tags? Or the latest $200,000 (hey you can buy a house for that) sports car? Or would have the decency to perhaps help the poor or do something else to help mankind such as sponsor technology research in anything from medicine to the latest super engines that may one day lead to warp drive?

I'm beginning to think this has turned into a rant, but at the same time I think I have a valid point which is why should we sit back and ooh and ah over the rich people? Shouldn't we be questioning what more productive pursuits could be attained with the money they throw around? I mean come on...I want my infinite improbability drive already...

For some reason people hated Enterprise, but I think this video belongs here:

One thing leads to another...

2009-12-13T21:16:00.000-08:00

...and my focus starts to change. Last year I'm blogging about UFOs and other bizarre subjects on here and now I seem to slowly be going towards a more philosophical/theological subjects. Don't get me wrong I've still been blogging about UFOs and what not and probably still will. Actually looking back over the last year and a half or so I think the UFO thing is what got me heading where I'm going with my posts. I blame that Zecharia Sitchin guy and his blasted writings. Opening my mind up to how interconnected religions and myths from the mid east seem to be.

Adding to the madness my beliefs on the UFO/alien subject has gone towards a more ultra-dimensional angle as many events seem to fit better within that frame of reference. That of course got me pondering more heavily on how many beings from myths and religion are perhaps ultra-dimensional beings (divine or not) trying to influence our world for good or bad.

Of course now that I've added to the whole mess with pondering all the multidimensional stuff and the religions and what not, I find myself wondering about the true nature of reality. Then one thing leads to another and I'm reading religious texts (primarily the Bible, but recently the Tao Teh Ching as well, and I'm also looking to snag a copy of the Quran) and anything I can find on the web or books pertaining to interdimensional and quantum physical stuff (especially if it involves UFOs or the paranormal) .

Sadly I really have no clue where I'm going with this post or any of my potentially religious beliefs either. I've come to the conclusion however that somehow UFOs, multidimensionality, religion, the myths of old, and God are all somehow interconnected. I've also concluded that I exist in my own little world, but that is up for argument...unless of course you believe that reality is just a reflection of consciousness...in which case whose consciousness? Oh and if it turns out to be somehow a mass conscious reflection then most of you out there are sick, sick individuals and Cthulhu needs to eat your souls...however if it's just my consciousness...well the same thing goes...

Things are not what they seem to be...

2009-12-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

The saying in this post title is overused, but that doesn't mean it's not true. For instance who would think a trip to the Dollar Tree would wind up with me bringing home two hardcover books that are right up my alley for $2 total. Normally the dollar store is just full of junk. Unfortunately neither book is UFO related (speaking of which I'm in dire need of some new UFO books to read...sounds like a trip to Powell's is in order), but they fit well with my fascination with esoterica and religion. In an odd synchronystic twist that I didn't notice till now, both books have titles starting with "The Secrets of..." which makes one wonder if it's purely coincidence (which by all means it probably is, but it's still sort of bizarre).

Anyways the first book that caught my attention is "The Secrets of Judas" which is about the infamous disciple who turned Jesus in and started the chain of events that lead to his crucifixion. One school of thought amongst some people now at days is that it was planned by Judas and Jesus in order to bring about the events and start Christianity. A theory I first heard about on The Naked Archaeologist. The book also features information on the "Gospel of Judas Iscariot" which is not considered Biblical canon.

The other book is one on astrology called "The Secrets of the Vaulted Sky: Astrology and the Art of Prediction" which I ~~plan on using to become a money grubbing internet astrologer~~ never had an active interest in other then occasionally reading my horoscope. Actually I lied, I also own a deck of Tarot cards which is actually missing one...I think it's the queen card. What? I'm not gonna go all the way upstairs and shuffle through the cards just to figure out which one it is...I'm to lazy for that.

Back to the subject of things that aren't what they always seem to be, I'm actually a big fan of the idea. It's part of the reason I read what I read, browse the blogs I browse, and watch what I watch. Simply put, I like the idea that there has been and is more to what goes on in the world then most people want to accept. Historians are a primary example, always refuting what doesn't fit within their cookie cutter history simply because they don't want to admit they're wrong. Now that I think about it, people not wanting to accept that sometimes their ideas or beliefs are wrong might be a big part in cover-ups/conspiracy theories.

Think about this for a second; most people know (or maybe that's assume) the ancient Egyptians never made it farther then Africa and parts of the Mediterranean. What if someone found evidence that they may have been to the Grand Canyon in Arizona however? (I've mentioned this before, and Autumn Forest of Ghost Hunting Theories also just did an excellent post on this topic as well) Not only would known history be turned upside down, but they'd also be forced to rethink the Columbus thing (already suffered a big blow with the discovery of L'Anse Aux Meadows, a viking settlement in North America) and rewrite even more history. Not only would their pride be hurt, but they'd also have a big work load...no wonder it may have been covered up.

Moving on to poke fun at scientists, I can't help, but wonder how they would feel if their claims of deep space travel being to hard was proven wrong by aliens landing. They spend all that time refuting those of us who believe that some UFOs are E.T. in origin, but they still say space travel, although hard, is possible. The idea that UFOs could be aliens visiting us regularly (and apparently quite easily) from deep space though would make them have to rethink their theories, or at least part of them.

Really what I'm getting at is that we as humans are pretty arrogant. Most of us are content to sit back and believe whatever the "professional" scientist, historian, or others (politicians, priests, whoever else you want to throw in there) tell us simply because it's nice taking things at face value. Then of course those "professionals" are only able to accept what they "know" because that is what they learned from other "professionals". Basically we assume that no matter how much something makes what we "know" look wrong, we believe that we're still right. We believe what we believe simply because we think our "professionals" know everything. Reality is though that things are probably not what they seem...leaving one wondering what things?

P.S. I know this probably not my best post, but I'm a bit rusty...got get back in my groove ya know?

Hamgeddon cometh!

2009-12-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

In my apartment! Maybe...no official diagnosis, but I woke up last Saturday (11-28-09), which happened to be my daughters 3rd birthday, with aches and a 100 degree fever. The usual cold symptoms followed and after having it about two days, my kids came down the crap too. Long story short, my wife called the kid's pediatrician for advice and she said just keep an eye on them and that we most likely had the now infamous swine flu! By all means it was actually fairly mild and I'm feeling almost 100% better and so is my daughter. My son however wound up getting croup with it and he and my wife spent 5 hours or so at the ER yesterday morning, but now he's recuperating pretty well.

Porkocalypse aside, life as I said before, has been keeping me quite busy lately hence the severe lack in postage here. On top of my regular job, I've been assisting my wife who is pregnant with our third kiddo, with her barn chores (she has a horse and barn work for us means free horse board) so she doesn't have to lift hay our double sized wheel burrows full of horse manure. Then of course we have the mass of holiday confusion that comes with the last three months of the year as well as my daughters b-day this last Saturday.

That being said, what little free time I've had lately has been spent reading. Oddly (for me at least) a lot of that reading has been in my Bible, which I set out on a quest to read all the way through back in July. Between reading other books when I've needed a break from it (seriously, 66 books in one is quite a bit), I've actually been quite enjoying it. For instance, today I just started reading 1st Kings and I've got to tell you that King Solomon kicks butt so far.

Seriously, he was asked to decide which of two prostitutes was the real mother of a baby (they were roommates and had had babies at about the same time. One accidentally rolled over on top of hers in the middle of the night killing it, then pulled a switcharoo before the other mom woke up) do know what he said? "Get me a sword! Now cut the baby in half!" Now before you get all "On noooo not the babykins!" I must inform you the baby did not actually get killed. In fact the real mom spoke up saying "No don't kill it! Give it to her." and the other was like "No way! Cut it up!" and then Solomon was like "We have our answer! Give the baby, without cutting it in half, to mama number 1! The compassionate one!"

Anyways, besides having a guy who has the balls to make the judgment that a baby needs to be cut in half, The Bible has events going on that anyone who has been trotting around the subject of UFOs for a long time will tell you, might just be extra-terrestrial in origin. For the most part though, it is common knowledge that a lot of the events, most famously Ezekiel's Vision, resemble UFO encounters, and are played off as key evidence for ancient astronaut theories. These theories pretty much revolve around the idea that aliens created us and we just interpreted them as God or gods, like the way Zecharia Sitchin's work proposes.

I've had a couple ponders over this subject recently though, I think that perhaps if aliens were involved in the humankind's ancient past, they didn't actually create us as most followers of the theory seem to believe. Instead I think they were merely were trying to guide us not necessarily through technology (seriously, no ET help was needed for the pyramid's folks), but by giving us better morals and ethics by playing the role of the gods/God by doing miraculous things within certain groups in order to help us get out of some unsavory practices, such as human sacrifice. Another option of course is that they may have been spreading their own religions to us unenlightened primitives thereby setting in motion the whole "my religion is better then yours" debate on the planet Earth, but I digress...

Thought: What if they did find something?

2009-11-25T21:04:00.000-08:00

Television today is full of shows themed around the unexplained. Ghost Hunters, Destination Truth, UFO Hunters, Mysteryquest, and Monsterquest and countless other series and specials. With all these shows out there though, one is bound to eventually come across what they are searching for, but that would then leave one big question: what would they do if they did find something?

Ghost shows probably wouldn't have to do much, most people will probably pass off any ghosts as tricks or CGI, except for the people who were actually there. What about physical things like crashed UFOs or a cryptid though? Most teams on TV from what I can tell aren't equipped to capture animals or bring back large pieces debris. There is also an inherent element of risk, especially with potentially dangerous cryptids like some of the ones Destination Truth goes after. All it takes is getting to close to a angry Sasquatch, and BAM! lights out for a crewman and most likely goodbye show.

Assuming that a team somehow does get the evidence of a lifetime, I'm pretty sure the producers of the show would have no problem handling the media bandwagon that would follow. After all, that is their primary job to begin with. The best part is that it probably wouldn't turn out like the Bigfoot costume in a freezer guys.

I am still alive!

2009-11-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

Ok it's been 10 days since my last post so I just wanted everyone to know that I'm still alive and "The Realm" will have a new post soon. Been very busy outside of the blogosphere, so I've had little time to even come up with blog subjects.

More Oregon UFOs...

2009-11-12T21:18:00.001-08:00

Well I've barely been on the web at all this week and I have a lot to catch up on and it would also seem that perhaps the UFO wave may still be happening. Indeed one the first things that caught my eye was a post over at the Oregon MUFON page about a boomerang shaped UFO seen over highway 26 by North Plains. Annoyingly North Plains is just right up the road from me and I didn't see anything that night.

Now always keeping a clear mind on these subjects, I have to theorize that this boomerang shaped craft was more likely a plane heading into he Hillsboro airport. The area of the sighting happened to be right in an area where the flight paths for the airport lie and sometimes plane lights at night do look oddly boomerang like.

Tossing that thought aside, I decided to search the MUFON UFO report database again today and found that we're barely even halfway through the month and they already have a decent amount of reports. In fact I found more today then this time last month which means we may be in for another active month...I certainly hope so...I also hope I get to see one again, but I digress...

Oregon UFO October Roundup

2009-11-02T19:38:00.001-08:00

Well it seems that the jump in UFO activity here in Oregon subsided a bit during October. The search of the MUFON Sigthting Database reveals less the half of what was seen in September. Also I received zero reports personally this month. Yet while the activity seems to have died down, that doesn't mean there were not any interesting reports out there.

The first one of the month, which I posted about, apparently involved multiple eyewitnesses at a night club in Portland, Oregon. The object itself can probably be described as your classic triangular UFO and the one witness who did come forward made a computer animation what he saw (can be viewed here). Then there was another sighting that was posted to both MUFON, and The UFO Clearinghouse, which I found out about thanks to The Interstellar Housewife.

Finally there was an interesting incident which possibly involved several conventional (man made, possibly military) aircraft observing a hovering, unknown, square/multisided object, with multicolored lights . The total length of the sighting, according to Oregon MUFON, was about 30 minutes.

As with all UFO sightings, both myself and MUFON (especially the Oregon branch) would love to hear anything else from other witnesses to these sightings. Or if you saw one or see one not related to any those mentioned go ahead and mention those because every bit evidence counts in the UFO world.

A brief thought: Regarded as insects...

2009-10-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

I can not recall how many times I've heard a scientist or skeptic on TV say something along the line of "A highly advanced alien race would probably regard humans as nothing, but insects. (sometimes cattle)" Likewise I can not tell you how much I disagree with that. Wait, I can!

Human history is riddled with "civilized" humans encountering other humans that we often consider "savage" or uncultured. For the most part we also disrespected many of these cultures by forcing our beliefs on them or enslaving them. And while today there are some groups and individuals who would still prefer to do the above, we have more regard for cultures that aren't part of the "modern world". In fact we are more curious about them then anything else, but at the same time hesitant to contact them for their good and ours. (Exposure to our diseases which isolated tribes have no immunity to can wipe them out. Some of these tribes aren't exactly the most friendly to outsiders either.)

I feel that an extra-terrestrial culture would probably react to us in one of the many ways mentioned above. If our history as a civilized species in full of it, an E.T. civilization would probably be as well, both the good and bad elements. That also means that they'd probably recognize us as being intelligent (at least to an extent) and would either try to communicate with us (for good or bad) or leave us alone for reasons they view as being good. However, until we have open and regular communication with an E.T. society, the best way to study how one would behave is to study ourselves.

Some related reading/examples:
Incredible pictures of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes - Daily Mail Online
Article about the same tribe - BBC News
Wikipedia on slavery
Native American Timeline of Events

Is there an evolutionary advantage to telepathy?

2009-10-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

While reading UFO Magazine today, one of the articles was talking about a book about this new agey guy who thinks that "star beings" are going to help us develop telepathy in order for us to move to a new spiritual level. In one sense, it's a cool idea, but then I tried to think about what the advantage would be to telepathy.

We humans prefer to think of ourselves as individuals, albeit social individuals and for the most part it works. Sure we can be selfish, but we value our privacy from time to time, and for the creative types that can be crucial. If we suddenly found ourselves with telepathy however, our minds would be open to anyone (or anything) close enough to us to hear thoughts. Unless there was a means to block people from reading our brains or we started thinking the same, I doubt we'd be able to walk down the street without hearing stuff we don't want to, or don't need to hear. Heck, there is enough of that without the telepathy.

From an evolutionary perspective, I see almost no reason for telepathy to develop. There are some situations where perhaps a species could develop something similar, such pack predators who rely on silence, but still need to communicate, but I feel it is unlikely that it would. Also like this article from Hard SF mentions, if a species already has other means of communication, the development of telepathy is doubtful and having multiple means of communication ourselves (vocal or visual) I find it unlikely we'd develop telepathy to replace any of them.

Overall I feel the idea is fantasy more then anything, at least for Earth based life. I will admit that it could develop elsewhere as a form of communication, maybe even in aliens who might be visiting our planet. And while I do feel that we as people need to evolve more spiritually or philosophically, I don't see how telepathy would help, in fact it would probably do more harm then good.

Common Sense: UFOs and God

2009-10-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

The above title is probably a bit misleading, this isn't about UFOs and their connection to God...which who knows they might, but as I said, that's not what this post is about. It's really about two stupid things that no one seems to use common sense with. The first is that UFOs are "space aliens" and the second is that God can only exist with faith and would fail to exist if he was proven real...

