National Geographic is reporting the discovery of stone tools in Minnesota that might be 13,000 years old, dating them to the late Ice Age. While they've only been dated by the layer in which they were found at this point, the discovery hints at the continual pushing back of the date at which humans are believed to inhabited North America. If confirmed, the tools would push back known habitation in Minnesota at least 4,000 years.

Scientists have recently been able to measure the results of quantum effects on larger objects than ever before. There have been many hints over the years that not everything in large-scale life could be described purely in classical terms, and this seems to confirm that belief through thermodynamic measurements of materials that include high-temperature superconductors and quantum magnets at least in clusters up to billions of atoms in size.

Seems the O'Hare UFO story isn't going anywhere yet. A guest opinion article from a Florida news source has reignited the debate. I guess at this point there's really nothing to discuss until we wait to see what evidence comes out. The most likely source seems like it's going to be Dan Aykroyd, but it might not be coming real soon, just "sometime this year". Seems like everyone will just have to wait a while and see what happens. At the very least there do seem to be many credible witnesses, but any sufficient video and/or photographic evidence has been disturbingly lacking thus far, from what I've seen.

(NIAID/Handout/Reuters)


This amazing image is crystallographic data of the AIDS virus actually attacking an immune cell, and they hope that the data will help them create an anti-AIDS vaccine. In studying the data the scientists believe that they may have found a spot on the outside of the disease which may be vulnerable to antibodies that would block it from even attacking human cells to begin with. While there are a couple of vaccines currently in human trials, the researchers believe that this might be their best hope at making a vaccine that would work for everyone.

I've been personally interested in the Skinwalker Ranch case for a while now, and posted about it before. If the stories are true, and I will admit that to my knowledge there hasn't been enough proof put out to completely convince me, the ranch in Utah may be the center of a phenomenon which could shed light on a lot of the paranormal world.

The occurrences there speak to a wide range of paranormal happenings from UFOs to orbs to cattle mutilation to spontaneous combustion to multiple dimensions to possessions and everything in between. I'm still trying to sit down and read the book, but in the meantime I found a great article on it with a bunch of excerpts and stories from the book.

Recently I posted an article about Randi's Million Dollar Challenge and how the money might not even be real and got a comment from JaneDoughnut(who has a pretty cool blog) which mirrors something that I've heard countless times over the years. Namely, that the JREF challenge does a good job helping prove that most paranormal phenomena are definitively not real.

So, I thought I'd post a link to, and some excerpts from, a multiple part, quite thorough, investigation into the challenge and how it's virtually impossible to even enter, much less win the(possibly non-existent) million dollar prize from author Michael Prescott. All of the quoted material below comes directly from Randi's own FAQ on the challenge, and are some of my personal favorites from a pretty ridiculous piece of writing, in my humble opinion.

Possibly the main reason that no one has even managed to win the prize is that you can't enter if your phenomenon is among many of the most common types of paranormal phenomenon:

There are some claims that are far too implausible to warrant any serious examination, such as the "Breatharian" claims in which the applicant states that he can survive without food or water. Science conclusively tells us all we need to know about such matters, and the JREF feels no obligation to engage applicants in such delusions....

Other claims, such as "Crop Circles" and UFO's are rejected because they have been definitively proven to be the result of hoaxes or mass hysteria. Claims involving "Cloud-Busting", for example, are rejected because Science (along with keen observation) tells us conclusively that clouds will move and disperse despite the efforts of humankind to move them according to their wishes. The phenomenon behind Oujia boards, for example, is attributed to ideomotor reflexes, and not to anything paranormal.

....

Claims of psychic healing border on the miraculous, and the JREF declines to investigate them...

....

Of course, when confronted with a particularly incredible claim like "remote viewing" (the current version of "clairvoyance") we can easily stop short and ask ourselves just why we are involved with such obvious nonsense.

...

