THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
February 11, 2012
The Roswell Dream Team and UFO Abductions Debated on The Paracast
Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 2:00 AM until 5:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
Please Consider a Donation to The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large
. We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, at the bottom of the sidebar on the right. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.
Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! In the summer of 2010, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet!
Please Visit Our Brand New Online Store: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and an expanded collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our online store at The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We also offer a complete lineup of other premium merchandise for your family, your friends and your business contacts.
Sunday, February 12, 2012: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.
Set Up: The Paracast is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris will be flies on the wall for this episode, featuring a "great debate" on Roswell, the Roswell "Dream Team," UFO abductions and other topics featuring Kevin D. Randle, author of such books as "Reflections of a UFO Investigator," and Jim Moseley, Editor/Publisher of "Saucer Smear."
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet
Kevin Randle's Site: A Different Perspective
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. We recently completed a major update that makes our community easier to navigate, and social network friendly.
Does the World Need a UFO Detector?
By Gene Steinberg
When I was real young, I remember an ad that ran in comic books and other magazines offering to sell you a brand spanking new UFO Detector! I’m serious. For a mere $17.95 in 1960’s dollars, which would be worth over $125 in 2012, you could buy yourself this handy, dandy box that would clue you in on whether ET had arrived in your neighborhood.
The gadget was designed with the assumption that UFOs generated strong electromagnetic fields, resulting in car electronics being disabled when they were really close. This device would allegedly trigger an alarm during those circumstances, so you’d be alerted to look to the skies for the presence of a UFO.
Even better, the UFO Detector, from a company known as Shields Enterprises of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, promised reliable 24/7 operation on a single flashlight battery. Unlike lots of tiny gadgets of the 1950s and 1960s, it came to you fully assembled, although I’m not certain from the ad I saw from that period whether the battery was included. For $17.95 it had better be, because that was a fair bit of change in those days.
But what if it didn’t work? What if the UFO Detector failed to detect the presence of ET even though something strange had been seen in the skies over your city? Well, assuming you actually missed a genuine sighting, you could return the device and get your money back.
Now before you go looking for that company, it’s pretty clear it no longer exists, at least under that name. However the name “Shields” is a fairly common for a number of businesses in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, but none of the variants I discovered in a brief online check seem to have anything to do with consumer electronics. So if you have one of those things, purchased in the “good old days,” and it stopped working, you might as well give up.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t buy a UFO Detector of some sort, with a more contemporary design. I even located a “UFO-01 Detector,” at $149.99 from Amazon. This particular device comes as a clear plastic tube on a base, with the internal components clearly visible. According to the company’s promotional information: “There is that small percentage of UFO reports that can't be explained by any known aircraft or natural phenomena. It is this small percentage of reports that create an exciting possibility. Over the years the small percentage of real UFO sightings have reported magnetic and electromagnetic disturbances. The UFO Detector is designed to sense these disturbances and will signal their presence by flashing an LED and beeping. The elegantly designed transparent plastic case is a handsome sculptured conversation piece that's allows one to see the electronics inside the case. Suitable for display on a desk, shelf or bedroom dresser. Size is approximately 3" dia. by 2.75" length. Uses 9V lithium battery (not included).”
Ah yes, the case of the missing batteries once again.
The reviews were predictably mixed. Some owners complained that the detector was set off by common electrical emanations from cell phones, portable phones, and microwave ovens. But one satisfied customer proclaimed, “I purchased this item and am blown away by its effectiveness. I started this device up and immediately detected not one, not two, but five separate UFOs in my immediate area.”
At least one review managed to capture the outrageousness of it all. It was signed by “Prince Glatpok Zorthruus, Commander of the Xorplaxian Fifth ‘Purple Zithanportap’ Brigade.”
No, I won’t quote that review.
Another commenter, who evidently decided to pass this offer by, remarked: “Really? The other reviewers bought this piece of &*%$ ? Can you say shills. Rather than buy this why not take your money and flush it down the toilet as a way of communicating with the little green men?”
All this clearly means you can take Amazon reviews with a grain of salt.
But this doesn’t mean there’s no room for a UFO detection device of some sort. On the other hand, expecting a sighting to always be announced with some sort of easily measurable electromagnetic disturbance that stands apart from the disturbances that already surround us appears to be a stretch.
This isn’t to say that such a gadget cannot possibly work, although I remain skeptical. On the other hand, I’m in touch with an iPhone app developer to see how we could possibly embed UFO detection capabilities in an iPhone or an iPad. I suppose the built in direction sensing mechanisms, such as GPS and the proximity of cell towers (on the iPhone and iPad 3G) might be exploited in some fashion to detect an anomalous event. Or maybe such an app would simply provide a means for you to record information about a sighting, including photos or videos if you’re lucky to get some, to make it easier for you to report that event to the proper authorities, or one of the larger UFO organizations, such as MUFON.
I welcome your suggestions as to whether such a thing can possibly work, tongue in cheek or otherwise.
The Paracast Copyright 1999-2012 Making The Impossible, Inc. 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!