Let's study the word UFO, which really isn't a word, but an abbreviation of the words "unidentified flying objects" which has absolutely nothing to do with aliens, unless of course a UFO can be identified as being an alien spaceship. The fact that they are unidentified makes them UFOs, not that they are aliens, weather balloons, or pan-dimensional rocket men. If we knew UFOs were any those, they'd in effect be IFOs, or identified flying objects and most of the time I think we can safely say they are not.

On the other side of it all though, I think we can safely say that a good number of these UFOs defy explanation. And although they are extraordinary and may not be conventional human aircraft, we shouldn't rush and conclude what they are because in all honesty most of us, excepting those who might have had contact with a UFO's occupants, will probably never be able to identify them.

As for God being destroyed by proving his existence, that's just completely nuts. Firstly, if God (assuming you believe in a creator or creators) relies totally on faith to exist, how would he have been able to create the world? No one would have been around then to have faith in him for him to exist, which would mean the whole Bible thing and as well as myths would not have formed and I'd probably not be sitting here typing this.

I'm only arguing this point simply because the whole idea that a couple scientists working with CERN (that place with the large hadron collider, or LHC) argued that the LHC was sabotaged by either people in the future or God in order to prevent them from forming the theorized God particle, which has something to do with the beginning of the universe.

Basically the two blokes said that people from the future may have prevented them from forming it because it would have caused a big disaster like a crazy black hole or something. Their other thought was that God wrecked it to prevent proof of his existence from forming because if he was proved real no one would have faith in him, but a proven belief in him, which they think means he'd "vanish in a puff logic" (paraphrased from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) or something, which is complete nonsense as I already stated above.

Hell and Birthdays

2009-10-19T14:50:00.001-07:00

I find myself for some reason compelled to blog about Hell and religious stuff today, but I don't know why considering that I'm not totally religious and from what I can tell, the whole hellfire and brimstone thing we hear all the time is nothing, but bunk. Heck even the Jehovah's Witnesses agree on that one (I get literature from them at work and having a naturally inquisitive mind...well you get the picture) which means that I'm not the only one who sees that it's bunk, which is reassuring.

Actually the name Hell is a knock off of Hel from Norse mythology. That's right, Hell came from the Norse, although it wasn't the torturous flaming pit of doom. In actuality it was just a gloomy underworld where just about everyone goes when they die, unless of course you're one of the chosen who get to get plastered in Valhalla until Ragnarok. Probably the coolest part about the Norse Hel is that you can actually be born back out of it sometimes back into your family's bloodline, giving you another chance to chill in Valhalla the next time you die.

Another odd religious fact is that December 25th when everyone celebrates Christmas isn't really Jesus' birthday. A neat fact I learned while reading an issue of Atlantis Rising magazine awhile back is that Dec. 25th is originally the Roman celebration of the winter solstice which had something to do with Mithra, a mythical deity who apparently has a lot in common with Jesus. As far as the real birthday of Jesus, no one really knows, however it appears it was probably sometime in January.

Speaking of birthdays, come late May my family will have a new one to celebrate when my wife and I have our third child...meaning I'm one step closer to spreading my spawn across the globe. And other then that I really don't even know the point of this post...expect a better one tomorrow...lol

Where have these guys been?

2009-10-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

There is a group calling themselves UFO response team, complete with converted cop cars that is supposedly based in CA, WA, Portland (OR), and Denver (CO) whose goal is to investigate UFO events. Now I must ask, where have these guys been during this apparent UFO wave here in Oregon and Washington? Are they truly investigating encounters or doing it to look cool? And finally why don't they have anything more other then an intro posted on their blog/site? I just hope there is more to them then looking rather MIBish in their converted Crown Victorias...personally I would have gone with something by Jeep.

Kudos to Phantoms and Monsters for posting info on these guys.

Update/thought (8:44pm): I wonder if these have anything to do with Robert Bigelow's attempt at forming MUFON rapid response teams?

Also, thanks to the Interstellar Housewife, I now know their actual webpage: UFOresponseteam.com

While at that site, I tried filling out their admissions thing. First page filled out fine and sent data, but the second had issues and wouldn't send right. They also ask a series of interesting questions...Going by how they've stylized their page, I want to say it's one of those alternate reality games promoting a movie, however I'm not to sure about that. Hopefully they send me a message from sending in the first page of their admissions thingy...

Triangular UFO seen in Portland

2009-10-12T19:18:00.001-07:00

Well the first reported Oregon UFO sighting of October has been posted over at MUFON . Again this one reportedly contained multiple eyewitnesses (hopefully more come forward) and was of an apparent triangular object. Full account of sighting can be read here: Triangle UFO, three gray lights underneath moving west to east

Why are these not sprouting up everywhere?

2009-10-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

Every once and awhile a great idea is had by someone, and thanks to a link over at Strange Planet I found one such idea. The idea is the dream of the late architect Nader Khalili to build not only natural homes, but ones that are cheap to construct and involve the very earth of the land the homes are built on. They are sort of an upgraded version of good old simple adobe housing (a method that has been used for thousands of years) called a monolithic dome, combining an ancient look with the sturdiness of dome architecture.

I think in our modern day world these are a perfect solution to many problems faced by not only the poor and those in third world countries, but also for those seeking to afford a home, but otherwise cannot do to the massive costs of standard houses. Part of the reason I think these are not popping up everywhere is the fact that people seem to think the disadvantages listed on this wikipedia page are a bigger problem then they really are. Well either that or the people who are in power both politically and in real estate are trying their hardest to keep these from spreading beyond just the eccentric and dreamers. Heck all the problems listed on that wikipedia page are easily overcome with a bit of experimentation, study, and implementation.

Just to show the awesome potential of these homes, here is a couple photo galleries showing what they can look like:
Picasa gallery of someone wishing to build a community using these homes
Cal-Earth gallery - gallery from the page of those trying to spread the skills needed to build these homes to the public.
Finally here is the actual home page Cal-Earth as well: Calearth.org

And before I go I must say this idea blows the dome home idea from Japan out of the water.

Oh yeah, Happy Cephalopod Awareness Day!

2009-10-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Yay our tentacled brethren and sisters have their own holiday! Anyways to celebrate here is a video I dredged up off of youtube called "Hey There Cthulhu", and while Cthulhu isn't totally a cephalopod, I think it fits.

And in case you're wondering, the song is by a guy named Eben Brooks. In perhaps an eerie twist, eben is sometimes used as an acronym for extraterrestrial biological entity...which Cthulhu is...I think...is a multidimensional super being an eben?

And for some more somewhat cephalopod related fun here is a link to Regan Lee's awesome Octopus Confessional blog, which is about everything from conspiracies, bizarre news, and occasionally cephalopods.

And finally for the real cephalopod goodness, here is a link to Tonmo which is a Octopus/cephalopod online magazine forum thing, for cephalopod keepers (that's right some people have them as pets) and enthusiasts.

And before I leave (this post keeps going and going for no reason don't it?) here is a pic of a little squid out for looking for some human flesh...so watch out, he might bite!

Picture originally taken by some unknown person from NOAA...
who may or may not be trying
to manipulate our weather...
ah dangit...I'm conspiracy theorizing again...

P.S. I'd also like to wish my brother Matt a happy birthday as well...of I don't think he'll read this, but it's the thought that counts right? I'd call him, but odds are he's in bed already because he works earlier then I do in the mornings, so he'll get a belated b-day call tomorrow.

Rods from God, Madmen, and Alien Invasion

2009-10-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

History Channel rocks...well at least to those of us who don't consider it the Fantasy Channel. Their latest episode of The Universe rocked however and had me riveted as well as oohing and awing at potentially awesome, albeit sometimes quite simple, future space warfare. It also had wondering just how quickly an alien race that wanted to wipe us off the face of the Earth could.

Perhaps the most obvious thing that be different about war in space is that it'd be nothing like what we see in Star Wars and Star Trek (although ST is a bit more realistic then SW) and would be boring, but not at the same time. Weapons would work completely different, there would be no sound (as most of us probably know) and forget the need for wings on ships. Also, throw out the warheads for good old fashioned kinetic energy.

My favorite weapon they showcased was what is called a "Rod from God" which is nothing more then a sturdy metal rod with a rocket booster, designed to be launched from space, boost itself to a high speed, then shut off and just go faster and faster, in the frictionless vacuum of space. The result is basically the same as a meteor impact, or a punch to the face in a sense. I question their reasoning for showing that television however because you just know some rich madman is going to build one and hold the world hostage now. Speaking of which, it could even be an alien madman.

Yeah, some crazy aliens might just be out there with tech far in advance from us, ready to blow us off the planet. Well actually I don't know if being blown off is possible, but it could be, however, I had no choice, but to question how capable we'd really be of fighting off a E.T. menace if they were just that much more advanced then us. Really I don't think there would be anyway to stop them. Considering we're still here however, and the fact that most of the UFO phenomenon to me seems to be interdimensional, I doubt we'll be faced with that threat...of course we live in a world of infinite possibilities, so we'll never really know unless it happens. Now the an Earthbound rich madman however...that is more of a possibility...I just hope a James Bond like guy is too...

Oregon UFO Wave: The Evidence So Far

2009-10-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

There is evidence that something was going on in Oregon and Washington last month in the UFO world, but despite all my searches I've only come up with a limited number of sightings. However, I've never really studied a possible ongoing UFO event before so there may be more that I've not found. I also have to keep in mind that many witnesses don't like coming forward for fear of ridicule and that's rather unfortunate. My friend who saw that UFOs in Portland with multiple witnesses even asked one of them if they were going to say anything to anyone and they promptly responded "No way!"

People refusing to come forward aside however, there were some really interesting events that took place last month. One in Corvallis where a family saw an object about 1,000ft above their house resulted in a photo of an something odd. What it is I really can't say, but I know of no aircraft with that profile other then possibly a bizarre blimp or balloon. That fails to explain what looks like engine glow however.

I also received an interesting comment/e-mail (posted/sent on both by witness) about a sighting of a fleet of black crescent shaped aircraft flying over my town of Hillsboro, OR that was seen on Friday the 25th. The only aircraft that I know of that roughly fits that description is the B-2 Spirit, which is the only remaining true stealth bomber in the Air Force, with the F-117 Nighthawk having retired in April of 2008. There are only 21 B-2s in the service though and all, but one are stationed in Missouri, so I doubt they'd be flying over Oregon.

There is also a number of sightings that happened in Portland, Oregon within a few days of my friend's sighting on Sunday 9-13-09. On the 17th there was this sighting of a triangular craft, and then this one which I mentioned in an earlier post where an object was seen on the Tuesday the 15th, being followed by F-15s from the Oregon Air National Guard.

Perhaps the weirdest incident happened in Washington where objects were seen multiple times starting in July and culminated in a sighting of a possible entity on Saturday September 12th in the backyard of the witness. The whole series of events is full of high strangeness, including helicopters, crop circles, strange lights and more.

Finally I received a report of a bizarre weather incident in Newport Oregon, which may or may not be UFO related. It is noteworthy however since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) just recently selected Newport as the new home for their Pacific Marine Operations Center. It really makes one wonder if NOAA is up to something out there.

Aside from all that there are more reports out there, but I'm only linking to the ones that I found most interesting. Although I really need to get around to making a map of the all the events. Maybe there is a pattern there, perhaps not, but it might prove fruitful. It's also a good excuse to play with photo shop which is always fun.

Interdimensional beings?

2009-10-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

Lon over at Phantoms and Monsters posted info on an interesting MUFON case involving transparent beings that were seen in Wisconsin. Were these creatures interdimensional visitors studying our world or alien visitors with a "Predator like" cloaking device?

Quick update on Portland UFO

2009-10-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

I saw my friend the other day who saw the UFO in Portland and he corrected me on the date of the incident. It actually occurred on Sunday 9-13-09, not Monday 9-14-09. As for the possible wave, I'm still gathering data on any sightings. I have a lot to scour through. Newsites, UFO pages, MUFON's case archives, etc...

I'm also tempted include Washington sightings in this since Washington is really close to Portland meaning that any sightings could possibly be related.

Finally if anyone out there who reads this comes across anything on the web pertaining to recent Oregon or Washington UFO sightings hook me up with a link in case it's one I've missed. Also if you've seen a UFO in either state in the last couple months, feel free to comment or e-mail me at phoenixorb83@gmail.com .

Everything I believe is wrong...and a bird

2009-09-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

Religion would have me think so at least. Why just today I had an e-mail in my inbox trying to teach me the truth of Islam and for the most part convert me. Having nothing against the Islamic faith I read through and decided, not for me. Why? Well I don't really know. One the reasons is probably the fact that I don't need daily scheduled prayer rituals to feel close to God. Another is simply the fact I prefer to associate more with Jewish and Christian tradition, albeit in my own way. The biggest problem is that I don't like it when religion tells me everything I know and believe is wrong (hence the reason I associate with it in my own way) like evolution isn't real (I've read Genesis and see nothing wrong with evolution coexisting with it) and that UFOs are controlled by demons (hey, angels might want to fly in some to).

That being said, I've looked a lot into religions. Just recently I've been reading up on one called Asatru, which is sort of a revival of the old Germanic/Norse god beliefs. In fact, roughly translated the word Asatru means "belief in the gods". Being of German (and possibly Scandinavian) descent, and with an interest in Vikings I was totally interested in this. None of the websites I found however really gave me any inkling of where to start. I did find that many people unfortunately associate this religion with hate groups, but the same can be said for Christianity and just about any other religion. Anyways, the end result of all the research was that although it's highly appealing to me, there are to many gods involved which would be highly confusing to me, which unfortunately means I get to miss out on all the drunken fun in Valhalla when I die.

Sadly I don't even know where this post is going...I'm writing merely for the entertainment of writing, as well as to share some of my odd viewpoints on religion and theology...which I really didn't get into theology at all in this post, but there is time for that later. So in the meantime here is a creepy picture of a demon or the devil handing a guy who looks Catholic (I think he might be a Pope) something...

Almost forgot. I saw a large bird flying around yesterday. It was brown in color, bigger then a hawk, and definitely not a sea gull or crow (tons of both around here, like pigeons in New York). My first thought was it that it was a golden eagle, but I've never heard of any around here, although they are in my state. The only thing I could figure was that it was a daytime sighting of a large owl which I do know live in the area. Heck I heard one a few months back, which instantly sparked thoughts of the owl imagery mentioned in Whitely Strieber's book Communion, but whatever, I'm off to buy a pack of Skittles.

What is going on? Oregon UFO wave?

2009-09-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

I've received four different reports (through e-mail and in person) of UFOs this month from people here in Oregon, which is really unusual. Not just because people are seeing UFOs, but because people are searching for UFOs in Oregon and finding my blog since I've been talking about them recently. That tells me two things, people are seeing UFOs in Oregon and are searching for other sightings.

Having talked about Oregon UFOs in the past here I would have expected that people would on occasion stumble across my blog searching for them in Oregon. However, it's odd that I suddenly get three different e-mails (when I've never received them before about UFOs in Oregon) and one report from someone in person about UFOs here in Oregon, all being seen in same month. What is happening for sure I don't really know. The evidence is in bits and pieces and no one has really come forward with any photos or video to back of these sightings, but it certainly seems as if something is happening.