The JREF will also not waste its time (or jeopardize the applicant's safety and well being) with claims from applicants who exhibit clear signs of paranoid delusions, schizophrenia or other mental illness, feeling strongly that it is their moral responsibility to avoid the furthering of such delusions in the minds of those who may be in need of immediate psychiatric attention. What this means is that it is OK for you to be deluded, as the JREF feels many applicants may well be, but it is not OK for the JREF to support your illness.

...

While you may be neither mistaken nor a cheater, the JREF will always assume that you are one or the other.

...

Many people who claim to have paranormal powers are, sadly, suffering from an advanced state of delusion. That isn't to say that you are, but it's a hypothesis that may be raised during the application process. So, be prepared for this in advance, especially if your claim is extremely remote by reasonable standards.

It goes on and on from there. It's not hard to pull amusing quotes from it. Until I read his FAQ last year I would have never thought that a former magician was qualified to diagnose people with schizophrenia, for instance, but, apparently he is. I think what this investigation, the lack of a real, tangible prize, and the quotes above from Randi's own FAQ prove is that the challenge is, in fact, just an excuse to debunk phenomena which may or may not be real without even raising so much as a finger.

It seems to me, in the end, all of the time and energy spent investigating Randi is far more than he's put into investigating the paranormal...and one of those certainly seems to be fake to me. Given a choice between Randi and his challenge and the paranormal, guess which one I think is more real?

While it's not exactly new news to a lot of people, more evidence of water flowing on Mars has come forward. This time images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter seem to show rocks that have been recently weathered by flowing water.

As the evidence mounts I wonder how long it will be before NASA starts working the very real possibility of water on Mars into their future plans. I also can't help but wonder long NASA has known about the water, and why most of the exciting Mars news most recently seems to come from scientists outside of NASA studying NASA data.

While browsing around today I found a gallery of the 15 best UFO photos of 2006. Have a look and see what you think. If you have any that you think are better, send me the file or a link.

Regan Lee has a very nice article on Binnall of America about all of the dedicated UFO researchers who give so much of their time and effort for free. She also lists Book of THoTH as one of those sites where people can share their experiences and discuss such topics everyday in the forums. Thanks for that Regan!

I started thinking about it, and it's true. I don't know as much about most of those sites as I do BoT, obviously. I've been doing what I can on BoT for years now, and the group of people who spend their time to help out and give a free information resource, as well as a place for people to discuss just about anything in the world, really is special. I know the owner and webmaster of BoT, Michael Bourne, quite well by this point, and I know that doing what he does is certainly not free. However, until a few days ago during our recent server issues, no one's ever even persuaded him to solicit donations, much less put up advertisements or make a subscriber service.

That kind of dedication, by each of the sites which she lists, and so many others, certainly shows how important it is to people, and is really quite unique and special. So, following Regan's lead, I have to say THANKS to all the people who spend so much time, effort, and even money giving everyone free information resources. When you sit down and think about the enormity of the web and the information contained therein, it really is an interesting time to be alive if you always want to learn more, like myself.

In an article titled "Fossils: myths, mystery and magic" Steve Connor explores the history of fossils, their discoveries throughout history, and some of the myths which unfolded from early discoveries of strange looking fossils. Some of the stories show quite clearly how certain stories may have been propagated, and most I'd never actually heard of. For instance:

Fossil trees and giant serpents

The fossil Lepidodendron is an extinct genus of a tree-like plant related to club mosses. They could sometimes grow to heights of 30 metres and have trunks a metre thick, and thrived during the Carboniferous period (360 to 300 million years ago).

Lepidodendrons had tall, thick trunks that rarely branched and were topped with a crown of branches bearing leaves. The leaf scars on their trunks and stems looked like tyre tracks or alligator skin.

The folklore Lepidodendrons' rotted and compacted remains formed the coal seams exploited in Britain. After their leaves had fallen off, their trunks became covered with diamond-shaped scars, which resembled the scales of a reptile. As late as 1851 a specimen of this fossil tree was exhibited in Neath as a gigantic fossilised serpent. Visitors could view the 8ft-long specimen for the sum of one shilling (tradesmen six pence and working classes three pence).

Lepidodendrons are now known as scale trees.

