THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
December 18, 2016
www.theparacast.com
The Paracast Explores the Scientific Study of Bigfoot with Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, and chat rooms when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Episodes and there’s more to come! We’ve just begun to add podcasts and videos from Paul Kimball’s “Other Side of Truth.” Check out our new lower rates, starting at just $4.99 per month, plus our “Lifetime” membership and special free eBook offers! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
This Week's Episode: Class is in session. Gene and Chris present a rare appearance by Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, one of the few academics seriously researching such strange creatures as Bigfoot. Jeffrey received his B.S. in zoology specializing in vertebrate locomotion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1982, his M.S. at BYU in 1984 and a Ph.D. in anatomical sciences, with an emphasis in biological anthropology, from Stony Brook University in 1989 (then referred to as State University of New York at Stony Brook). He has published numerous academic papers ranging from vertebrate evolutionary morphology, the emergence of bipedal locomotion in modern humans and Sasquatch (Bigfoot), and is a co-editor of a series of books on paleontology.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Dr. Meldrum’s Site: The Relict Hominoid Inquiry | Idaho State University
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on December 18: [PG-13]: Gene and Chris talk about the guest on the December 18, 2016 episode of The Paracast, of Dr. Jeffrey Meldum’s emphasis on a physical Bigfoot, which he feels may represent a lost primate species that survived in scattered pars of the world. But Chris says that he is throwing out a “whole body of evidence” about paranormal creatures. So Chris recalls a strange encounter that he experienced in 1986 at the Carbon River, located at the base of Mount Rainier. He heard shrill whistling sounds from what he believed to be two creatures, one of which appeared to suddenly make a movement of a few hundred feet almost instantaneously, based on the sounds it made. Was this an episode of high strangeness, of possible teleportation? Chris also talks about his frightening encounter with a big and angry “mama bear” during another of his out-of-the-way exc ursions.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Are We Seeing UFOs in their Actual Form?
By Gene Steinberg
Scientists of any era might come to believe they know pretty much everything, and that there’s very little left to discover about our universe. Of course, that’s been true for centuries, and think about all the things we know now that were hardly even dreamt of in the past.
Yes, we know the Earth isn’t flat and is not the center of the universe, although there appear to be some who choose to continue to believe this fallacy, or that the Earth is 6,000 years old. At one time, we knew for certain that there were only nine planets in our solar system, long before Pluto was relegated to the status of a “dwarf planet.” If planets had egos, this would be a source of great disappointment.
At one time it was theorized that Mars had canals, remnants of an ancient civilization. This all formed the basis for a number of sci-fi and fantasy stories, including Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter tales. In the 1950s, a certain best-selling UFO author also speculated about life on Mars, taking the theory of the canals as pretty much a given.
Many scientists know for certain that spaceships can never exceed the speed of light. Einstein told us that it was a hard limit, but sci-fi writers figured out ways to make it happen anyway. The warp drive scheme was used in “Star Trek” as a plot device to get the Enterprise to and from a planet in hours or days rather than years, decades or centuries.
Of course we aren’t certain warp travel can be a reality, but scientists are nonetheless examining the fascinating possibilities.
But I wonder if Gene Roddenberry ever envisioned the possibility that scientists and engineers would actively attempt to duplicate the Star Trek gadgets as real products. Don’t forget clamshell cell phones, a few very noticeably patterned after the Trek communicator. And what about tablets used in “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation”?
Scientists are looking into the possibility of transporting matter from one location to another. But did that idea come from “Star Trek” or the sci-fi thriller “The Fly,” where the teleportation process didn’t account for the presence of a second living form in the transport mechanism when a scientist attempted to move himself across his laboratory. You’ve seen the two versions of this movie and its sequels, so I don’t need to be graphical about the consequences.
At least with the matter transport system used in “Star Trek,” the ship’s computer can accurately disassemble living forms and — usually — reassemble them in their original form. So is the person who beams down the same individual who left the starship? Or a computerized recreation that matches the original down to the molecular level? What are the consequences of taking multiple trips, and is there the chance that your atoms and molecules might degrade over time?
I suppose that’s a suitable plot line for a future “Star Trek” movie, or the new streaming TV show, “Star Trek: Discovery,” scheduled to debut in 2017. But perhaps the number of transports must reach the thousands before the laws of entropy apply.
Now when we look at the possibilities for alien visitors coming to Earth, in UFOs, we regard their technology as natural evolutions of our own. Indeed, it does seem that the UFOs are listening, since they often appear to be just a step or two ahead. At least they are advanced enough to exceed our own aircraft in speed and maneuverability.