Finally, there seems to be a bit of consistency in reports (ones I received as well as ones I found on various sites) from what I can tell. They are either orange or white orbs (which can really be anything, but most seem to be out of the normal) and black triangles. Making things even more odd is that they are often followed by helicopters or fighter jets. I've only received one report that didn't really fit this pattern involving a truly bizarre storm which I might share later if I can get permission from the witness.

Perhaps I need to a do a end of month Oregon UFO wrap up and see if anything else comes to light...

Moving

2009-09-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Gonna be offline until Monday while changing apartments...moved to a three bedroom! YAY!

Weird dreams...

2009-09-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to put these on this blog, but figured what the heck, it fits just a little bit. Back last Wednesday (9-16-09) I had a couple weird dreams. The first one involved everyone's favorite H.P. Lovecraft creation, Cthulhu. The second was about some weird cloudy day full of bizarre clouds and fog.

I had the Cthulhu one sometime before I woke that morning. In it I was being forced by this agency to hand in my Cthulhu collectibles I for a reason I did not know at that time. So I hand them over to this lady behind a rather long counter in some sort of bizarre government type office with a a small warehouse room in the back that ran the length of the building.

After unwillingly handing over my Cthulhu figures the lady goes out to grab some papers for me to sign. While she is gone this guy pops out from the warehouse section and signals me to follow him. So I do and I see the room is full of Cthulhu items of all sorts. He then mentions that he is part of a real life Cthulhu cult and that this warehouse belongs to the government who is trying to keep Cthulhu from coming when the stars are right. He then proceeds to ask me if I want to join his cause, which is secretly dispensing the confiscated items back out into the public so Cthulhu can rise. Around the time I say yes, I wake up.

The second dream happened around noon that day and while I was napping on my living room floor (laying on top of a down comforter mashed against my couch in a comfy position, couldn't help it). In it I was at work looking out the big window at the front of the store I work, staring at the strange cloud covered sky. Literally it was a ceiling of bizarre gray clouds. Some of them took on this weird bulbous shape that didn't match any clouds I ever saw before.

As I'm watching them move through the sky, they suddenly get lower, forming a thick fog, with full clouds floating on by in it at face level. I was about to walk outside, but then my wife woke me up before I could see what was going to happen next. All I remember from it before that though is a weird smell, sort of like fog meets spring time rain, as I get near the door in the dream.

In all honesty I doubt these dreams have any significance, although in H.P. Lovecraft's stories, people would dream about Cthulhu before he made appearances. Although it's all just fiction...unless my Cthulhu 2012 prediction is more then the joke I thought it was, in which case...madness all around!

Multiple eyewitness UFO sighting in Portland, OR

2009-09-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting conversation at work today with one of the vendors (and regular reader of the Realm) I see weekly about a UFO he witnessed on what he thinks was Monday (9-14-09) night in southeast Portland, Oregon.

He says around 9 PM that night he and multiple other eyewitnesses saw three (maybe more, didn't quite get all the details perfect since I was working) orange orbs heading west in the sky. One the orbs apparently turned white and zipped back towards the east, and then two helicopters (military?) appeared that seemed to be chasing after the two that were headed west.

After or during the helicopters someone directed his attention back to the east where the other orb that had turned white had gone. There he saw what he described as three white lights that looked as if they were a constellation, but they were moving slowly. Then the suddenly the lights zipped off at high speed in multiple directions if I remember what he told me correctly.

When the sighting was over he checked with a radio station to see if anyone had called in about it, but no one had. The next day he said he heard on the radio a report about weather balloons (we've all heard that excuse before) being over the city the night before, which totally does not fit with what he said he and others witnessed that night.

Now since I got home today I've been searching for (on MUFON, local news, etc...) UFO events in Oregon and Washington to see if I can find any other reports of these same incident or further sightings of these craft in and around the estimated date. From my knowledge, there are multiple eyewitnesses and it happened in Portland which is the most populated city in Oregon. If anyone who reads this has further information on this incident or similar ones on or around Monday (9-14-09) in Oregon or Washington, please leave a comment or e-mail me at phoenixorb83@gmail.com. I would to get more information on this incident.

Finally, before I go I do want to say I've known the person who told me about this for a year or more now and know that he would be pulling my leg. Also I will post details on my search results either tonight or tomorrow and perhaps be able to find more information this sighting.

One last thing, here is a similar incident reported to MUFON from Portland: Solid white light followed by jet that occurred on the 15th.

Perhaps it is the same incident, just with one person having a date mixup? Or perhaps they came back that next evening?

Quick update 9-17-09 8:33pm: There seems to be a lot of UFO activity in both Oregon and Washington seeming to start in July. I'm going to get a list of sightings by date going and see what I can come up with.

Gilgamesh Flood Story Part 2: Similarities

2009-09-16T16:10:00.001-07:00

There are many obvious similarities between the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the story of Noah's flood. This of course brings up the question of whether one was inspired by the other, particularly the story of Noah being inspired by Gilgamesh, which is the older flood account.

So to start, let's look at some of the similarities:

1. God (Genesis) and the Anunnaki (Gilgamesh and related stories, i.e: Atra-hasis) decide man must be wiped out by a flood.

2. An individual (Noah and Utnapishtim) deemed worthy to live by God or one of the Anunnaki is given warning of the eminent deluge and ordered to build a boat to save their family and chosen animals.

3. Both Noah and Utnapishtim send out birds to see if the flooding is going away.

4. Each makes sacrifices to God or gods once settled on dry land.

Those are just the most similar connections, however here is a link that gives a bit more in depth similarity studies side by side.

As I said earlier, the question is, was one inspired by the other, and if so what does that mean. Clearly there are many who take the Bible literally and feel that the story of Gilgamesh just lends more truth to the story of Noah's Flood. And while it does indeed do that, it is really a double edged sword. The fact that the Gilgamesh account was recorded before the book of Genesis was written tends to lead many to the assumption that perhaps the story of Noah was inspired by that of Utnapishtim. Unfortunately there is no proof either way, excepting a small bit of evidence that might prove the existence of a couple kings mentioned in the Gilgamesh epic which wouldn't do much to support the Noah believers.

Also if Noah's story was inspired by the tale of Utnapishtim in Gilgamesh, who is to say that perhaps that story wasn't inspired by an earlier tale as well? Most of our knowledge of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia is fragmented at best and much more is probably waiting to be found there. Who knows what the future holds.

Sources and further reading:
The flood story from the epic
Gilgamesh Flood Myth - Wikipedia
Is the Biblical Account of the Flood Modified from the Epic of Gilgamesh?

I ask you why not?

2009-09-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

I had a thought the other day on space travel and the idea that UFOs are spaceships of an extra-terrestrial civilization. We all know space travel happens, we do it now at days ourselves, but we just don't go very far. Scientists though claim that theoretically most of our wildest space travel dreams are possible, although any efficient travel in space would require technology that is currently beyond us. Wormholes, bending the fabric of space, all takes lots of energy, well theoretically at least, but does that really make them that hard to produce once a decent energy source is created? If you think seriously about it, us humans have been really bad on the energy side of things recently. While we care and try to create new efficient energy sources, but we wrap each other up in endless red tape, whether it be a new energy's impact on animal habitats, environment, or it's noise level disturbing a lone farmhouse.

Now that being said, who is to say there isn't a civilization out there that has achieved both the energy source and the efficient space travel? Why is it that the same scientists who say that theoretically we can do both of those turn around and say that UFOs by no means are E.T. arriving on Earth? It's like they say one thing, but assume that because we haven't figured it out yet that no other intelligent species in the universe can unless we do. Well you know what scientists, I have news for you, wake up! Humans most likely not the only intelligent species in the vast reaches of the universe and that to me means there are pretty good odds that at least every once and awhile a UFO is just an alien spacecraft popping in for a visit, or perhaps some fries and a burger. And you know what? Maybe if we stop worrying about everything else and cooperate with each other as opposed covering each other in red tape, perhaps a century from now we can be popping over to Zeta Reticulli for a Zeta burger?

Was there a giant cephalopod in Devil's Lake?

2009-09-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

I've always wondered why Devil's Lake in Lincoln City, Oregon was called Devil's Lake and now thanks to the book Spooky Oregon by Se Schlosser I now know. It would seem that in the lake there may have been, at least according to Native American legend, a tentacled monstrosity. To verify this legend, I did a search and sure enough it's a real one, and seems to share similarities with tale about a Devil's Lake in Wisconsin.

The short story as for as the Oregon one goes is that the Siletz Indian tribe centuries ago used to really like of the area of Devil's Lake. Then one night when a group of warriors was dispatched across the lake, massive tentacles burst forth from the waters destroying the canoes. The warriors where then flung around, beaten against the water and debris, and died from drowning or injury. From then on the lake was called Devil's Lake.

The lake itself was formed around 14,000 BC, but remains connected to the ocean via a 120ft river. At it's deepest goes down about 22ft. The lake's salinity I'd assume is freshwater since it has fresh water fish living there. However given that there is such a short river (shortest in the world apparently) connecting the ocean to the lake, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's somewhere between fresh and brackish...who knows. Anyways cephalopods (squids, octopi, and nautiluses) are not supposed to be able to survive in freshwater (excepting a species of squid that is able to survive in brackish water) and yet those are the only things with tentacles that I think would match the description of the offending monster. Reports have circulated around the world however of chance encounters with cephalopods that appear to be living in freshwater, some apparently have even attacked people.

Assuming that by some chance the legend indeed tells of an encounter with some unidentified cephalopod what type could it be? I think the giant and colossal squids are dead in the water in this case (no pun intended) due to the lake's depth being to shallow for creatures of their size. Perhaps it was some other semi-largish squid, yet I don't feel a squid could attack the way the one in the story given their body shape in general. That leaves us with the octopus (because nautiluses are totally out of the question since they don't get really large at all) which I think could attack in such a manner much easier then a squid.

Now the Giant Pacific Octopus is the largest known octopus and actually lives here in the Pacific Northwest. It can survive in a variety of depths, but does not the reach a size in which it can trash canoes, excepting of course it wound up in one. So maybe it was an unknown octopus of large size capable of surviving in semi-fresh water despite the fact cephalopods generally can't. Or perhaps the more likely scenario is that it was an fluke accident that the octopus grew to such large size to begin with, with conditions in Devil's Lake being just right for it to thrive in spite of what we know about cephalopods. Either way, it's all fun conjecture until all this talk about tentacled beasties gets someone eaten by a Cthulhu spawn.

Modified from a picture originally taken by someone from NOAA.

Sources and Further Reading:
History & Legend
Welcome to Lincoln City, Oregon

Also be sure to check the links throughout the post, especially the book I mention in the beginning!

Blogger's block, haunted local theater, and Cthulhu

2009-09-04T15:15:00.001-07:00

Seriously, I am working on the next Gilgamesh post, for some reason though I've been hit by a serious case of blogger's block with this one. Heck, it's not just with that, it seems that it's been a problem for the last few months. I went from doing 20-40 posts per month to 10 or fewer.

I wonder if it's a seasonal thing. After all, I find it harder to focus on things during the more humid and warmer months. It's like all the summertime sun and warmth causes my brain to cloud up. Literally, it feels like my thoughts are blurred shapes behind a fog during the early spring and throughout all the summer. Now that autumn is on it's way again however, my mind is clearing and those thoughts are becoming more crisp and clear.

So to try and jump start my blogging again, I've picked up some inspirational reading in the form of a book called Spooky Oregon: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore. It's a book focused on, well the title pretty much gives it away, but the point is it's full of fun Oregon esoteric goodness. It also has cool pictures, one of which appears to have a tentacled squid beast! Also I can't forget that it has a section on the pirate treasure on the Oregon Coast I talked about not to long ago, which is cool.

Speaking of local Oregon stuff, it seems that the Venetian Theater in Hillsboro (just a 10 minute walk from my apartments) is haunted. Doesn't surprise me at all since downtown Hillsboro is as old as the Bible, well not literally, but the buildings are old, some possibly nearing the 100 year mark or more.

Anyways, the staff of the theater decided to call in the International Paranormal Reporting Group (IPRG), which it appears has connections to The Atlantic Paranormal Society, more commonly known as TAPS, the ghost hunting group made famous by SyFy's (I'm sorry, SyFy, but I liked your old name better) Ghost Hunters program. So the IPRG apparently found some interesting stuff and is now thinking about trying to get a TAPS training course done there sometime. So considering it's locale and the fact that I blog about the strange and unusual, it might be right up my ally. Of course I could also see if I can talk with some of the employees and do a post on the theater.

And before I go I have two more things I want to mention. First there was a creepy incident with a cart moving on it's own at a store I was at today. It was in the cart return, backed out of it, and turned stopping against a check stand. The clerk across the way looked at me and asked "You saw that too right?" and I replied ~~"Of course not, you're nuts!"~~ "Yeah, that was weird.", and he said "Good, I thought I was going crazy for a second." The eeriest part was I was walking up to the check stand with some Halloween decor which unleashed a horde of skeletons that have been trying to break through the wall by my desk.

And finally, say hello to Meanthulhu, my new Cthulhu buddy! That pink thing in his hand, yeah that's a person...hence his name. He was a rather expensive impulse buy today at a gaming shop (not the video game type, but like RPG and card game style instead) and is part of a collection called Mythos Buddies by John Kolvalic. Each box contains a randomized Cthulhu design, and you know yours truly is a bit of a Lovecraft nut, so yeah...$11.95 later...

Distractions, disctractions, disctractions...

2009-08-31T18:16:00.001-07:00

Gotta love life outside of the blogosphere. The Oregon International Airshow was this weekend at the airport just 2 miles away so I was distracted all weekend by the Thunderbirds. Got some great photos of them however, zoomed so close you can see the pilots. Awesome stuff.

Tomorrow expect the next post in the Gilgamesh series. I'm gonna be researching for it tonight and tomorrow morning and should have it up sometime in the afternoon. Plus I've got four days off of work as sort of a mini vacation so expect regular updates the next few days. Something I haven't done in awhile.

Gilgamesh Flood Story Part 1: Intro

2009-08-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to figure out how to introduce this one because it's not quite the same as paraphrasing something from the Bible. The other problem is the fact it really is so similar to the story of Noah's flood that I swear at times I was reading the same thing with different names. So the best to start I think is to give you all a link to the flood story from the Epic of Gilgamesh: The Great Flood: Gilgamesh (I really suggest reading it because you'll probably be a tad lost later if you don't)

One thing I want to note is that the flood story from this epic is not about Gilgamesh himself, rather it is told to Gilgamesh by the flood survivor named Utnapishtim (I've actually seen TV documentaries get that bit wrong), who is the story's version of Noah. Utnapishtim even builds an equivalent to the Ark which he takes animals on as well (it's not as apparent while reading it, but that is the case), although it is a giant cube apparently with all sides being the same.

Besides the name there are a couple other key differences to this story. For instance there are multiple gods, in particular the Anunnaki whom you should all know from my adventures into the works of Zecharia Sitchin. In fact it is the Anunnaki named Enlil who apparently rashly decides to destroy humanity with a large flood because they have angered him and many of the other Anunnaki.

The other primary difference is that the flooding process itself lasts only 7 days and 6 nights as opposed to the 40 days of Noah's flood. There is also a really cool description process here telling about gods drawing back gates and releasing water, burning the human settlement, and much more. It's almost like reading about a Viking or pirate raid, only the Vikings and pirates are replaced by gods.