I can imagine that fossil would look quite strange to an uneducated observer!

The Free Lance-Star, out of Fredricksburg, VA, has an interesting article about a severed foot found at the local landfill. The local police were worried that the cleanly cut foot was evidence of a homicide, and began an investigation. It turns out that the foot is from an ape, but one which they were unable to identify.

As you might suspect, bigfoot believers from all over the world are proclaiming it as the next surefire piece of evidence, but, as of yet, there's no further details known about the foot. There are plenty of pictures at the site should you wish to take a look and make up your own mind. I do hope the local police department doesn't just let the whole thing slide since there's, apparently, no homicide involved, and that they continue to follow through and attempt to find out what the foot really is from, and where it came from. Seems to me, at the very least, there's the possibility of an animal cruelty case, which, as they stated, is well within their jurisdiction and should be a reason to continue on with the case.

The Guardian has a really interesting article on prehistoric tools found in the Amazonian jungle. That alone would make for a good find, however, these tools were made and used by chimps, not humans, and point to a "chimpanzee stone age" 4,300 years ago. They suspect that the idea of using stone tools might have even been passed on to both humans and chimps from a common relative even further back, and are hoping to find evidence of older stone tool use in the region.

There's a new post on documentaries and the media, which is a follow up to Stanton Friedman's recent article about a National Geographic show on Roswell. This one's by Dennis Balthaser, and details some of his problems with the recent show, and biased media documentaries in general.

Last summer I filmed with them here in Roswell for about 6 hours and not once during that time was I told by the film crew that the National Geographic special would obviously have an agenda that would be extremely biased by the time the one hour show ended after the editing was completed. I was also contacted several times by email and telephone requesting additional factual information about the Roswell Incident while the documentary was being prepared. I had a lot of airtime on the show and those that responded to me after viewing the show indicated that I came across honestly and sincerely in my comments that were used. I was thankful for that, but very disappointed with the overall show and factual information unfairly presented.

While I think it's great that "mainstream" media has been more interested in paranormal topics in general lately, I find it disturbing that so many of the pieces that claim to be doing fair shows are, in fact, really just hatchet jobs on the topic at hand. Not to say that there haven't been any good shows on paranormal topics over the last few years, there certainly have. However, I'm afraid that they're not the norm. Like both Mr. Friedman and Mr. Balthaser said, you really expect better from a respected name like National Geographic.

Gary David has posted a great article at Book of THoTH which makes the supposition that, perhaps, there is a link between the Great Pyramids of Egypt and Humphreys Peak, Agassiz Peak and Fremont Peak in Arizona.

Gary's really done some fascinating research, and I promise my review of his book The Orion Zone: Ancient Star Cities of the American Southwest is coming up as soon as I get the chance to sit down and do it justice.

I read two archaeological articles today that I thought were worth sharing.

First one was yet another discovery of a Stonehenge-like formation, this time in Brazil in the midst of the Amazon.

The second one was an article on archaeologists making the best of looters, and even using some of the looters work, in South America in the heart of ancient Mayan territory.

Lesley, from The Debris Field Blog, posted a nice rebuttal towards those who think that UFOlogy is "cult" like.

One of her best points also made me laugh, then shake my head. How true...

Beyond that, for ufology to be a cult there would need to be a belief system that everyone followed. Anyone who is a member of ufo updates would quickly realize that ufologists agree on almost nothing.

Stanton Friedman has posted a very thorough and exhaustive critique of a recent National Geographic documentary which seemingly attempted to debunk the happenings of Roswell. As he puts it they "abided by the 4 basic rules of debunkdom":

1. Don’t bother me with the facts, my mind is made up.

2. What the public doesn’t know, I won’t tell them.

3. If you can’t attack the data, attack the people.

4. Do your research by proclamation, no investigation is required.

I never saw the National Geographic documentary on Roswell, and I certainly won't waste my time with it after reading this.

Back in November I wrote about PEAR closing down. Unfortunately, I guess it's time for them to shut down the laboratory now.