But consider what they might come up with were they hundreds or thousands of years ahead of us. Sure, we can imagine the technology of the 23rd century in “Star Trek,” but absent warp drive, just how far advanced are they anyway? Food replicators? Just the natural evolution of 3D printing technology. It may be just a few years before your “Big Mac” is cooked from the raw ingredients — or synthesized versions — in a printer rather than being placed on grills and cooked by low-paid workers.
I wonder: Would we be able to even recognize the technology used by a race of beings a few hundred years ahead of us? Even if their form is close to ours — meaning they are humanoids or superficially human — would we even recognize the products of their technology.
Is it true that, as Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”?
Imagine, just imagine, if you got ahold of a time machine, packed up your iPhone, and took a trip to 16th century England. If you have a passing acquaintance with the works of Shakespeare, you would comfortably overcome the differences in language, colloquialisms and cadence, and communicate with the natives.
But what would they say of that magical implement you took out of your pocket that displays pictures? Sure, the battery might soon run down if you didn’t bring along a recharger in your time machine; it would be powered by the craft’s onboard power systems. There would be no cellular data network with which to send and receive data. But if you stored all or most of your stuff on your iPhone, you’d get by.
How would the local populace regard that magical appliance? Even if they took it from you, the most advanced scientists and engineers of the time couldn’t begin to fathom its potential and the means of construction. Would you be charged with witchcraft and put on the stake?
Or would you dress yourself in the clothing of the era, and behave in a way that doesn’t arouse suspicion? Rather than reveal who you really are, where you came from and the advanced nature of the technology that brought you there, you’d probably conceal your “waverider” with some sort of cloaking device. They’d never see your craft. Or maybe you’ll show up riding a horse that you brought with you so you could just mix in. Well, maybe you’d seem a little eccentric, but perhaps not enough to arouse suspicion.
So when people claim to have met up with ET, witnessing their arrival in a flying saucer, is that really what the craft looks like? Or are they putting on an act to appeal to the expectations of Earthlings?
I’ve often mentioned the scene in the movie, “Contact,” where the protagonist, portrayed by Jodie Foster, believes she meets ET, who arrives in the form of her late father so she’d be able to accept his appearance. We can only guess what that being really looked like. Maybe we can only guess what UFOs really look like, because they are play-acting for our benefit.
Copyright 1999-2016 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
December 18, 2016
www.theparacast.com
The Paracast Explores the Scientific Study of Bigfoot with Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, and chat rooms when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Episodes and there’s more to come! We’ve just begun to add podcasts and videos from Paul Kimball’s “Other Side of Truth.” Check out our new lower rates, starting at just $4.99 per month, plus our “Lifetime” membership and special free eBook offers! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
This Week's Episode: Class is in session. Gene and Chris present a rare appearance by Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, one of the few academics seriously researching such strange creatures as Bigfoot. Jeffrey received his B.S. in zoology specializing in vertebrate locomotion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1982, his M.S. at BYU in 1984 and a Ph.D. in anatomical sciences, with an emphasis in biological anthropology, from Stony Brook University in 1989 (then referred to as State University of New York at Stony Brook). He has published numerous academic papers ranging from vertebrate evolutionary morphology, the emergence of bipedal locomotion in modern humans and Sasquatch (Bigfoot), and is a co-editor of a series of books on paleontology.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Dr. Meldrum’s Site: The Relict Hominoid Inquiry | Idaho State University
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on December 18: [PG-13]: Gene and Chris talk about the guest on the December 18, 2016 episode of The Paracast, of Dr. Jeffrey Meldum’s emphasis on a physical Bigfoot, which he feels may represent a lost primate species that survived in scattered pars of the world. But Chris says that he is throwing out a “whole body of evidence” about paranormal creatures. So Chris recalls a strange encounter that he experienced in 1986 at the Carbon River, located at the base of Mount Rainier. He heard shrill whistling sounds from what he believed to be two creatures, one of which appeared to suddenly make a movement of a few hundred feet almost instantaneously, based on the sounds it made. Was this an episode of high strangeness, of possible teleportation? Chris also talks about his frightening encounter with a big and angry “mama bear” during another of his out-of-the-way exc ursions.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Are We Seeing UFOs in their Actual Form?
By Gene Steinberg
Scientists of any era might come to believe they know pretty much everything, and that there’s very little left to discover about our universe. Of course, that’s been true for centuries, and think about all the things we know now that were hardly even dreamt of in the past.
Yes, we know the Earth isn’t flat and is not the center of the universe, although there appear to be some who choose to continue to believe this fallacy, or that the Earth is 6,000 years old. At one time, we knew for certain that there were only nine planets in our solar system, long before Pluto was relegated to the status of a “dwarf planet.” If planets had egos, this would be a source of great disappointment.