Anyways over the coming days I will get more into detail about these differences, as well the similarities, between this and Noah's flood. Like I said, I swear I was reading the same story at times...truly fascinating.

UFO Sighting on my way to work

2009-08-23T15:25:00.001-07:00

Well this isn't what I was originally going to post today, but I figured I better do it before I forget to.

Here in Hillsboro, OR today at around 5:30am while walking to work I saw another UFO that in many ways was the opposite of the fading blue one I saw years ago.

It was fairly dark out, but the sun was just beginning to brighten up the sky and I was enjoying my walk and listening to music, when I looked up at the sky in a roughly northwestern direction. There in the dark navy blueness of the early morning I saw what appeared to be a faint star, but then it did something I've never seen a star do. Suddenly it slowly flared out to about 3 times the size it was, became a whitish orange color, faded for a fraction of a millisecond (didn't even get back to it's original size), then bam...it was gone.

I poked and prodded what I saw all day in my head trying to figure out what it was. I know for a fact it wasn't a star, since stars twinkle and don't grow to 3 times their sizes and vanish in seconds. It was also definitely not a plane as there were no strobes or colored lights with it, plus planes also don't grow in size and vanish. I thought maybe a meteor coming dead on towards me and burning up in the atmosphere, but then well it'd a bit more obvious then a growing light in the sky I think.

So what was it? I don't know, however I will say that the way it behaved reminds me of seeing the engines of ships in Star Wars go into hyperdrive. First the engine appears normal, flares up, fades for a fraction of a millisecond, then voosh...ship is gone. It was almost just like that.

Don't worry...it's coming...the flood of Gilgamesh that is

2009-08-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been a bit lazy in the last week or so, my focus has been a bit more on the mind numbing side of things (TV, games...you know...easy none mind exercising activities.) recently do to summertime heat and humidity as well as being a bit dead after work because of the heat and humidity.

Anyways, tomorrow I should have the intro up to my series on the flood myth from the Epic of Gilgamesh. The fun part is going to be the amazing similarities between this flood and the one mentioned in the Bible. I'll also get to dive into some of Zecharia Sitchin's theories again as well, which for some reason I have a blast doing. Probably the whole alternate history idea with the aliens and what not. I just love that ancient astronaut thing...the were they here, were they not bit, or as I prefer to say it, "It's sort of like a sci-fi story, only with the added possibility it may have been real.", which I think sums it all up. So stay tuned...

Phase in...phase out...phase in....phase out....

2009-08-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

I was reading over at one of my new favorite blogs, Ghost Hunting Theories, the other day about interdimensional portals and I got to thinking (and shared my thought in a comment on that post)...what if some paranormal entities, such as Bigfoot, the Mothman, etc...which may be tied to portals, are actually, well...tied to the portals. What I mean is that perhaps some of these beings literally only exist in our dimension while these portals are open and when the portals close, they go back to their world, or perhaps fade into some in between place (maybe this could be where some "ghosts" might come from, only they aren't true ghosts), sort of like limbo. Think about it, no one is ever able to find these creatures, or dead bodies, such as those of shot Bigfeet. It's like they vanish into thin air and perhaps they actually do.

I'm a firm believer that the laws of quantum physics and what not have what I would call "fail safes" that go into effect during certain events. For instance I think the reason we don't see people time traveling in and out of our time (or at least not often) is because, well one, most think it's dangerous, but also that any time someone does time travel, it creates a new timeline universe in order to prevent paradoxes. Perhaps dimensional travel works in similar ways, only beings are linked to their original dimensions somehow and can only be in the other dimension as long as the connecting portals are open. Then they either snap back into their world, fade into the possible in between one, or die in some horrible super death with all sorts of fancy lights and what not...maybe turning inside out or something.

There might ways to break the link though, perhaps some sort of device that envelopes someone in a sustaining field of some kind. It would make sense, but probably would require a lot of power, but that doesn't mean it's not possible.

Anyawys as I said in the comment I made over at Ghost Hunting Theories, the best thing about interdimensional portals is that they are scientifically plausible. That means that most likely when the physical/quantum physical conditions are right, then there really isn't any reason for these portals to form...and who knows how often they do.

Noah's Flood Part 3: The Flood

2009-08-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

Was there really a global flood thousands of years ago that covered the entire world? Many Christian fundamentalists would say so, but where is the evidence? They claim that it is all around us in forms of things such as canyons or mountain chains, which they say could only have been formed by a global deluge, the waters moving so fast that they cut the canyons and mountains from the stone they're made of. And yes, while can sea canyons perhaps being carved by rapidly moving waters, mountains on the other had are the results of tectonic activity didn't just rise up out of the waters.

Geologic rock layers have been claimed to be evidence for a world wide flood as well, but same layers that tell modern geologists a very different story, one that conflicts with the world wide flood theory. Of course that hasn't stopped some from claiming that all the layers of rock are simply the result of the flood. Floods however leave single layers, not multiple layers stacked on top of each other helping dividing time periods and the fossils of said periods.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the world wide flood theory is that many of the proposed dates for the flood, tend to fall around time periods when there were thriving civilizations that were not wiped out by a flood. However one can assume that would be a reasonable explanation for the many flood myths found around the world, but then the flood must not have been as devastating as it reads in the Bible.

Something I mentioned in an earlier post is that to many people in the early civilizations, the world was only what was known of it to them. That means that most likely a "world wide flood" was just a large localized flood and there is a lot more convincing evidence for that, such as a possible flood in the area now known as The Black Sea.

This theory proposes that possibly around 5,600 years ago there may have been a civilization slowly growing along the shores the Black Sea which at that time likely a large fresh water lake, albeit much smaller then today. Then one day a small area that was holding back waters from the Mediterranean Sea gave way releasing the waters upon the unsuspecting civilization that would had to have dropped everything an abandoned their homes. If true, then this flood may be responsible for not only the story of Noah, but the deluge story in the Epic of Gilgamesh (which will be the next in my deluge myth posts) as well.

Sources and Further Reading:
More Evidence Against Noah's Flood
Noah's Ark - The Skeptics Dictionary
Problems With a Global Flood
Noah's Flood - Where Did all that water come from?-Christiananswers.com (shows some of the theories proposed for where the water came from during the "world wide" flood.)
Ancient Days: The Date of Noah's Flood
The Black Sea Deluge Theory - Wikipedia

Q-Life? This is trippy and oh so Lovecraftian...

2009-08-09T20:27:00.001-07:00

I love it when I haven't browsed the Anomalist in awhile because I always seem to find more interesting things there then when I browse it daily. For instance today I found this mind boggling bit of info (read the article there folks, it's well worth your time) on"Q-Life" which is apparently theorized quantum physical life.

Now the thing about this Q-life is that it could fit the definition of what we consider "spirits", "God", etc... It also seems bizarrely like things that fit within H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, with life possibly taking on all sorts of weird forms, such as "quantum life clouds" and "intelligent black holes" (both of which are mentioned in the article) and who knows what else.

Adding to the strangeness is the simple fact it's all quantum physics. That would mean that perhaps if such life exists in the universe/multiverse or whatever, it might be able to transcend space, time, and other aspects of reality, or perhaps exist in all at once. Completely Lovecraftian if you ask me, well minus the horror aspect...unless you consider intelligent black holes scary...the concept sure scares the willies out of me.

Perhaps we should start calling our world "The Lovecraftian Universe"? Hey that gives me an idea new blog!

Noah's Flood Part 2: The Ark

2009-08-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

Genesis 6:15 KJV
15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

There you go folks, the dimensions of what may have been (depending on what your beliefs are) one of the world's most ancient boats, Noah's Ark. The exact modern day dimensions are up for debate (not knowing the proper length of a Biblical cubit), however it seems to be fairly well agreed upon that it would have been between 450-500ft long, meaning it was pretty big.

Now you'd think, a 500 ft long boat would be simple to find, especially knowing the location. In this case it's presumably the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4 NIV), where the Bible tells us the Ark settled when the flood waters receded. And indeed there is what has been claimed to be evidence that it is there in the form of what has be called "The Ararat Anomaly".

This so called anomaly was found towards the tip of Mt. Ararat by both spy plane and satellite the 1980s, and apparently by someone in 1949. The object itself appears to be a roughly boat shaped area of rock outcropping. However, evidence that this the Ark is rather lacking, and more recent photos taken in 2003 seem to point to it being nothing more then a natural formation. Add to that the fact no one can investigate the location do to it being covered in ice and snow almost year round, and the Turkish government restricting access to the mountain, little can be investigated other then photos.

There is another potential location that apparently been named the "official" resting place of the Ark which looks more promising just south of Mt. Ararat near the village of Dogubeyazit in Turkey. It not only fits within theorized lengths for the Ark, but also seems to show some the possible interior ribbing of the vessel. Other evidence seems to abound around the site as well.

On the negative side, the location was reportedly found by one Ron Wyatt who apparently does not have the best support in the worlds of both regular and Biblical archaeology and most in both groups claim Wyatt's find is not the true ark. Fundamentalist Christians however do support Wyatt's claim, or at least quite a few of them and it's very evident by some oddball statements made in some of the pages I used while researching for this post, most notably that of fossilized metal rivets.

Fossilization is the process in which organic (of biological origin) material is replaced with inorganic (non biological origin) material like minerals when conditions are right in the environment an organic object is buried in. Metal however is an inorganic meaning it should not fossilize (at least as far as I know, plus if it was I don't think we'd have all our modern tech if it could) and indeed when I searched on whether metal can be fossilized the only places referencing fossilized metal were creationist and fundamentalist websites. That however doesn't mean that the previously mentioned "official" Ark is not the Ark, just that they need to get their science right.

So where is the Ark? I have no idea honestly. There is to much debate around the subject and there are probably a few other locations it could be at if it exists at all. One thing is for sure though, if anyone does find an Ark that everyone agrees to be the Ark, it'd quite possibly be the biggest piece Biblical evidence/support of all time.

Sources and Further Reading:
Noah's Ark Overview - Arkdiscovery.com
Noah's Ark Search: Mt. Ararat
Satellite Sleuth Closes in on Noah's Ark Mystery - Space.com
The Remains of Noah's Ark - Specialityinterests.net

Noah's Flood part 1: The Story

2009-08-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

According to the book of Genesis, after man had begun to spread across the world, they started to become corrupt. This didn't sit to well with God, so he decided to wipe out his creations by flooding the world, except for Noah, who he was rather fond of (Genesis 6:5-8). In fact he was so fond of Noah that he decided to give man a second chance through Noah in his family. So he gave orders to Noah to build an Ark (or a boat if you're getting confused with another Ark that Harrison Ford hunted down in a rather famous 80s movie.) on which to rescue 2 of each kind of animal, 7 of some select animals, and various foods to support his family and his beastly cargo (Genesis 6:14-21, Genesis 7:1-4).

Now being a wise man, Noah obeyed God because he was loyal to God, and because it's not a good idea to cross a guy who is capable of flooding the whole world. So Noah built the Ark to God's specified directions (generally it's presumed the Ark was around 500 ft long. No exact dimensions are known since no one is settled on the exact length of a biblical cubit) and prepared for the deluge.

When the specified day arrived and all the animals were on board, Noah and his family boarded the Ark, and God was nice enough to personally shut the door (Genesis 7:13-16). Then for 40 days the flood came (the exact way which it flooded is up for debate), covering the Earth up to the highest mountain peaks, with the water staying for 150 days after the flooding stopped . Every living thing that flew, walked, or crawled, perished in the waters, unless they were aboard the Ark(Genesis 7:17-24),or of course were aquatic or amphibious creatures, which seemed to have been forgotten somewhere in the story.

Days before the waters receded, Noah would release a dove to see if it would come back with evidence the water was leaving. One day the dove came back with an olive branch and the following day the dove did not return and Noah knew God had let the waters recede and the Ark eventually came to rest somewhere in the mountains of Ararat (important detail that is) (Genesis 8:1-12).

They remained on the Ark until the world was completely dry and God asked Noah, his family, and the animals to come out. Then the animals were allowed to go out and reproduce their numbers, and Noah built an alter and made burnt animal offerings to God, who swore never to destroy mankind again, even if it was wicked (Genesis 8:15-21), because he so enjoyed the smell of the BBQ.

The End

Next time: Details on the Ark and the Flood

Deluge Myths: Intro

2009-08-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

Image: The Deluge by John Martin 1834

The word deluge means an overflowing of water, or put simply, a flood. Throughout history stories of great floods sent by God or other deities have been told. These are known as deluge myths.

Noah's Ark in the Biblical book of Genesis and the story of Utnapishtim from the Epic of Gilgamesh are two of the most widely known of such stories. Deluge tales however exist many other religions and mythologies around the world and is sometimes used as proof of a "world wide" flood such as the one described in the story of Noah.

Was there such a flood? The only ones who know for sure are the ones who have faith in the stories of these floods. To them they are quite real and they even sometimes find evidence in geologic layers which may or may not prove them for everyone. Still others, whether they believe in the floods or not, search for relics of the events, such as evidence that Gilgamesh was a real person, or the Ark of Noah resting somewhere in the mountains of Ararat.

Throughout the next week or so I intend to visit these stories, share them with all of you, and take a peek at some of the evidence that may just prove that perhaps there was a flood of global proportions. Then again we might find that perhaps these floods were not more then localized events, keeping in mind that to many at the times these events were recorded, the world was only what was known of it.

So tomorrow we will begin our study of deluge myths with the classic story many are told as children, Noah's Ark.

Something funny about the Nephelim in the Bible

2009-08-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

In Genesis chapter 6 verse 4 says this:

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. - The Bible NIV edition

Shortly there after God decides to kill every man and creature on Earth with the flood because man had become corrupt, saving only Noah, his family, and 2 of each animal.

Suddenly though, generations after the flood and just after Moses has lead the Israelites out of Egypt, we come across this verse when they are preparing to enter the land God promised them.

Numbers Chapter 13 verse 33

We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." - The Bible NIV Edition

So what happened here? By all means shouldn't the Nephilim have been wiped out by the flood? Did some of them escape the flood? Something must have happened that allowed them to live, or maybe there is more to it.

Now assuming that the Nephilim are the same thing as the Anunnaki of Sumerian myth then there is that chance they are Zecharia Sitchin's alien astronauts. Perhaps though were supernatural beings capable of withstanding the deluge, or even escaping it through some means as of yet unknown to us. Or maybe it's as simple as Nephilim being a term for people of larger then average stature, aka giants, who were assumed to have been related to the real Nephilim that existed before the flood.

Or still perhaps I just need to get myself a copy of the Book of Enoch, which from my understanding features both the Sons of God and the Nephilim, explaining the whole thing in better detail then what the Bible does.

Anyways, it was just an interesting tidbit I found.

Also, tomorrow expect to see my first post of a series about deluge myths.

Fun thoughts on the evolution of alien civilizations/technology

2009-07-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

While channel surfing last night I came across Star Trek the Next Generation, in particular the episode "First Contact" (no not the Star Trek movie with the same name) where Capt. Picard and his crew are getting ready to initialize first contact with a culture about to achieve warp travel.

For some reason this episode got me wondering how an alien civilization would evolve technologically. My main thought was whether or not they would potentially go through the same stages of technology we did, or whether they'd skip over some, or discover electricity and in a manner of decades make it into space. Or perhaps they might venture into completely different branches of technology.