Dean Radin has a nice closing statement on some of the things that PEAR accomplished.

The Denver Post, a paper which I happen to read quite regularly and have since I was a little kid, actually carried a fairly balanced article on MUFON. Well, at least it wasn't openly mocking, which, I guess is better than most.

Two of my favorite authors, and favorite Philips, have new articles out.

Philip Gardiner has a new article out at Book of THoTH which traces the evolution of societies and marketplaces from the time of nomads until we reached the, unhealthy, stage of economic based society. In it he makes some interesting connections between our pre-societal roots to our current situation, and explains step-by-step how we got here.

Philip Coppens has a great article, with tremendous pictures, on a subject that I was almost totally unaware of. His article on Tassili n'Ajjer, the "largest storehouse of rock paintings in the world”, takes a close look at the area and attempts to connect it to Egypt as the birthplace of ancient Egypt. Having been lucky enough to travel to the area himself, Philip has some really great pictures of some amazing rock art, and weaves an interesting tale that seems to possibly tie the pre-Pharaonic Egyptians to the area. He also denounces Erich Von Däniken's idea that many of the figures shown are evidence of ancient astronauts, and makes a convincing case for the use of hallucinogens in the art work.

This is a subject that I'll probably give more time to here in the future. Much like many of the people who think about such topics, I believe that neither the ancient astronaut theory nor the hallucinogenic vision theory explains the entire phenomenon, although I believe that each of them have their place in the discussion. I do believe that there are some instances where both seem to very adequately explain a local phenomenon, and I also believe that there are cases where each fail miserably. Much like what Mac Tonnies said in a recent post, reconciling the visionary and the physical has gnawed at me for a long time. Is it two, distinct, phenomena? Or two sides of the same coin?

Regan at The OrangeOrb Blog has added another post into the recent swarm of posts on skepticism.

This one's from UFO researcher Gordon Kaswell.

PsiPog's Sean Connelly, aka. peebrain, did a little bit of an investigation into Randi and his JREF million dollar challenge into the paranormal. Of course, just about anyone involved in the paranormal in any form has heard of his challenge, and feels that it's total bunk. Randi has eluded many challenges over the years, and continues to carry out his vendetta on a few people in the paranormal world.

However, the latest news is that his "million dollars" might be worthless anyway. Not only that, but him and his henchmen faked some e-mails along the way during this check into their money, as well. Having corresponded with Mr. Connelly a couple of times a while back, I'll take his word over Randi's any time.

This investigation is about six months old, back from when PsiPog was still maintained, but was recently picked up on The Anomalist.

Science A Go Go has an interesting story on the bacteria that live on our skin. I'd heard before that up to 10% were unknown, and the story confirms that with an estimate of 8%. While that might seem strange that we don't even know the bacteria that live on our own skin, what I found even more strange was that this was, essentially, the first molecular study of our skin, according to the lead researcher. They found some interesting variances in the types of bacteria from person to person, and even between the different sexes. While they theorized on a couple of different causes for that, one that they didn't comment on that I would have thought of right off the bat is antibacterial soap. Many of the bacteria that live on us are, basically, essential to our skin, and the constant use of antibacterial products is a relatively new phenomenon. There have been previous studies that show that many of the bacteria that live on our skin have become resistant to antibacterial products, setting a dangerous precedent should harmful bacteria follow suit.

The group plans to follow up on the research with more studies of the human skin and its inhabitants, which should make for more fascinating scientific reading in the future.

The Doubtful Blog has another post on skepticism as has been a popular topic lately. It seems like everyone who's writing about it has similar ideas. Hopefully the recent flurry of discussion leads to some changes in the way the subject is handled in the future.

Recent fossil evidence has pushed human ancestors back closer to the dinosaur age. The primates fossils have moved the known date of their first emergence back quite a long time, possibly as much as 10 million years.

As we further our knowledge of the history of this planet I've always believed that the time line of human evolution would be changed. We continue to push our history on the planet back further, in every aspect. First civilizations on every continent are constantly being pushed back. First technological evolutions are continually moving back, and now our ancestors are, geologically speaking, pretty close to the dinosaur age. As more of the fossil evidence of former life gets discovered, I always wonder what we'll find out about ourselves next.