February 11, 2012
The Roswell Dream Team and UFO Abductions Debated on The Paracast
Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 2:00 AM until 5:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
Please Consider a Donation to The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large
. We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, at the bottom of the sidebar on the right. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! In the summer of 2010, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet!
Please Visit Our Brand New Online Store: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and an expanded collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our online store at The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We also offer a complete lineup of other premium merchandise for your family, your friends and your business contacts.
Sunday, February 12, 2012: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.
Set Up: The Paracast is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris will be flies on the wall for this episode, featuring a "great debate" on Roswell, the Roswell "Dream Team," UFO abductions and other topics featuring Kevin D. Randle, author of such books as "Reflections of a UFO Investigator," and Jim Moseley, Editor/Publisher of "Saucer Smear."
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet
Kevin Randle's Site: A Different Perspective
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. We recently completed a major update that makes our community easier to navigate, and social network friendly.
Does the World Need a UFO Detector?
By Gene Steinberg
When I was real young, I remember an ad that ran in comic books and other magazines offering to sell you a brand spanking new UFO Detector! I’m serious. For a mere $17.95 in 1960’s dollars, which would be worth over $125 in 2012, you could buy yourself this handy, dandy box that would clue you in on whether ET had arrived in your neighborhood.
The gadget was designed with the assumption that UFOs generated strong electromagnetic fields, resulting in car electronics being disabled when they were really close. This device would allegedly trigger an alarm during those circumstances, so you’d be alerted to look to the skies for the presence of a UFO.
Even better, the UFO Detector, from a company known as Shields Enterprises of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, promised reliable 24/7 operation on a single flashlight battery. Unlike lots of tiny gadgets of the 1950s and 1960s, it came to you fully assembled, although I’m not certain from the ad I saw from that period whether the battery was included. For $17.95 it had better be, because that was a fair bit of change in those days.
But what if it didn’t work? What if the UFO Detector failed to detect the presence of ET even though something strange had been seen in the skies over your city? Well, assuming you actually missed a genuine sighting, you could return the device and get your money back.
Now before you go looking for that company, it’s pretty clear it no longer exists, at least under that name. However the name “Shields” is a fairly common for a number of businesses in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, but none of the variants I discovered in a brief online check seem to have anything to do with consumer electronics. So if you have one of those things, purchased in the “good old days,” and it stopped working, you might as well give up.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t buy a UFO Detector of some sort, with a more contemporary design. I even located a “UFO-01 Detector,” at $149.99 from Amazon. This particular device comes as a clear plastic tube on a base, with the internal components clearly visible. According to the company’s promotional information: “There is that small percentage of UFO reports that can't be explained by any known aircraft or natural phenomena. It is this small percentage of reports that create an exciting possibility. Over the years the small percentage of real UFO sightings have reported magnetic and electromagnetic disturbances. The UFO Detector is designed to sense these disturbances and will signal their presence by flashing an LED and beeping. The elegantly designed transparent plastic case is a handsome sculptured conversation piece that's allows one to see the electronics inside the case. Suitable for display on a desk, shelf or bedroom dresser. Size is approximately 3" dia. by 2.75" length. Uses 9V lithium battery (not included).”
Ah yes, the case of the missing batteries once again.
The reviews were predictably mixed. Some owners complained that the detector was set off by common electrical emanations from cell phones, portable phones, and microwave ovens. But one satisfied customer proclaimed, “I purchased this item and am blown away by its effectiveness. I started this device up and immediately detected not one, not two, but five separate UFOs in my immediate area.”
At least one review managed to capture the outrageousness of it all. It was signed by “Prince Glatpok Zorthruus, Commander of the Xorplaxian Fifth ‘Purple Zithanportap’ Brigade.”
No, I won’t quote that review.
Another commenter, who evidently decided to pass this offer by, remarked: “Really? The other reviewers bought this piece of &*%$ ? Can you say shills. Rather than buy this why not take your money and flush it down the toilet as a way of communicating with the little green men?”
All this clearly means you can take Amazon reviews with a grain of salt.
But this doesn’t mean there’s no room for a UFO detection device of some sort. On the other hand, expecting a sighting to always be announced with some sort of easily measurable electromagnetic disturbance that stands apart from the disturbances that already surround us appears to be a stretch.
This isn’t to say that such a gadget cannot possibly work, although I remain skeptical. On the other hand, I’m in touch with an iPhone app developer to see how we could possibly embed UFO detection capabilities in an iPhone or an iPad. I suppose the built in direction sensing mechanisms, such as GPS and the proximity of cell towers (on the iPhone and iPad 3G) might be exploited in some fashion to detect an anomalous event. Or maybe such an app would simply provide a means for you to record information about a sighting, including photos or videos if you’re lucky to get some, to make it easier for you to report that event to the proper authorities, or one of the larger UFO organizations, such as MUFON.
I welcome your suggestions as to whether such a thing can possibly work, tongue in cheek or otherwise.
The Paracast Copyright 1999-2012 Making The Impossible, Inc. 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!