For example, steam, which really had a lot more potential then we really explored in my opinion. Sure a lot of it was powered by coal when we were using it originally, but I'm other heat sources could be used. Who knows, as we speak there could be steampunk aliens marauding through the galaxy.

There is of course also a chance some might go down some more bizarre route, like biotechnology. Maybe it would even be technology, but the way they evolved physically. The best comparison would be the Xenomorphs from the Aliens movie series, or the Zerg from Starcraft, the later being the best example.

Anyways...I'm really just wading in the shallows here because there is more then likely an infinite variety of ways in which an alien civilization could evolve technologically, making it to hard to think about in this heat. Later.

A new look at an old book: The Bible, Annunaki, and gods, oh my!

2009-07-23T16:47:00.001-07:00

I'm currently attempting to read my way through the entirety of that ancient tome known as the Bible (currently in the book Numbers) just for the sake of it. I'm actually finding it quite entertaining, especially after having read The 12th Planet by Zecharia Sitchin, which is causing me to look at it (the Bible) from a slightly different angle. There are also some oddities in the Old Testament, particularly in Genesis and Exodus that lead me to believe God was/is a being with a physical form and no, I don't mean Jesus.

From the start you get the idea that God was literally here on Earth appearing in person to people (which John claims is impossible in the New Testament by the way). You can hear him walking through the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve saw him. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and a few others I haven't mentioned saw him. He also bizarrely appears in a "meeting tent" to Moses in a couple books of the Bible. Whilst God is in the tent, there is a cloud of smoke and fire around it as well.

Now, why if God is omnipotent/omnipresent, does he need to appear in a meeting tent? Also why the smoke and fire around the tent? It would seem to me that while he should be able to just appear/speak to whoever he wants to without need of a tent to hide his presence; simply making himself visible and heard only to the ones he wants his presence known to without having to put on a big show.

There also seems to be many references to the existence of multiple gods in the Old Testament (here's a really interesting post on someones blog, I found about this), ones where God (well technically the Lord as the Christian versions of the OT calls him. I really want to get a copy of the OT in english, but with the Hebrew words for God/gods remaining in their orignal state so I can better understand the possible contexts) recognizes the apparent esistence of these other gods. It's even mentioned that he passes judement on them.

For some reason I can't help, but wonder if these "other gods" are possibly related to the Annunaki/Nefilim of Sumerian myth, even possibly being the aliens Zecharia Sitchin proposes them to be. With them basically pretending to be gods, perhaps the real God (the Annunaki did believe in a creator from what I understand) decided to come into the picture and correct a mess the Annunaki started.

I think there is a bigger picture in all of this that is slowly coming together the more I read. Perhaps I ought to dig more into some of the other religions that were around at the same time Judaism was the big shot monotheistic one. In particular I want to get a hold of some books on Sumerian/Babylonian myth that are not skewed in Zecharia Sitchin's (although I do want some more books of his. I feel some of his research is more credible then many give him credit for) ideas, and also some on Zoroastrianism, which shared many of the same concepts with Judaism.

Oddly, I don't fully know why I'm so interested in this, but I have an urge, almost a need to keep digging into it. Things seem to get more strange the farther I dig to, so I think that puts it right up my alley. Who knows, perhaps I wind up so close to the truth that I go mad in all to Lovecraftian manner, which would be kind of cool. Although I'd feel sorry for my family, since I'm crazy enough as it is.

The Moon Part 3: Moon Madness and the Great Hoax

2009-07-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

Werewolves are a staple of medieval folklore and horror movies, but while there may not be any real ones running around (although there could be, but that's another post) during the full Moon, there are reasons to wonder if the full Moon does have an effect on mankind. After all, why wouldn't it? It already affects the tides of our oceans and inspires dogs, wolfs, and coyotes to howl, so why wouldn't it affect humans?

It has been reported by many people that things tend to go nuttier during full Moons. For instance, crime rates have been said to go up, hospital/ER visits increase (as one of my regular readers, Autumnforest of Ghost Hunting Theories, has noticed at her job), and sometimes physical and mental effects have been reported. Even cultures in the past seem to have recognized the possible effects of the full Moon on people. The terms lunacy and lunatic (both of which basically mean crazy) come from the name of the Roman Moon goddess, Luna.

Most people however, seem to pass it off as nothing, but hogwash, just like some seem to pass off the idea that we've been to the Moon as hogwash. That's right, there are those who believe that the Moon landing which happened on this day 40 years ago (7-20-69) is nothing, but a big hoax by the US government.

Why would anyone believe that? Well there are multiple reasons, but the main reason, for lack of a better term is that many feel the footage of the landings are to good to be true. They base this all on evidence that makes sense, but at the same time may only be circumstantial. One of the main pieces of evidence seems to be the flag that is planted on the first landing, which seems to wave in the wind when no wind is present on the Moon, but is however probably nothing more then an effect of the way it is mounted. Other pieces of evidence are also little details like the lighting and bizarre oddities noticed in some pictures like a famous shot that shows what appears to be the letter C on two rocks, which has led some to claim they are props on a stage.

There are also various levels of Moon landing hoax theories. Some say that we did touch down, but only once, maybe twice (possibly due to the aliens mentioned in the last Moon post) and then staged the rest. Others feel we only sent unmanned objects there and staged the manned flights. Overall the Moon landing hoax theories get very complicated and sometimes confusing.

My opinion on all this however is that we indeed went there, at least once. Why? Well there is a famous piece of footage where Buzz Aldrin, well I'll let the video speak for itself:

Now if Buzz didn't walk on the Moon, then why would he defend that he did with such force? To me that clearly shows he went to the Moon and perhaps maybe the guy on the other end of the punch now feels the same way.

Sources and Further Reading:
Moon Landing Hoax - Tinwiki
Apollo Moon Landing Hoax Conspiracy Theories - Wikipedia
Moon Landing Hoax Top 10 Reasons

Back from the trip

2009-07-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

Back from the camping trip, but it was almost at the expense of our dog. Oscar, our chihuahua decided to take off on the dog sitter into acres of blueberry bushes just before my family made it out of town. No one could find him for hours. He came back to the dog sitters later that night however and all is well.

Other then that, those of you who wished my family and I a fun trip (thanks by the way!) will be glad to know it was. Got some fun pictures, (one I'm gonna use to make a new logo for the blog), spent time with some relatives we don't see to often, and most fun of all was playing in the water with the kids!

Anyways, after a bit more rest today I think I'll be up and blogging again by tonight, so stay tuned!

Gonna be roughing it for a few days

2009-07-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Gonna be going camping as of tomorrow (7-17-09) with my mother in law's side of the family meaning I'll have no internet. Also I think my wife and I are the only one with a tent amongst a bunch of RVs on that side, so compared to them we'll be roughing it for sure.

Anyways, I'll be back Sunday the 19th and expect the rest of my Moon posts then.

The Moon Part 2: Aliens?

2009-07-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

One of the many things humanity wondered when we ventured into space is whether or not we'll run into aliens in our own backyard (meaning Earth's orbit). This was also of course one of the many things people were wondering about when we first landed on the Moon; that perhaps some other civilization was there waiting for us.

Well, that fateful day when we landed on our closest cosmic neighbor came and went with the famous line: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", but no aliens. Or at least so we thought. During that day there were a few transmissions that were possibly blocked from the people at home on Earth, except for those who had the wonder called amateur or ham radio (Which was truly wondrous and still is. Not only can you talk around the world for just the cost of a license, but you can also communicate with astronauts in space with it. I remember my Dad letting me say hi to one one time when I was a wee lad back in Colorado. Heck ham radio and CB were basically the cell phones of the past, only better then the crappy real cell phones from a decade or so ago) which were possibly able to listen in and catch what TV viewers could not hear.
According to some people who had access to that technology, this was piece of what was heard from one of the Apollo 11 astronauts:

"These "Babies" are huge, Sir! Enormous! OH MY GOD! You wouldn't believe it! I'm telling you there are other spacecraft out there, lined up on the far side of the crater edge! They're on the Moon watching us!"

Those lines, if true, are the only proof we'd ever need for the existence of another civilization in our solar system. Unfortunately it's not easy to prove, and despite numerous astronauts (Even some of those who have been on the Moon) coming forward and saying aliens exist most people don't believe it. Oh, and in case you were wondering why we only went six times to the Moon, according to an unverified report, it may have been because we were warned off by the aliens there.

Now one of my first thoughts when I think of the possibility of an alien base being on the Moon is "Surely some amateur astronomers would have seen it by now." however, as I mentioned in my last post, we can only see one side of the Moon from Earth. That leaves one whole side that we don't get to observe from our Earth based telescopes. Of course we have satellite pics of it now though, but according to some (like what is mentioned on this page I found) NASA may have purposely airbrushed evidence of Moon bases or other artifacts from Moon photos. Unfortunately though, unless NASA comes clean, I don't think we'll ever know what's real regarding these stories. So I suggest we cross our fingers and hope that one day the truth is finally revealed.

I only have one source since the other two sources I found were the same article found there. Kind of funky if you ask me:

Alien Presence on the Moon - UFO Casebook

The Moon Part 1

2009-07-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

Our closest celestial neighbor excepting a bunch of man made satellites, space junk, some small space faring rocks (meteors/asteroids ya swabs) , and the International Space Station, is of course the Moon. It's big, white (well whitish) , riddled in potholes, I mean craters, and awe inspiring, or at least it's held our attention ever since humans looked up at the sky and said "Oooooo!" On the technical side, it's about 384,403km (about 238,857 miles) away from the Earth and orbits us once every 27.3 days, and is 3,474km (about 2159 miles) in diameter.

Due to it's orbit and spin pattern, the moon keeps one side to us (the side we don't see is often called the dark or far side) at all times. The result is that many people wondered what was on the other side, sparking claims of everything from aliens to secret military bases. Eventually someone managed to get a photo of the "darkside" of the Moon (I believe it was the Russians) and revealed, well nothing. That's right, nothing. There is absolutely nothing on the other side of the Moon. In fact, just take a look for yourself (just below this paragraph) and you'll see how much more boring the other side is compared to the side we see all the time.

You see nothing! It's craters aren't nearly as big and there are no secret moon bases, or at least not when the photo was taken. Of course you could also say that NASA airbrushed signs of bases or alien presences from it, but that's another post involving more then just the moon. However, since you all come here not to hear me ramble about how boring the darkside of the Moon is, I'll let you in on a bit of a secret, well sort of. The Moon might be hollow!

Besides Earth we have seismic detection instruments (things to detect earthquakes and other events large enough to rumble the Earth) in place on one other object in our solar system. If you haven't guessed it's the Moon by now, I suggest you go back to the top of the post and read everything again, since clearly you're not paying attention. Anyways, after the Apollo XII astronauts planted the seismometers and left, the stage that lifted them off the Moon fell back to the lunar surface setting off the seismometers for over an hour. This result was something no one had expected.

Another piece of evidence used in promoting the Hollow Moon theory is the Moon's own density, which on average is over 60% less dense then the Earth. That basically means that despite how big it looks, it's actually incredibly light for it's size, and in all honesty I always picture it as being one gigantic piece of basalt, which makes me wonder if it'd float in water, but it also is a potential sign that it's hollow(you know, not hollow=heavy, hollow=light, that sort of reasoning).

Anywho, that's it really, well asides from some people thinking that since it's possibly hollow, it might be artificial. That however brings up the question of who put it there and for what purpose, and whether or not it violates the copyright of one George Lucas, but that's another post and until then, I'm going to just go about assuming it's just a big basalt like space rock that can float in water, and not the Death Star.

Sources and Further Reading:
Hollow Moon - Wikipedia
Moon - Wikipedia
Hollow Moon - Tinwiki

The Moon: Intro

2009-07-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

At the work the other day one of my coworkers got on the subject of the Moon Landing's 40th anniversary coming up on the 20th. I said "Oh that's cool." and then next thing I know she shouts back "We never went to the moon! It's a bunch of crap." and her and one of my coworkers went on about some of the evidence that people use to try and prove it never happened.

So it got me thinking and I decided that in honor of the 40th anniversary of this great, or possibly not so great event in human history, I'll do a series of posts on the Moon. They'll revolve around various theories that are out there about it such as aliens watching the astronauts there, the Moon being hollow, and even the possibility that the whole landing was faked just to prove ourselves to the Soviets.

Anyways, tomorrow I shall post the true introduction to what the Moon is and maybe get into some of it's oddball features. In the meantime I leave you with this classic image of from an old silent film.

Belated 4th of July post: Reagan speech 9-21-87

2009-07-06T20:53:00.001-07:00

Well two days ago us citizens of the United States of America celebrated the 233rd anniversary of our independence. July 4th is also a day that brings to mind of a movie that shares the US's name for that holiday, one in which aliens invade Earth, but are later beaten on the 4th of July. I of course am talking about Independence Day (aka ID4).

Probably one of the most memorable scenes in that movie is the one where the president of the US, played by Bill Pullman, gives a speech that tries to be on par with the one Roosevelt gave after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. However, since ID4 has to do with aliens, it brings to mind a very different speech given by President Ronald Reagan on September 21, 1987.

If you were unable to watch the embedded video, Reagan basically says that the world almost needs an alien threat from outside of our world to make humanity realize that we need to work together and forget about our differences. The scary things is that he is almost right, but the bigger question is though; would it really unite us?

In all honesty I have to say I don't know. It's hard to tell how humanity would react with all of our differences of opinion and everything. Also I'm sure it would depend on how much of our communications are intact world wide in the event of an alien invasion, as well as how the invasion goes down. After all, an alien menace could very well choose to ally itself with willing nations of their choosing, potentially turning humanity against one another.

Perhaps another question raised by all this is whether or not Reagan knew of such a threat. Many people claim that the presidents or at least some of them have been privy to secret UFO/Alien knowledge. Some even think that President Eisenhower met with aliens in 1954. Of course the other possibility is that a couple of UFO sightings of Reagan's turned him into a bit of a UFO romantic, dreaming of some form of alien contact whether peaceful or violent.

Perhaps we'll never fully know, but either way, to all my US readers out there, I hope you all had fun this past 4th of July, and for all you others, I hope you had a bit of enjoyment from reading this post.

And that is why mom said "Never trust dolphins."

2009-06-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

Bottlenose dolphin picture taken by someone from NASA

Mom actually never said don't trust dolphins and I doubt most moms would say it period, excepting the possibility that they were a dolphin-phobic. However there is a slight chance that the infamous Grey aliens might be related to said dolphins, therefore making them natives of earth. Of course they might also have evolved in similar conditions to those dolphins therefore making them more likely extra-terrestrial. Either way, Greys seem to have a thing for basically kidnapping people, which in my books makes the Greys someone you can't fully trust.

The theory that the Greys came from dolphins I first learned about in either a UFO book or TV program when I was growing up. Since then it's hung out in the dark corners of my brain periodically popping up and saying "Hi I'm here." So I figured it's time to finally do something with that piece of info and see what I can come up with.

To start with, there are two major similarities between dolphins and the Greys. First, they're both obviously grey and second, they both have suspiciously creepy black eyes. Beyond any doubt these can be considered rather big similarities, at least in my mind...which isn't much to go by, but it's a start, and at least I'm trying. Anywho, back to the dolphin/alien thing.