There's one more big UFO story that seems to be getting a lot of attention the last day or two, as well. The Phoenix Lights, apparently, made a comeback recently(video included). Once again, the official explanation from the military is flares, but it seems like most of the locals don't agree. While they don't look exactly the same, to me at least, as last time, they do look anomalous. It should be interesting to see if there are as many witnesses and different views from different angles as last time as the story develops and people come forward.

There's an article making the rounds from the Santiago Times. It claims that during the Tenth International Ufology Conference, organized by the Chile’s Ufology Investigation Group, military photos and videos of UFOs were presented. There was also a presentation from Rodrigo Bravo, Captain of the Army’s Fifth Division, who talked about military encounters with UFOs. While I haven't seen any of the photos or videos, if the story's true and they make it onto the 'net at some point, they're probably going to be worth a thorough look.

UFO Digest has a rather strange, but interesting, article on an Indonesian UFO sighting with a possible UFO "base" as well. From there it takes a bit of a twist from the average UFO story by attempting to tie together big cat/panther sightings and UFO sightings.

REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo (PHILIPPINES)

It seems to me that every time scientists spend time looking at the oceans they find new species, and a recent expedition to the Philippines is no different. Over the last two years scientists from 19 countries documented, and in many cases filmed, thousands of crustaceans and mollusks. In fact 150-250 of the crustaceans and 1,500-2,500 of the mollusks observed were new species, including the giant lobster pictured above. The good news is that even after two years they're not done, as the French government has announced an expedition that will explore the area for the next five years. It should be interesting to see what they come up with!

The Mysterious Wisconsin Wonder Spot is going away. The local village of Lake Delton has bought it to demolish it and run a road where it stands.

While I don't know if it and other places, like the Oregon Vortex which I've visited before, are real phenomena or just optical illusions I think it's sad that a piece of American history is going away at all, but particularly for a road to be built. I enjoyed my happenstance visit to the Oregon Vortex years ago, and I'd be sad if they decided to pave over it, as I am every time we blindly destroy tokens of old America to continue modernizing. Are we capable of preserving our history as we move forward? Or are we doomed to continually lose it as we've done for centuries? I'm not against progress, quite the opposite, in fact. I just believe that we could probably go about it a little better sometimes.

There's nothing amazingly spectacular about this video of an unidentified object in the sky, and there's no abductions or wild stories that go along with it. It's not a close-up of a UFO, and there's no aliens.

All of that is probably why it seems to be so genuine, in my opinion, contrary to so many of the hoaxes out there. Apparently it's been floating around the 'net for a couple of years now, but I just saw it for the first time this morning and thought I'd share.

Mac Tonnies has added another interesting cryptoterrestrial post to the on-going sharing of his thought process.

The entire list is up to 13 posts by my count at this point.

String theory, among other lesser known theories, states that extra dimensions must exist. Proving that has always been a problem. However, in a paper recently published by a group of physicists from the University of Wisconsin, the problem might be solved as we get better views of cosmic radiation left over from the big bang. They believe that in the future, as we get images from projects such as the ESA's Planck satellite, we should be able to see the influences of other dimensions on the early cosmos on the radiation background, in effect proving their existence.

This story is really probably more down Mac Tonnies' alley than my own, but I thought it was pretty interesting. A woman who lost an arm in a motorcycle accident has undergone a radical new surgery to attach an artificial arm which moves under the control of her thoughts and allows her to "feel" someone touching her new hand.

Lets face it. How long is it really going to take until these limbs are better than the ones we have and it's an elective surgery? Or, until you're just given "better" parts at birth? There's an interesting future coming up, and it's certainly going to be a wild ride.

There's been another twist in the Chicago O'Hare airport UFO story. Apparently none other than Dan Aykroyd is claiming to have exclusive photos and video footage in his possession, and says he'll be releasing it all at some point this year. I guess we're all caught up in the instant information age where we expect instant gratification when a story hits the news, but it looks like we'll have to wait to pass judgment on this one.