At one time it was theorized that Mars had canals, remnants of an ancient civilization. This all formed the basis for a number of sci-fi and fantasy stories, including Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter tales. In the 1950s, a certain best-selling UFO author also speculated about life on Mars, taking the theory of the canals as pretty much a given.
Many scientists know for certain that spaceships can never exceed the speed of light. Einstein told us that it was a hard limit, but sci-fi writers figured out ways to make it happen anyway. The warp drive scheme was used in “Star Trek” as a plot device to get the Enterprise to and from a planet in hours or days rather than years, decades or centuries.
Of course we aren’t certain warp travel can be a reality, but scientists are nonetheless examining the fascinating possibilities.
But I wonder if Gene Roddenberry ever envisioned the possibility that scientists and engineers would actively attempt to duplicate the Star Trek gadgets as real products. Don’t forget clamshell cell phones, a few very noticeably patterned after the Trek communicator. And what about tablets used in “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation”?
Scientists are looking into the possibility of transporting matter from one location to another. But did that idea come from “Star Trek” or the sci-fi thriller “The Fly,” where the teleportation process didn’t account for the presence of a second living form in the transport mechanism when a scientist attempted to move himself across his laboratory. You’ve seen the two versions of this movie and its sequels, so I don’t need to be graphical about the consequences.
At least with the matter transport system used in “Star Trek,” the ship’s computer can accurately disassemble living forms and — usually — reassemble them in their original form. So is the person who beams down the same individual who left the starship? Or a computerized recreation that matches the original down to the molecular level? What are the consequences of taking multiple trips, and is there the chance that your atoms and molecules might degrade over time?
I suppose that’s a suitable plot line for a future “Star Trek” movie, or the new streaming TV show, “Star Trek: Discovery,” scheduled to debut in 2017. But perhaps the number of transports must reach the thousands before the laws of entropy apply.
Now when we look at the possibilities for alien visitors coming to Earth, in UFOs, we regard their technology as natural evolutions of our own. Indeed, it does seem that the UFOs are listening, since they often appear to be just a step or two ahead. At least they are advanced enough to exceed our own aircraft in speed and maneuverability.
But consider what they might come up with were they hundreds or thousands of years ahead of us. Sure, we can imagine the technology of the 23rd century in “Star Trek,” but absent warp drive, just how far advanced are they anyway? Food replicators? Just the natural evolution of 3D printing technology. It may be just a few years before your “Big Mac” is cooked from the raw ingredients — or synthesized versions — in a printer rather than being placed on grills and cooked by low-paid workers.
I wonder: Would we be able to even recognize the technology used by a race of beings a few hundred years ahead of us? Even if their form is close to ours — meaning they are humanoids or superficially human — would we even recognize the products of their technology.
Is it true that, as Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”?
Imagine, just imagine, if you got ahold of a time machine, packed up your iPhone, and took a trip to 16th century England. If you have a passing acquaintance with the works of Shakespeare, you would comfortably overcome the differences in language, colloquialisms and cadence, and communicate with the natives.
But what would they say of that magical implement you took out of your pocket that displays pictures? Sure, the battery might soon run down if you didn’t bring along a recharger in your time machine; it would be powered by the craft’s onboard power systems. There would be no cellular data network with which to send and receive data. But if you stored all or most of your stuff on your iPhone, you’d get by.
How would the local populace regard that magical appliance? Even if they took it from you, the most advanced scientists and engineers of the time couldn’t begin to fathom its potential and the means of construction. Would you be charged with witchcraft and put on the stake?
Or would you dress yourself in the clothing of the era, and behave in a way that doesn’t arouse suspicion? Rather than reveal who you really are, where you came from and the advanced nature of the technology that brought you there, you’d probably conceal your “waverider” with some sort of cloaking device. They’d never see your craft. Or maybe you’ll show up riding a horse that you brought with you so you could just mix in. Well, maybe you’d seem a little eccentric, but perhaps not enough to arouse suspicion.
So when people claim to have met up with ET, witnessing their arrival in a flying saucer, is that really what the craft looks like? Or are they putting on an act to appeal to the expectations of Earthlings?
I’ve often mentioned the scene in the movie, “Contact,” where the protagonist, portrayed by Jodie Foster, believes she meets ET, who arrives in the form of her late father so she’d be able to accept his appearance. We can only guess what that being really looked like. Maybe we can only guess what UFOs really look like, because they are play-acting for our benefit.
Copyright 1999-2016 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