So after having poked a stick at my brain to many times to count I finally let this dolphin/Grey connection out and did an internet search on it. The result it seems is that it's a somewhat popular theory. Well at least that the Greys evolved in similar conditions to dolphins, with some thinking they are related.

The biggest bit of this theory is the eyes (no pun intended). You see (the unintentional puns keep coming), when creatures evolve in low light levels, their eyes adapt in ways to get as much light as possible. For instance, dolphins live in the sea/water (Which by all accounts makes sense. After all, it'd be a bit odd walking down the road and suddenly seeing a dolphin swimming by. Why with all that defying the laws of gravity and stuff we'd have all kinds of chaos.) where light conditions, as most would agree, are rather low. Therefore dolphins eyes evolved all fancy like so they can see better in darker light, but also so they can see better in brighter light as well. The result is a black lens that slides down over their pupils.

This is very similar to the proposed reasoning for the large black eyes of the Greys. It is thought that perhaps they originally evolved (On land of course though. People would be getting abducted by dolphin like creatures instead if they had come from water, or at least they'd have clearly webbed hands and feet or gills or something.)on a planet with low light levels and were in need of adaptations of the eyes similar to those of dolphins.

As for the grey skin, well dolphins actually come in a variety of colors, even pink as far as Amazon river dolphins are concerned, however grey is a dominant one in many species of dolphins. The greys on the other hand...who knows, perhaps that is just the result of coming from a warm planet and not needing insulation.

I guess in a way, you could consider intelligence a third similarity, but I hardly think the IQs of the two can be compared. Although it can be said dolphins are as or almost as intelligent as apes, or perhaps even us (With the added advantage of not being able to destroy vast portions of the landscape for their own purposes, although dolphins have been rumored to rape each other, which is just as bad.). However that hardly compares with the ability to build flying saucers and stealthily take people aboard and then suppress the memories of said people when they are returned.

I think the only comparison I can make now is that some UFOs (unidentified flying objects) have been seen in water, coming out of water, and going into water, thereby giving them the title of USOs (unidentified submerged objects.). That doesn't necessarily point to a watery origin for the occupants however, seeing as we humans are fairly amphibious ourselves with our fancy nuclear subs and what not.

So in my honest opinion, I think the Grey aliens evolved off world on another planet in conditions that caused them to have some similarities to dolphins and are not of cetacean origin.

And for now I'll make my exit with a quote from Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series: "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

Sources and Further Reading:
Grey Aliens, Dolphins, and an Interesting Comparison
Alien/Dolphin Share Heritage?
Greys and dolphins
Some Dolphin Basics
Ultimate Guide: Dolphins

What would or could we do?

2009-06-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

Conspiracy theories, you either believe in some, don't believe in any, or you label the people nuts who come up with or believe them. They can involve everything from the 9-11 attacks, Nazis, the moon landing, and even aliens in some sort of grand X-files like plot. Then there is also that chance that some of them are real, leaving one big question; what do we do if one turns out to be true?

What got me pondering this you may ask? Well I came upon an interesting article today while browsing through The Daily Grail. It would seem that someone has filed charges against the WHO and UN in response to the swine flu outbreak (Which in and of itself is a bit odd...more below), accusing them of bioterrorism.

Personally I've wondered about the swine flu outbreak myself. First it just spontaneously makes the news in April after purportedly killing many people in Mexico, with various numbers of deaths (mainly do to weak immune systems and secondary infection) reported. Within days it's suddenly all over the world in small pockets (with symptoms being more mild and only a few deaths compared to the possible hundreds mentioned in Mexico), but then reports seem to dwindle down and vanish for a few weeks or so. The media says that it's probably in decline, but will probably resurface in the fall and winter during normal flu season. Then, all of a sudden, the WHO raises the pandemic level to 6, making it an official flu Pandemic, despite the decline, mild symptoms, and a death rate not much higher then the average flu.

Bit odd if you ask me, a bit odd indeed, even more so when you consider that this strain of swine flu known as H1N1 was originally said to be a mix between human, swine, and avian flus which by means has an extremely small chance of happening in nature. And that is where this lawsuit comes in. It proposes that this strain was genetically engineered in a effort by various pharmaceutical companies, the WHO, and the UN. An idea that some including myself pondered back when the swine flu first made the news. Even our Pleiadian friend, Maggador, has similar thoughts on this, although he proposes that the flu itself is a hoax in an effort to sell vaccinations, which may be partly true, but flu being real and just manufactured and put out there for the same reason he suggests.

Either way, in the end it's the vaccinations the lawsuit is concerned over, suggesting that they will do nothing, but spread the flu further, possibly even making the vaccinated more vulnerable to the flu's effects. There is apparently even talks of mandatory vaccinations, which would do nothing more then benefit pharmaceutical companies.

Anyways, this all is purportedly part of a plot that would allow the UN to take over the US, possibly even with the help of our own president. And that's where I come back to my question. What do we do if there is truth in this matter? Would many just brush it off as more nutcases making up conspiracies until it's to late? Or would we see through it, rebelling against the possible grand scheme? And an even more looming question...would those who would seek to prevent the scheme be labeled as quacks, or locked up under manipulated laws? Only the future can tell in my opinion and that is as scary as the possibility that any of this could be true.

Faith healing on trial

2009-06-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

A family here Oregon is on trial today for the death of their 15 month old daughter in March of 2008, a death which is the direct result of their religious beliefs involving faith healing. Their daughter who had been sick with pneumonia and a blood infection could have lived if the family had gotten proper medical attention for her, but instead they turned to their belief that God and Jesus would be able to heal her, and now the question being raised is whether or not they guilty of their daughter's death?

By all means it is a controversial subject. Freedom of religion has been one of the many things that makes the USA what it is, but where do you draw the line? Is it right for people to ignore what most others would consider logical and turn to their religious beliefs in hopes of helping their family member through faith, prayer, or similar practices? After all, to the families who hold such ideas, their religious beliefs seem just as logical as ideas held by people that don't follow their beliefs.

Personally, I feel that despite the fact their beliefs caused the death of their daughter, they are guilty of nothing, but making a poor choice and that they have suffered enough from the death. Bringing it to trial on charges of manslaughter only extends their suffering and brings out the intolerance (as evidenced by the comments at the end of this Oregonian article) of many people on both sides of the controversy it creates.

Maybe as a method of prevention of future incidents, perhaps some laws/restrictions should be put in place that allow religious freedom, but still protect the lives of those who aren't old enough (as in this case) to decide what they believe. For instance, if a child is under a certain age (like 15 years old or so) and suffering a life threatening ailment, the family must get medical attention for the child unless the child is above the age restriction, in which case the child must make their own decision on whether to seek medical attention or follow their religious beliefs.

As for my own beliefs in faith healing, I must say I'm a firm believer in mind over matter, which I think is crucial to faith healing, no matter what religion the healing belief stems from in my opinion. Simply put if you have a strong enough belief that your faith, God, Cthulhu, or Flying Spaghetti Monster will heal you, then it just might happen. However I would advise mixing such beliefs in healing with the proper medical attention and only appealing solely to whatever deity you believe in when it seems medical care is not going to work.

And on a final note, I must ask those that would only seek faith healing as opposed to modern medical care; would a God really allow us to develop our modern medical technology and medicine if he/she did not want us to use it?

Source/further reading:
The Oregonian - Trial in death of infant raises questions of parental rights, religious freedom

A side effect of reading "The 12th Planet": Exploring my faith

2009-06-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

One of the odd effects that reading "The 12th Planet" has had on me, is that I've been exploring my faith a bit. I've started reading the Bible, partly because I've never read it all the way through, and partly because I want to see how things match up as compared to the potential history depicted in Zecharia Sitchin's book.

The primary thing I guess I'm looking for is the similarities in the stories in the beginning of the Bible, and those of Sumerian and Babylonian myth. Something that I've read is there, but I must see for myself in order to come to any conclusions. I guess I should also be picking up a book on Sumerian myth as well if I want to get anywhere with it.

Also, I can't help, but wonder if perhaps there is some beginning mythology or faith that originally got the whole religion thing rolling. It's truly bizarre that it appears that so much connected within ancient myths and the religions of the world. So I really think that perhaps there is an original religion that started before Sumerian civilization (Note: Despite what Zecharia says, Sumeria was not the first civilization. There had to have been more before them that built simple huts and what not, which would leave little if any evidence.) that eventually mutated into many of the faiths and belief systems we have today.

Another side effect, is that bizarrely, I've pretty much decided to follow Christianity again, or for the most part at least. My only problem is figuring out how my beliefs on evolution, UFOs, and esoterica, fit into to it all. Something that I think with exploration, reading, and some digging, with a touch of prayer or meditation, I might find the answers for, which I feel are not what many Christian's believe them to be. Heck maybe I'll get into it enough to try and write some books on how said subjects tie into it all...

And in an unrelated subject, I had a reader, blogger, and Oregonian suggest forming a group to investigate some local mysteries, something which I'm totally all for. Actually I've been thinking about trying to get in on a ghost hunt or perhaps a Bigfoot search (I hate putting the word hunt with Bigfoot, sounds like you want to kill him. Something which with ghosts, you can't do, seeing as they're already dead.) with any local groups I can find, so I could get a feel for a real investigation, besides what I see on TV. Not to mention, it'd be a fun and interesting bit to blog about.

And now for something completely different, here is a couple of emperor penguins watching a sperm whale battle with a colossal squid. Oh the tension...

A word about crop circles...

2009-06-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

Crop circles for some reason have never really managed to hold my interest. Probably because to me all mystery in them has pretty much faded away especially once things began to get more...well more man made looking.

Honestly I think the first initial waves of the circle phenomenon were genuine...at least some of them. Then people started getting in on the act and making their own and it's since in my opinion grown into an art form for a lot of people. Sure there probably are some real ones mixed up amongst today's elaborate designs, but for the most part I think they are mainly man made, especially the more complicated ones.

That brings me to this: Phoenix crop circle may predict the end of the world

Now besides being awesome looking, this crop circle, in my opinion, is completely man made. Also I think that assuming that because it's a design of a phoenix means the artist, or maker was trying to say something about the end of the world is a bit much in my opinion. Sure the phoenix represents rebirth and everything, and that may have been a theme the creator wanted to put across, but end of the world, it's sort of like saying because I find a stain on my rug that looks like the Virgin Mary the return of Christ is near. Just a bit overboard if you ask me.

Tillamook Rock Light

2009-06-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Lighthouses, majestic towers from a bygone era when their lights and horns were needed to guide ships safely along treacherously rocky coasts and river mouths. Today they are looked upon as symbols of both guidance and hope. Some lighthouses however were just as dangerous as the shores they guided ships by. One such lighthouse is the Tillamook Rock Light or as others call it "Terrible Tilly".

Built in 1881 upon on an expanse of rock that's just under an acre, 1.2 miles offshore, and 100 feet above the waves, Terrible Tilly is consistently assaulted by waves. Back when it was in use it was only accessible by a form of lift called a breeches buoy, which would be tethered to a derrick on the rock, and used to pick up or drop off the keepers from/to a boat waiting below. Some not so lucky keepers and sailors lost their life while using the buoy, due to the unpredictable waters at the rock.

Like all old structures, Tillamook Rock Lighthouse comes with many a strange tale. One involves a keeper who despite the three month work shifts, apparently went insane and tried kill his replacement so he could stay. His attempt at remaining at the rock was ended however by a push down the stairs as he gave chase to the new keeper.

Over the years tales of ghost ships drifting past the rock abounded, as well as stories of voices and other ghostly activity being experienced within the lighthouse itself when it was crewed. The Native Americans of the area told tales of the rock being home to spirits, well before the Terrible Tilly was even built. Even today, after having been retired for nearly 52 years, some people still claim see a strange light coming from the tower in the dead of night.

Sources and Further Reading:
Tillamook Rock Light - Wikipedia
Tillamook Rock Lighthouse - Discover Oregon Lighthouses
Haunted Lighthouses - scroll down to you find Tillamook Rock Lighthouse
Oregon's Haunting Lighthouses - Beach Connection
Tillamook Rock Ghost - Scenic Oregon Coast
Life on The Rock - Lighthouse News - good read about life at the lighthouse.

Final thoughts on "The 12th Planet"

2009-06-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well after reading the book for nearly...3 months(?) I've finally finished it and overall it was a great read. It gave some interesting info on ancient myth and religion and also made one wonder whether or not Zecharia Sitchin may be right, and in the end I think he was a little bit. I say a little bit because for the most part, Zecharia assumes that the Anunnaki, if they were aliens, weren't much more advanced then we are now at days.

What's interesting is that Zecharia believes the Anunnaki came here to Earth in search of resources, in particular precious metals like gold. I couldn't help, but think however, that if an alien race came to Earth in search of resources, why didn't they choose someplace besides the Middle East to settle? It seems to me that there are probably more climatically friendly areas where they could have found the resources they were looking for.

Also I couldn't help thinking that if they had technology just above what we currently had, why didn't they leave traces of that tech behind? Why aren't we finding pieces of ancient rockets, computers, and other familiar devices in the deserts of the Mid East? According to what Zecharia writes, they had bases wiped out during the so called "global" deluge (thats the same one in the story of Noah's Ark), so logically there should be some sort of traces of this technology.

My final thoughts really are that perhaps the Anunnaki where more akin to actual spiritual beings, maybe of another dimension. With all he parallels between ancient myth and the stories in the Bible, I think that makes the most sense. Basically going back to my idea that perhaps these "Gods" did exist on Earth, but our interpretations of them changed (or were perhaps corrected?) overtime becoming what many now believe to be God, Satan, angels, and demons.

Really though all this conjecture of mine is probably moot, seeing as this is going off of stuff relating to myth, religions, and cultures that are well beyond 2000 years old. Stuff that for the most part we'll never know fully about unless we travel back in time or the Anunnaki or whatever they are (assuming they're real) return and explain it all to us.

Note: If any of this stuff intrigues you, I suggest checking the book out. Well worth your time if you like this type of stuff.

Prophecies or smophecies?

2009-06-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

If you don't get the title, I'm basically questioning whether there is such a true thing as "prophecies". Figured it'd be fun to poke at that question since there are all those 2012 "prophecies" out and about as we get closer to 12-21-12.

So yeah, prophecies have been around for ages, if not since the first people learned how to communicate vocally. The question however is, have any of these really come true? I think I've asked this before, but I'm just curious. You see, many prophecies are extremely vague, or so symbolic that they can be interpreted in many different ways.

One of the many things that came about in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks, was that perhaps Nostradamus (a name that needs no introduction) predicted the attacks. Fortunately however these were not, but rumors and urban legends spawned by those wishing convince people that the end is near. This happens all to commonly after dramatic events, people saying the end is near after saying the "great tidal wave that sank Kansas" was prophesied by this person or in this book, based on some vague set of sentences or redone versions of them.

Speaking of near ends, the end of the world has been predicted/prophesied many thousands of times (just check this list to get an idea). You know what though? We're all still here. Heck we even survived the dreaded Y2k (although I read one time that there is a family here in Oregon still waiting for it). Then as I said earlier, we have 2012 creeping nearer...which people in Oregon will still be waiting for in 2013...or will they?

Oddly there will be some odd stuff occurring that year besides the Mayan calendar completing it's cycle. Most notably, a few oddball cosmological events that I mention in an older post, and well...the winter solstice which falls on 12-21-12, which happens to be the same day the Mayan calendar, for the most part, resets...