Just yesterday I weighed in on the recent global warming report and today I saw something that makes me believe the "oil cartels" must be getting a bit nervous. A thinktank funded by ExxonMobil offered scientists travel expenses, $10,000, and "additional payments" to poke holes in the report. To anyone who has been paying attention it shouldn't surprise you that the thinktank has close ties to the Bush administration. In fact, according to Ben Stewart of Greenpeace:

"The AEI is more than just a thinktank, it functions as the Bush administration's intellectual Cosa Nostra. They are White House surrogates in the last throes of their campaign of climate change denial. They lost on the science; they lost on the moral case for action. All they've got left is a suitcase full of cash."

I wonder if this will really help get people, particularly in the US, to change their lifestyles a bit and help out. Or, at the very least, convince people that a Manhattan-type project is necessary to fuel new energy research. Having worked a bit in alternative energy systems I'm thoroughly convinced that we can move past the fossil-fuel age if we're prepared to do so. It just takes people actually doing it as a whole. I think the consequences of not doing so have been pretty well laid out, so no one can say they didn't know what was coming in the future if changes aren't made.

Regan over at the Orange Orb blog has expanded on her thoughts about "skeptics" and that "other" class of skeptics that takes it a step beyond. She really does a good job explaining some of the things that I was attempting to explain.

It's funny how many people are talking about such topics these days with myself, Regan, Greg Bishop and Nick Redfern all weighing in recently. Maybe we can all get together and figure out what terms we should really be using since everyone seems a little perturbed about it these days.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. It's real. What is it? Global warming. What's the latest evidence? According to leading scientists it's almost a certainty that humans are, if not completely causing global warming(90% certainty), we're at least severely exascerbating the problem. It's likely to continue for centuries at this point, more than a million people could die, we could see a double digit global temperature rise this century, global sea levels could rise by as much as 31 inches in the worst case scenario during this century, and if nothing is done to curb emissions an eventual rise of more than 20 feet is likely.

Here in the US about 75% of people think that global warming will get worse, but don't call it a priority, further enabling the current administration to completely and totally ignore the growing problem. While most of the world sees this as an urgent problem to deal with, the administration here doesn't see any reason to act.

There's a copy of the full report in PDF format here.

Mac Tonnies over at Posthuman Blues has updated with a couple of more posts which I'm adding to the list I've been keeping on his cryptoterrestrial hypothesis posts.

Also over at his site I ran across this little quiz, which I thought was pretty good.

I am: Hal Clement (Harry C. Stubbs) A quiet and underrated master of "hard science" fiction who, among other things, foresaw integrated circuits back in the 1940s.

Which science fiction writer are you?

I was browsing through The Debris Field Blog today and ran across a website that's apparently been up a while, but which I've never seen. It's about the possibility of a pre-Clovis site in Ohio which is being excavated and studied.

This material is presented for consideration by anyone with an interest in the early habitation of North America, describing artifacts first recognized and re- corded in 1987 at an unglaciated hilltop site in southeastern Ohio. These have appeared in large quantity, at depths of from near the surface to well over a meter below, and the surface of this large site has only been scratched. At this point, five doctorate-level professionals - archaeologists, geologists, and a forensic biologist - have identified human agency in both lithic and organic material. The Ohio Historic Preservation Office has included the site in the Ohio Archaeological Inventory, recognizing evidence of prehistoric habitation, although they are unable at this point to identify temporal or cultural associa- tion. Since they lack the funding and staffing needed even to keep up with Ohio's many typically "Indian" sites, this is as far as their involvement seems likely to progress.

The website has a ton of great information on the dig site, and includes many pictures of artifacts gathered there, such as this one below.

In the leftmost photo, this small figure depicts a human profile facing left. As the stone is rotated horizontally counterclockwise, the image "morphs" into the classic part-human part-bird creature. The second photo is at 45º rotation, and the third at 90º.