Personally I'm not to concerned about it. I mean with the cosmological stuff it's all a bit freaky, but like most of these so called prophecies, I don't think it will happen. Although I wouldn't be surprised if perhaps some big natural or unnatural disasters happen that year. Overall though I'm still more concerned about the end as predicted in Revelations (which things seem to be resembling at the moment, but that seems to happen every other decade or so), or even the Norse Ragnarok, which in my opinion has some parallels with Revelations, mainly with the world serpent, Jörmungandr, and the Bible's Leviathan, who I think stand a chance of being one in the same...I think I'll have to compare both doomsday predictions and see what I can come up with...

Anyways...now that I'm off track, I want jump back on track and ask this before I go: Is a prophecy really a prophecy if a person or people make it happen deliberately? After all they had just as much chance to not make it happen...

Oh...and just so my votes in...on 12-21-12 I want either the new level of conciseness or Cthulhu's return...either one will do...just as long as I'm wiser...or mad in the head...

I believe our alien buddy is right...

2009-06-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I've always believed is that evolution was designed by an intelligence. Actually for the most part I've believed that Christianity (although I'm unsure on whether to follow it now or not, but I do no matter what believe in God and wouldn't classify myself as agnostic or atheist) and evolution are completely compatible, despite the fact many fundamentalist Christians would have you think other wise. Anyways, our Pleiadian buddy, Maggador IX-777, feels virtually the same way; that evolution is the result of an intelligent designer.

He also agrees with the same idea that I put forward in my last post, that being that the fact that anything exists at all is proof of a creator. And as I said in that post, the one question that remains, at least to me, is where did that creator come from. One could follow the assumption that many Christians and others of the Abrahamic religions believe, which is that God has just always been there. That makes just as much sense as assuming that our material world came from nowhere, however, and I think/feel that God came from somewhere as well. Perhaps another creator, or something else beyond our current comprhension. Either way, it's probably all linked to quantum physics and what not, which means we may or may not ever find out how it all works.

Anywho, I'm off before I discobulate myself and repeat everthing I said in the last post if I haven't already...

Some thoughts on God and the Annunaki

2009-06-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

Recent image captured by NASA
that resembles a giant hand in space.

I've been pondering what I've learned from reading "The 12th Planet", related items from the web, and my general knowledge of Christianity and related religions a lot recently. Mainly on how it all seems to interconnect, almost confusingly, but does.

It would seem to me that somewhere along the line there was a beginning mythology that led to what the Sumerians believed. This later evolved into the various mythologies of the Mid East, only to be reinterpreted into what would become Judaism, by Abraham, who restructured the multiple Gods into the one God and his angels.

The question however remains as to whether the Gods of old were real beings who created us. If the Annunaki, who if according to Zecharia Sitchin's interpretation of Sumerian myth, came from another planet in our solar system is accurate, then things as pertaining to God, are truly odd. Mainly in the fact that we were created as slaves by beings that for the most part are mere mortals like ourselves, just with longer life spans. Secondly in the fact that, from what I've gathered from various things I've read on the web, it would seem that the Annunaki believed in a creator as well, which means there is indeed some sort of God, or at least both the Annunaki and many of us humans believe there to be.

Well before I get anyone lost, what I'm trying to say is that I think the relationships between ancient myth, modern Abrahamic religions, and the concept of Gods and God in general, may be far more complicated then we can imagine. Plus, if you really want to go hardcore into the whole thing, it's my belief that nothing should exist period.

I feel that the mere fact anything, be it the stars, space, Earth, and life in general exists, is definitive proof that there is some sort of creator. Really there should only be a big black void of well...nothing...and it's down right confusing to me to assume that all that we see around us and in the heavens just appeared one day out of nothingness.

As for the creator, I feel he/she/it would had to have come from somewhere as well, but where and how will probably be way beyond our current understanding of time, space, quantum physics, and what have you...simply put, the whole situation is mind boggling.

What happened in Caronia, Italy in 2004?

2009-05-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

Oregon is now well on it's way into summer with the daily temperatures now reaching into the mid 80s. Now, ordinarily that doesn't bug me one bit, but here in my section of Oregon it gets humid and uncomfortable during the summer months, only getting worse as they drag on. Bizarrely this time of year in Oregon, everyone loves. They spend all winter complaining about the rain, or in the case of this last one, the snow, but love it when they are able to go outdoors without coats or umbrellas during the summer. However, this is accompanied by "Oh it's such a nice day, but to hot." which in my opinion completely defeats the concept of "Nice day." All that pales in comparison though to what happened in the early months of 2004 in Caronia, Italy, where for no apparent everyday items would catch fire.

At first they were electrical items and many began to search for reasons, such as power surges. However the phenomenon, as reported by some witnesses, even affected items that were not plugged into walls, including unplugged items, battery operated items, and possibly even standard non-electrical furniture.

Throwing another twist into it all cars and cell phones began having issues as well. In particular, car alarms would go off for no reason, or as reported in one case, the engine turned on when all the doors were locked and no one was in it. And all incidents ranging from the fires to the unusual car and phone behavior only seemed to occur when people were present to witness it.

So what was happening there in Caronia? No one really knows. Many blamed it on supernatural causes, such as demons or aliens. Others thought some bizarre natural phenomenon such as electric charges released from the Earth. And some thought someone was playing a game with Tesla style inventions. Till this day however no satisfactory answer has been found.

Sources and Further Reading:
Investigating Mysterious Fires in Italy - Unknown Country
Spontaneous Fires Break Out in Italy UPDATE: It Happened Before - Unknown Country
Caronia - Wikipedia
The mysterious fires of Canneto Di Caronia - Everything2

Looking for strangeness in Idaho: Possible change of location?

2009-05-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

My wife and kids just returned from vacation up in Lewiston, Idaho where they were visiting her step grandparents with my in-laws.

While she was up there, we were talking on the phone and she had suggested that we move there, which I have no problem with (been wanting to get out of our current location as it is). So as I'm looking into the idea of moving up that way, I figured I should probably look into various Fortean phenomenon and what not for Idaho.

Idaho it seems has no shortage of ghosts and in fact if you search for "Idaho Paranormal" on Google, you find like 6 paranormal investigation groups for the state. There was even an episode of Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures that featured The State Penitentiary of Boise Idaho, in which the shows host flips out at all the snakes (Which I thought was bloody hilarious. He's perfectly willing to taunt possibly dangerous spirits, but afraid of snakes. How Indiana Jonesish of him.) as he's climbing up this hill that overlooks the prison.

As for UFOs in Idaho I found this case from 1967, in which a woman saw what can be described as a classic flying saucer. She even saw two figures through the domed top of the craft, but not very clearly.

And finally, while not necessarily paranormal or UFO related, I found that Lewiston, Idaho was the first capital of the Idaho territory, but it was voted that the capital be moved to Boise in 1964. This is where it gets interesting though, it seems that due to citizens of Lewiston being angry, the government choose to move the territorial seal from Lewiston secretly, either under the cover darkness, or as rumor has it, by river pirates (Now you know why I find it interesting and not to mention it's not to far fetched considering that Lewiston is home to the farthest inland seaport in the western US).

Sources and Further Reading:
The Old State Penitentiary of Boise Idaho
Idaho Falls, Idaho, December 8, 1967, UFO with Occupants - UFO Casebook
Lewiston, Idaho - Wikipedia

Thoughts on "The 12th Planet" part 7

2009-05-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know I keep bouncing around on reading the book. However, I'm down to less then 100 pages left.

Anyways, the book I must say has really, really, intrigued me. There is a lot of interesting reading in it, as well as stuff that's not so interesting. There are also parts that really require you to stretch imagination. Funnily, it's not the about the Anunnaki being aliens, but about them using familiar technology.

For instance, Zecharia talks about them using multistage rockets, much like those we use now at days. Another time he interprets something about a large bird guarding a city/base as being a helicopter.

To me, if the Anunnaki were indeed aliens, I doubt that they'd use tech just like the stuff we use now at days. Maybe it resembles it superficially, at least as far as the rockets go, but the helicopter bit stretches things a bit far in my opinion.

First, a helicopter, at least to me, looks more bug like. And then who is to say that they didn't actually have some sort of big predatory (and perhaps alien) bird, or some airplane looking aircraft which would more bird like. Something like the Death Gliders in Stargate for instance.

Well perhaps I'm being a bit harsh, since I suppose it could be possible that aliens from another planet could have similar tech to ours. You could call it convergent technology, much like convergent evolution where totally different creatures have the same adapations or features.

Anyways, that's enough for this installment of my thoughts on The 12th Planet." I'm probably not gonna post another one until I'm finished with the book, in which case I'll share more overall thoughts on it as a whole.

To catch up on my thoughts on this book, click here and it'll bring up all my thoughts on it so far.

Freaky, Lovecraftian looking, super organism

2009-05-19T21:25:00.001-07:00

Found this at The Pink Tentacle (go there to learn more on this critter)...creepy ain't it?

What will happen if SETI has found something?

2009-05-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

SETI, or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence program may have found something, and the news is beginning to spread it's way across the infoweb.

It seems that a possible laser pulse signal has been found by an astrophysicist in Australia. Like the famous wow signal however, it's only been detected once, but that was enough to the scientist double checking everything and searching for a repeat of the signal. They need to double check and make sure it's not like a glitch, space noise, or some unknown space phenomenon, so don't get your hopes up that SETI has actually found ET (that is assuming of course that ET hasn't already found us.).

Let's assume for a second however, that this is indeed the signal that all the world has been waiting for. What does it mean for mankind?

One of the most popular ideas is that it will crush most modern religions, particularly the Abrahamic ones. Unfortunately it probably would due to the fact most proprietors of those faiths don't realize that there is nothing making ET incompatible with their religions. Overall the idea of a God and aliens is completetly compatible, it's just humanity's interpretation of religion that makes in uncompatible.

On the technological side of things, will we be able to interpret a signal from an alien species? Yet alone one that has a completely alien form of communication or language? After all, we'd have nothing to compare it to, that is assuming that the species communicates in a vocal way like we do. For all we know, they could squeak, click, or even fart to communicate.

The one obvious thing is that we will not be able to communicate back and forth with them, even if they are capable of doing so (as they point out in the article as well). Signals take hundreds, thousands, and even millions of years to travel between galaxies and stars. That also means that even if we could communicate back with them, they might not even be there when our return signal reaches their planet.

Or picture this; what if their signal was the one and only that they could send in a vain hope of getting help from another species as some disaster that was about to destroy their planet, or wipe out life on it? Wouldn't that be an ironic twist?

Finally, for those of us who believe in UFOs, would this get us any more credability? Doubtful in my opinion, unless of course this whole signal thing is a setup to release advanced UFO tech.

Imagine that the government has had ongoing communications with ET for years through years. If Roswell or any other UFO crash was indeed alien or if Eisenhower did meet with aliens during his term, we could be have been releasing alien tech for decades as some have theorized. And if the world's governments wanted to just jump the gun and go as high tech as possible while skipping generations of technology, why not claim to have found an alien signal? After all, if they've been covering up as many have assumed, they could claim they interpreted this signal SETI picked up and say it was instructions for advanced technology from "peaceful space brothers".

Anyways, those are my thoughts on this...what are yours?

Skeptical or Skeptic?

2009-05-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

What does one accept as real when the line between what is real and what is not real is so thin?

For me, being what I like to call a couch researcher (someone who researches from the comfort of their own home, through books, internet, TV, and other media) it's kind of confusing sometimes.

For one thing, the internet is full, and I mean almost bursting at the seems with UFO videos. Many of these, if not most, are fakes. Creations, by those who are either bored, studying computer animation, or even trying to stir up controversy.

In my case, I've chosen to sort of take a skeptical approach to any new UFO video or picture that creates a buzz in the community. I trust almost no form of media when it comes to UFOs. Most of the time UFO photos and videos amount to nothing more then blurry objects or unusual lights in the sky, which may be anything from a speck on a camera lens to a UFO (unidentified flying object in the truest since, not necessarily ET's hot rod, but might be).

In all honesty I feel funny saying that. I've seen things myself after all, that I know weren't normal, or man made. Things that I'm confident were not of this world.

So is approaching things in the world of esoterica skeptically bad? Not all, since if one were to jump at every UFO video, or every picture, and say that they're all real, they'd be just as bad as the people who actually label themselves as "skeptics", and say everything is either swamp gas, weather balloons, or hoaxers. Not to mention they'd look just as silly.

Anyways, I think what I'm trying to say is that, no matter how hard we try to prove that a piece of evidence, like a video or picture of a UFO is extra-terrestrial or whatever, we will never know for sure. For certain there probably are those that are indeed something unknown to us, but at the same time, there are those that are just everyday things mistaken for ET's hot rod. So approaching things skeptically is not bad, just logical. As for labeling oneself a skeptic and saying it's all fake? That's not logical, just silly...if that makes sense...

I need this!

2009-05-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

Combining UFOs, giant squid, and pirates!

Atmospheric Beasts

2009-05-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

I was checking out a post today at the blog Whales in Space (the name reminds me of the scene from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where a missile is turned into a sperm whale in the atmosphere of a planet, only to gain consciousness before it plummets to it's doom.) about a UFO that looked like a jellyfish that was seen in the UK, when suddenly I felt a massive shock inside my brain. Out of nowhere, a memory appeared, and I found myself thinking about giant jellyfish and other critters flying through the air, atmospheric beasts, or what I'll call atmo beasts for short.

Now the idea of atmo beasts has really been around quite awhile. Basically, their supposed to be large, somewhat normal looking animals, that just happen to be lighter then air. That of course means they can float, which they're able to achieve without any rum, and actually makes them seem quite odd, because well jellyfish are only supposed to be able to float in water. Bizarrely though, people in the past have reported such things.

An even freakier form of atmospheric beast appeared in Crawfordsville, Indiana in September of 1891. The creature was seen on two different days, and was seen by hundreds on the second one. Described as being 20 feet long and 8 feet wide, and propelling itself with sets of flippers, the image of an oriental style dragon, is almost conjured up.

So do such creatures exist in the upper atsmospehere of our planet? Who knows. You'd think with all the planes flying around, these things would be seen regulary. Of course seeing as you can't see into clouds, yet alone while in one (what do you think fog is?) perhaps they live in there. Or perhaps they're to blame for many UFOs that are seen as Ivan T. Sanderson, a famous researcher of the bizzare, theorized.

Sources and Further Reading:
The Cryptid Zoo: Atmospheric Beasts
Subversive Element: The Crawfordsville Monster
The Crawfordsville Monster - Wikipedia

Thought on Bigfoot

2009-05-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

The other day I came across an interesting news article about a guy living in the woods in Wales. Apparently he's been living there on berries and small animals and occasionally stepping out of the woods to steal milk (they still deliver milk to the doorstep there) and clothes off clothing lines.

Anyways, the cops in the area as well as residents of the town near the woods believe he's a threat to the populace and have been looking for him, to no avail. Even with thermal imaging, dogs, and helicopters, they have not been able to find him.

Now if a modern man can live in the woods near a town and avoid being detected, then what does that say about a creature such as Bigfoot? I think such a creature would be even better at avoiding detection in the woods, having not only grown up in the environment, but also having the inherent instincts from generations Sasquatches living that way.