While the archaeological site doesn't seem to have been studied exhaustively, the author states that he believes it to be from at least several thousand years before present, and due to local glaciation, probably less than 14,000 years old. I've e-mailed the author hoping to find out more about the dating of it, and I hope there's more coming on discoveries at this site in the future.

Going along with the About.com article on the moon which I wrote about recently, Victoria Hardy of the American Chronicle has written an article about the possibilities of past and/or current habitation on the moon. It contains links to many of the information that's supposedly been leaked from various sources about what NASA/JPL really knows about the moon. For example:

Karl Wolfe, states that while he was in the Air Force he was shown photos of the moon taken by the Lunar Orbiter, before the Apollo landing, which clearly displayed artificial structures. Mr. Wolfe had a top-secret clearance and worked with tactical air command at Langley AFB in Virginia. He claims that in the photos he saw towers, spherical buildings, large things that were similar to radar dishes and some structures that were half a mile in size.

According to only one document I could find, it was reported in March of 1996 that NASA scientists and engineers participating in the Moon and Mars exploration met in front of the Washington National Press Club to discuss their findings. Although they spoke cautiously, they announced that man-made structures and objects were discovered on the Moon. The article goes on to say that there is evidence of lost cities on the Moon. An unnamed mission control specialist is quoted as saying, “Our guys observed ruins of the Lunar cities, transparent pyramids, domes, and God knows what else, which are currently hidden deep inside the NASA safes, and felt like Robinson Crusoe when he suddenly came across prints of bare feet on the sand of the desert island.”

Are these stories really true? I certainly don't know, but I've always thought it was strange that we abandoned the idea of putting bases on the moon shortly after visiting for what really amounts to no apparent reason. At this point I wouldn't bet all my money on the existence of ancient cities on the moon, but I wouldn't bet against it either, as far out as it seems. If you take ancient Indian texts about vimanas and Native American stories of the Second World at all literally, you have to consider the possibility that either man, or visitors, harnessed the power of flight long ago.

Regan from The Orange Orb Blog has posted some of her recent writings on skepticism.

I completely understand what she's trying to say, and the bullying tactics used by many to discredit whatever topic they dislike is difficult to deal with. In my opinion, she's right on with what she's saying.

Being a critical thinker, however, I think it paramount. You can't just go around believing everything that you read on the internet, or you'll certainly be misinformed. In that context, being a skeptic is actually a good thing, but one that many, if not most, people end up taking too far. So, perhaps, defining "skeptic" a little better is what's needed.

Mac Tonnies once wrote a little article titled "Skeptics, Debunkers and Believers" in which, I think, he defined skeptics quite well:

Skeptics are thinkers. Skeptics evaluate evidence, realizing that there is no absolute plane of reference on which to cling. Skeptics neither debunk nor believe--unless they are able to establish that a given phenomenon deserves to be debunked. “Belief” is not a luxury the true skeptic can afford; the mechanics of skeptical thought are rooted in probability and open-mindedness. Being a skeptic requires courage and intellectual flexibility. What looks like a neat idea may turn out to be unsubstantiated nonsense; conversely, it might be the real thing.

He continued with "debunkers" which is where I believe the skepticism goes too far, and is actually the class of people that I believe Regan was writing about:

Debunkers comprise the most virulent of contemporary self-described “skeptics.” There is nothing inherently unsound about debunking, contrary to the many appeals on behalf of the “pro” side of any given paranormal controversy. But in order to debunk, the subject being debunked must be bunk. Valid, substantiated evidence cannot be debunked until new evidence supplants or alters it.

The term “debunker” is often taken as a negative word, perhaps best personified by orangutan scientist-theologian Dr. Zaius in “Planet of the Apes.” But there’s nothing wrong with being a debunker as long as the debunker can back up his or her claims. Of course, this doesn’t mean that some commentators won’t abuse the urge to debunk--usually in the name of “skepticism.” For example, astronomer Donald Menzel “debunked” countless UFO sightings based on his scientifically baseless a priori conviction that there were no UFOs. Veteran ufologist Philip Klass continues in Menzel’s role, correctly debunking many spurious UFO reports but erroneously “debunking” others. This is inevitable, as Klass’ self-stated maxim is that all UFO reports can be attributed to prosaic causes. His personal bias manifests again and again in his proclamations, and one wonders what genuine contributions he could provide if he parted ways with the sloppy (if intellectually fashionable) debunking community to pursue uncorrupted skepticism.

So, if we take Mac's definitions to heart I think most people would end up classifying themselves as skeptics in the end. However, there are people out there, such as Randi whom Regan mentioned, or Philip Klass, mentioned by both Regan and Mac, who take that skepticism to a level which simply defeats their supposed purpose. Rather than being the "voice of reason" and espousing the truth, they end up shooting down everything which they'd rather not take the time to think about. It's entirely likely that many times this ends up putting these debunkers on the wrong side of the truth which they are claiming to stand for.

All of which leads up to a little article I saw on Fate Magazine's website from Robert Goerman titled "Never Has it Been Harder to do Good Research" which points out the lack of progression in the ability to do paranormal research. As he says, the same problems exist now that existed 15 years ago. For whatever reason, and there's probably many, the study of "fringe" topics occasionally gains scientific ground, generally only to be pushed back by the antics of a few.

It's unfortunate that there's very little "mainstream" research into cryptozoology, UFOs or the paranormal. Much of that is due to the bullying tactics of a few debunkers. Much of that is due to the way the paranormal community continues to bicker and in-fight instead of pushing forward. Much of that is due to a few true believers(defined by Mac as having "no pressing need for facts; a few vague correlations or anonymous “insider” remarks will suffice") who will shout about any story, believable or not, until they get attention.

In the end, I say be skeptical, be critical, but when there's evidence of the strange and/or unknown, don't throw it out just because it doesn't fit the current paradigm. The "truths" of today won't necessarily be the truths of tomorrow. There's nothing wrong with thinking for yourself.

UFO Media Matters has a review of a few of the images from Mars Anomaly Research up under the title "Is NASA Still Touching up Photos?" The blog points out a few of the more striking images that look as though they've been obfuscated, and links to Mars Anomaly Research for more. A long time ago I used to check out Mars Anomaly Research pretty regularly, and while I think the analysis went a bit overboard from time to time, I think it hit the nail on the head regularly as well. I haven't been there in a long time, but I'll have to get around to checking it out again soon to see what's going on there now.

Lesley at The Debris Field Blog has some strange photos that she took recently up on her blog.

I've also got to point out The Debris Field Site where Lesley has some UFO pics, articles, and a huge collection of english and non-english UFO links.

Image taken from http://ufoevidence.conforums.com/index.cgi

Part two of the story of the Missouri man who claims to have part of a UFO is now up. I wrote about part one a few days ago.

Part two covers the inevitable, and frustrating, part of these stories. The man claims to have taken it to many labs, gotten private confirmation of it not being of earth origin, and then been unable to get the labs to say so publicly. Unfortunately, names of people he spoke to at the labs are not given up, as I would have certainly followed up on this one seeing as how I spent years working at one of the labs mentioned. They also make some pretty hefty claims about the object, namely "White said the object heats and cools rapidly. It picks up radio signals – AM and FM. And, during a UFO convention in Nevada, it disabled the electronics in a casino’s hotel safe – three times."

However, what you're left with in the end is an interesting story, and the picture above. If the object is truly anomalous, I certainly hope he's able to get some kind of scientific evidence.

All I've got to say today is CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who managed to write an article for the big Book of THoTH book competition. I'm truly in awe of all the great articles, and, for all of you who are wondering, I promise every article will get read, accepted if it's acceptable, and the winners will be announced very soon! So, keep an eye on your e-mails, and if you've changed e-mail addresses since you entered the competition, please just send me along an e-mail and tell me your new one. I'm certainly looking forward to reading all the articles. As you might assume, we got a lot of them(I think I've got it at about 120), so the judges are going to be quite busy!

Good luck to everyone!