As far as the guy in the woods though. I say let him be. He hasn't harmed anyone and has only committed petty crimes. No harm no foul in my opinion. If he's guilty of anything, it's not fitting in into what modern society demands us to fit into, which in my opinion, is not a crime.

On an unrelated note, I'm probably not going to be making it to the McMinville UFO Festival this year as I had hoped. There is still a slight chance that I will, but it depends on time and some other things.

BRAINS! Zombie parasite #2

2009-05-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

Honestly, the BRAINS! part is only in the title because of the mass assumption that zombies crave them (thanks largely goes to Return of the Living Dead for that I believe), forever linking the word brains to zombies. Although bizarrely, the so called "zombie" parasites do have some effect on the brain. In the case of Toxoplasma gondii, it even affects humans.

Toxoplasma gondii (or Toxo as we'll call him) likes to reproduce in the guts of cats, which one most agree is rather weird, but Toxo seems to like it. Anyways, from the gut of the cat, Toxo reproduces itself and somehow sheds eggs outside of the cat, which somehow get into passing rats and mice.

Once inside one of the named rodents, Toxo creates cysts, but also affects the brain of the infected rodent. Being as rats and mice prefer to avoid areas where cats frequently loiter, they tend to avoid areas that smell of cat urine. However, our friend Toxo eliminates the fear mice and rats have of that, and well compels the rat to do just the opposite. So the next time a cat goes wandering around one of it's preferred locations, and rat or mouse infected by Toxo might just be waiting there going "eat me!". Ok, there is no evidence that the infected rodents say "eat me.", but there might as well be seeing as they're free game.

Now, old Toxo doesn't just infect rodents and our feline friends. He can actually infect just about any warmblooded critter, including humans. Some studies apparently even been done that link Toxo to some cases of schizophrenia. However if you get infected by it, you might not necesarrily become schizo. It can however, in intial stages cause flu like symptoms, and can even causes fatal infections in people with immune system problems. Toxo also can affect unborn babies of pregnant mothers that are infected, causing birth defects or even death of the unborn child or miscarriage. Although I must say, from what I read, as long as you keep a sanitetary lifestyle and don't undercook meat, you should be safe from infection from Toxoplasma gondii.

Sources and Further Reading:
Toxoplasma Gondii Parasite Mind Control
Toxoplasma gondii on Wikipedia

New Blog

2009-05-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

Naveed's Other Blog - Because one blog is not enough.

Going to be a personal blog so I can ramble on about things that don't quite fit here at The Realm.

BRAINS! Zombie parasite #1

2009-05-06T21:51:00.001-07:00

Zombies are awesome period. In fact their almost as awesome as pirates, but not nearly as fun to be (can't pillage when you're undead now can you?). Speaking of pirates, that brings to mind voodoo, which course has it's own form of zombies that I've talked about before here. However, there is another form of zombification that happens in reality, albeit not very movie like, but still quite interesting. Zombie parasites...or at least we'll call them that.

Amazing, and sometimes truly odd things exist out in nature such as the said parasites, which are highly specialized, and almost seem like they're here strictly to entertain those of us fascinated by anything remotely weird. The two zombie parasites that I'm going to talk about tonight fall into this category, since well, I fascinated by the weird.

The first parasite is a worm, or more accurately a flatworm, that has a thing for hanging in piles of bird crap. Not exactly the most savory of places to be, but it does work to their advantage. You see, in nature, all creatures have jobs, and well in the case of snails, it's to clean up after the rest of nature. Therefore snails love eating fecal matter, which is a great advantage to the flatworm, but a disadvantage to the snail that happens to ingest said worm.

In order to achieve it's goal of reproducing, the flatworm needs to change the snail by making it look appetizing to birds. It does this by invading at least one of the snails eye stalks, swelling it (or them) to massive proportions, and adding some fancy psychedelic effects as well. This accomplishes two things; the eye stalks get stuck outside the snail's head and they look a tasty psychedelic caterpillars to a birds.

The worm doesn't stop there though. It also takes over the infected snail's mind, turning it into it's own personal mode of transportation to guarantee that some bird will eventually see the psychedelic looking eye stalks and mistake it for a caterpillar. Once some poor bird falls for this clever rouge, the flatworm enjoys of a life inside the bird's digestive track, where it feeds, grows, and reproduces. The offspring and perhaps the original worm itself are then excreted back into to nature within another pile of bird crap, where the cycle starts all over again.

Sources and Further Reading:
The seven most horrifying parasites
Insane Snail Parasite

Nephilim and Neanderthals

2009-05-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

While browsing through my favorite blogs the other day, I came across a post over at The Gralien Report about none other then the Nephilim (who I also posted about just recently). Micah (the mind behind The Gralien Report) draws on some inspiration from a post by his friend Nick Redfern and the novel The Descent by Jeff Long and ponders over the possibility of the Nephilim being a species of proto-human. Basically an unknown or primitive species of human.

While reading his post a memory was sparked something I read in the book The Eaters of the Dead (also known as The 13th Warrior) by Michael Crichton. In A Factual Not on Eaters of the Dead (an essay written in 1992 that follows the story) Michael talks about how the story itself came to be, and about the various fictional and nonfictional aspects put into the story.

Now the most interesting part mentioned in his essay, is a segment where he mentions the Wendol (the villains of the story) are a relict group of Neanderthals that survived until the Vikings in the story wiped them out a thousand years ago. He also mentions, that in the decades since he originally wrote Eaters of the Dead (first published in the mid 1970s) some studies done had suggested that perhaps such relict groups Neanderthals may indeed have existed in remote locations. Could such groups of Neanderthals have been the Nephilim?

Not only could they count as being “proto-humans” (albeit not as tall) as Micah puts it, but this very possibility was also gone over in an episode of The Naked Archaeologist called “The Giants of Genesis”. Simcha Jacobovici, the shows host, concludes that the Nephilim are not giants as so many people believe, but perhaps a form of man believed to have been “soulless” (proposed to be Neanderthals in the episode) by the writer of Genesis, and goes to a cave system that shows that perhaps modern humans and Neanderthals lived together. Later in the episode some even more shocking evidence is presented, hinting at the possibility that humans and Neanderthals even mated and gave rise to what may have become the Nephilim in Genesis.

UFO Mag Blog: All the Proof You Need

2009-04-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yep, I finally got around to posting something new over there:
All the Proof You Need

Elaborating a bit on why the governments explanations are proof they are hiding UFO secrets, or at least trying to avoid embarrassment.

Who are the Nephilim really?

2009-04-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, but not in a galaxy far far away, there was a planet named Earth. In the beginning many things happened there, or didn't happen depending on how you'd like to look at it. For instance, things were hot here on Earth in the beginning, then eventually they cooled down, life appeared (either randomly or created) and things happened, and eventually man appeared, or was put on Earth, and started civilization in the Mesopotamian portion of the mid-east.

Now in the book of Genesis (chapter 6 verse 4) it is said that “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.”

This is where the trouble started (as far as this post is concerned anyways) because no one is really sure what that verse of the Bible means...more accurately, people are sure, but no one seems to agree on what they are sure about. One version (and Lord knows how many of those there are) even has the word “Nephilim”, replaced with “giants”, which from what I've gathered is a typo from one of Bible's many translations, but never the less many believe that the giants in the Bible are the Nephilim despite the fact it basically means something along the lines of “fallen ones”.

Things get really confusing at this point, simply because there are so many ideas on who the Nephilim and even the “sons of God” really are. Some claim that the Nephilim where the offspring of Gods chosen people (the sons of Seth/sons of God since Seth was in God's favor) and the daughters of man (the daughters of Cain, who wasn't in God's grace because he murdered Abel).

Others claim that the Nephilim were the offspring of Angels (the sons of God?) and human women (daughters of man) because well, the Angels just couldn't control their lust for women. They of course have children, who are the Nephilim, and depending on what you believe, this means they were either demons or giants. However, once again it's a subject for debate.

You also have some other possibilities, such as the belief by some followers of Judaism, that the Nephilim were simply sons of nobles, who had fame and renown, but basically tabloid material, much like a lot today's famous folk.

Then of course you have the modern interpretations, mainly revolving around the idea that the Nephilim are really more or less aliens. Some believe them to be the Grays and their comrades who travel around in spaceships abducting people for a hybrid program, to create, well more Nephilim.

One of the more entertaining Nephilim/alien hypothesis is that they are the same beings as the Anunnaki (switches between Anunnaki and Nefilim/Nephilim since both names mean similar things), that Zecharia Sitchin talks about is his “Earth Chronicles” series. This also places them as the very creators of mankind.

Well, that's it in a nutshell basically. The only thing I can conclude is that, well no one really knows who the Nephilim are really. Their one of those mysteries wrapped up in an enigma, locked away in a chest, and buried in soft peat (mild Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference. Well the peat bit. If you still don't get it, read the book or for you lazy types, see the movie).

Sources and Further Reading:
The Nephilims
Nephilim -Wikipedia
Who Were the Nephilim
Nephilim - Encyclopedia Mythica
Genesis 6 at Bible Gateway

Ok Now I'm Scared: Chemtrails

2009-04-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

I've never really believed that the government or anyone else (corporations maybe?) for that matter would drop chemicals from the sky on an unsuspecting public. So obviously I've never really been concerned about all the tales of chemtrails I read about on the web. A news report (from KSLA in Lousiana) that UFO Blogger posted today however, now has me concerned.

For those to lazy to click the link:

That's a bit unnerving if you ask me. Not only does someone manage to catch so of the stuff in a jar, but they also go into some of the history of old government and military tests on the public and troops.

The scary thing is that apparently until recently the government even had the right to test on the public. And if what the news anchor said, they still somewhat have some rights to test.

Seriously Now? or Why Not Gary?

2009-04-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

I really think it's time that someone gives the US government a slap in the face while shouting "Open your eyes!" because this bull crap has gone on long enough.

It appears that our friend, the US government is now seeking hackers to help secure it's networks from threats like hackers and other nations, which are claimed to be persistently attacking now over the web now.

Of course when mentioning hackers and US computer systems, you can't help, but think about the Gary McKinnon case, who I mentioned here before. Long story short though, back in 2001-2002, McKinnon hacked into US Military and NASA computer systems in search of UFO data and information on other fringe subjects, which he claims he found.

Later the US government caught up with the guy and had him arrested in the UK, and have since been trying to extradite him, claiming he caused millions of dollars in damage.

Clearly though with the amount attacks the US is claiming to have on it's networks now, I really doubt anything Gary did compares to what these others are doing. So why not hire him to help secure the network? I think their just to stupid to see what's in front of their faces and need to be slapped. Unless Gary did find stuff he wasn't supposed to, in which case the government is making an even worse move in prosectuting him, because it just shows that they are hiding something.

Sumerian myth, the Bible, and Aliens?

2009-04-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

The farther I've gotten into "The 12th Planet" by Zecharia Sitchin, the more I find myself interested in the connections between Sumerian myth and the events of the Old Testament of the Bible. Partly because I've always been fascinated by religion and also because I've wanted to know origins of Judaic beliefs, which as most everyone knows is the source for three of today's major relgions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).

Yesterday while browsing The Debris Field (which is one of the best places to find the latest and greatest esoteric news by the way) I came across a link to an interesting post over at The Book of Thoth, which is one of the many esoteric/paranormal hubs on the web.

In the post, the author, who goes by the name Anuatlantian, has put together the many connections between Sumerian myth and the Old Testament, side by side (more like above and below, well you'll see what I mean.) and really brought out the similarities. Interestingly, if this guy is right, events in both Sumerian myth and the Old Testament and almost exactly the same, other then some name differences (which seem to translate over).

Of course if these connections are correct, it brings up the question of who the Anunnaki (the deities) of Sumerian myth are, because they are the ones who equal out to being God and the angels of the Bible. Well, the connections are between the Anunnaki, God, and angels aren't really the question as much as, what were they. Were/are they merely a product of myth, or are they possibly extra-terrestrial in origin as Zecharia Sitchin proposes the Anunnaki are in "The 12th Planet" and the rest of his books.

If the E.T. connection is real, then we were all placed here by aliens, but seeing as Zecharia's interpretation of Sumerian language, and translations of other languages have been questioned (although I think he may be at least partly right), I'm really not sure what to think. Doesn't help that I know squat about foreign languages, and that I'm no mythology scholar, but by the time I'm done reading into this stuff, I might be...well depending on how much I read into it.

Anywho, I intend on picking up the books listed as sources by Anuatlantian, excluding the Bible (I already own a couple variants of said tome) and exploring the subject for myself, which I think will prove to be in the word of the great Spock "Fascinating".

Thoughts on "The 12th Planet" Part 6

2009-04-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

Seriously the whole planet/God thing I mentioned in the last post has me bugged a bit. I seriously thought it would all be clearer when I read more, but it's not. Reading "The 12th Planet" however has made things clearer on one thing I've been wondering about since before I even picked up the book, which is the origins of some of the Judao-Christian beliefs, particularly dealing with creation.

Having done some research a few years ago I knew that the creation story had some roots in Sumerian/Babylonian mythology. I just didn't know why or how. Then I read in "The 12th Planet" that Abraham, without whom there would be no Judaic religions, was from the city of Ur in Babylon; something I did not know.

Other then that, I was thinking that if Nibiru (The name of the 12th planet) is a real planet (or planetoid) it may have actually escaped the gravitational pull of our solar system since it had/has an elliptical orbit. Seeing as it is supposed to appear every 3600 years (roughly) I'd think we should have seen signs of it's existence by now. Who knows though. I have only a limited understanding of ancient history (something which I intend on correcting) , so it may have been seen in the past and recorded.

Thoughts on "The 12th Planet" Part 5

2009-04-12T16:38:00.000-07:00

I must admit, I kind of set the book down for awhile. I have a bad habit of doing that. I'll read halfway through a book, get bored with it (even if I'm really into it) and set it down for a month or so, while starting to read another book which I may or not do the same thing with.

Anyways so today was the first day that I've read much of it since the end of February and I noticed a bit of a contradiction (not even sure if that is the right word for it) of sorts.

In the prior chapters of the book, Zecharia establishes that the majority of mythology (from about the Romans on back) can be traced to Sumerian mythology and the Gods were real beings. Today in what I read he established the Babylonian Gods as planets and not real beings which he had established earlier (Babylonian myth being almost a direct descendant of Sumerian myth). I'll admit that I didn't read enough today to know what he's getting at for sure, but it got me wondering about it. Hopefully it'll make a bit more sense later on.

Also, the other day a thought occured to me about the possible existence of a "12th Planet" while watching a show on space. Comets are objects in our solar system that have an elliptical orbit like the "12th Planet" is supposed to have. Perhaps maybe this planet is an extremely large comet or even a yet unknown, cosmological object that moves in much the same manner.

By the way, for those wondering where my H.P. Lovecraft post I promised is, it's still in the works. I didn't finish like planned yesterday because I was exhausted (dozing off in my computer chair exhausted) by the time I finally got home from work. I tell ya, getting up at 5am everyday is a killer no matter how used to it you are. I read once that there are people genetically inclined to be nocturnal, and I think I'm one of those. I used to stay up until like 3am and get up at 9am or 10am no problem and have plenty of energy until 3am came back around...oh well...

Anyways, I also plan on doing a bit more research for that post, since I want it to be good, like real good, because Lovecraft deserves good.

Finally, for those not caught up with me, here are the first parts of my thoughts on "The 12th Planet":

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4