THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
February 5, 2017
www.theparacast.com
Don Ecker Complains About the Sorry State of UFO Research on The Paracast
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 $1.49 per week, 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: Gene and Chris present a return appearance from our favorite UFO curmudgeon, Don Ecker. During this episode, Don will catch up on UFO lore, incredible lunar mysteries, the sighings he’s looked into, the hoaxes he’s exposed, some of the curious characters he’s run across. Don is the host of the one and original “Dark Matters” radio show. Accept no substitutes; the name has been used by other shows and sites. In addition to hosting radio shows about UFOs, Don and his wife Vicki Ecker were the former editors and publishers of America’s UFO Magazine, which was available on the newsstands for a number of years.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Dark Matters Radio: Dark Matters Radio - Downloads | CyberStationUSA On Demand Programming
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on February 5: The episodes begins with a brief discussion of the use of colorful metaphors on radio shows, as Gene talks of his experience in traditional broadcast radio where the FCC rules had to be followed. Special guest Don Ecker explains how he’s recently tried to cut back, that “enough is enough.” Possible radiation threats in outer space are discussed in light of Chris O’Brien’s recounting an article suggesting it would be too intense to allow humans to safely travel to Mars. The discussion moves to strange phenomena on the Moon, and Don explains why the conspiracy theory that humans never went to the moon is utter nonsense before bringing up the possibility that there’s a secret space program.
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.
UFOs and the Unlearning Game
By Gene Steinberg
Over the past few weeks, I’ve focused these columns on changing the discussion about UFO reality. Instead of accepting the possibility that we’re being visited by extraterrestrials, and that the governments of Earth need to disclose what they know, I’ve insisted that it’s time to widen your horizons.
I’ve argued that much of UFO research is stuck in the 1950s, that most of the ideas being expressed in the field are little different from the ones propounded in the 1950s. Even then, it was widely assumed the flying disks were physical spaceships from outer space, and that a “Silence Group” within the U.S. government was hiding the truth from us.
That explains why today’s demands for UFO disclosure sound little different from the ones made decades ago. The main difference is the constant predictions that success will be achieved this year or the next year. Only that never seems to happen. It’s long past the point where you can take any of those predictions seriously, since they never come to pass.
It’s not that I wouldn’t want the alleged secret to be revealed. If it happened, UFO clubs and lecturers might need to find other things to do, but we could all get on with our lives. There are lots of unexplained mysteries for The Paracast to explore should the day come that UFOs become IFOs.
I may not even be around to worry about what to do next.
My first argument about the way things are done is that most UFO research is more about collecting. Sighting reports are put into cardboard boxes or databases. Maybe they are used as fodder for lecturers to talk about, but it’s not as if much is done after an initial report is taken, unless a case gets lots of publicity. Even then, follow-ups may be more about quoting and summarizing then trying to get more data, and perhaps look into possibilities not previously considered.
That’s why I’m especially pleased with the work long-time researcher Kevin D. Randle is doing in looking back at old cases to see how well they hold up. As a result, it now appears that the Roswell crash is a lot less than it first appeared to be, at least based on eyewitness testimony that simply doesn’t hold up. It doesn’t mean the case is solved, but it also means that it’s time to set it aside and look to other UFO reports with more substance to them.
But just fine-tuning the case histories is only part of the picture. Once the evidence has been gathered, just what does it mean? Some might feel the sheer volume of evidence of strange aircraft is more than sufficient to demonstrate the existence of a mystery, and that’s likely true. But it doesn’t confirm that we are being visited by spaceships, interdimensional visitors, time travelers, or just fellow human beings who have decided to separate themselves from our civilization and carve out their own independent existence.
To many, the act of labeling something as a UFO is akin to talking about spaceships, since that’s the only possible explanation for unsolved cases. That’s just too limiting so far as I’m concerned. We’ve stuck with that theory — and often belief — for decades and it’s taken us nowhere.
As I’ve suggested, even if we were being visited by advanced spacefarers from far-off locales in our universe, we may not even recognize them as intelligent creatures. Or anything at all, since they are so advanced. Even if they could be recognized as something that is human-like, that doesn’t mean we’d be able to see the products of their technology. They may be so far advanced that we wouldn’t understand it as evidence of technology.
Our images of spaceships are heavily influenced by “Star Trek” or “Star Wars,” which are largely based on taking our own aircraft and imagining what they’d look like a couple of hundred years from now or thereabouts. But what about a thousand years, 10,000 years? Would they even need a physical conveyance to transport themselves from one place to another?
Even if they needed a machine to take them to distant locales, what about a network of devices that allowed them to instantaneously transport themselves from one location to another via a wormhole? A popular sci-fi concept is the stargate.
But you’d still need physical spaceships to assemble a stargate system, since you have to install machines at each location.
Personally, I’d prefer to use a stargate to travel through space. Even if a warp drive scheme of some sort had been perfected, it would still be about a physical spaceship moving from one place to another with all its potential hazards. Depending on the distance between the start and end points, the trip could still take a while. But the stargate does its thing within just a few seconds. You enter one gate, it goes through its transport process, and you emerge from the other gate just seconds later. Or maybe it’s not seconds at all, but a matter of traveling outside of time and space.
So are there stargates hidden away on Earth? Well, they got away with it on those “Stargate” TV shows, but in the real world?
Just the other day, I read an article that went to great lengths to explain why it wouldn’t be possible to travel via a wormhole, that if we found the means to enter one, we wouldn’t survive the experience. So there you go — or don’t go — until you realize that scientists were once certain that humans couldn’t fly in heavier-than-air craft, or faster than the speed of sound.
Space? Scientists once maintained that, once astronauts flew past the Van Allen radiation belt, they probably wouldn’t survive the experience. On this weekend’s edition of The Paracast, Chris mentions an article he read that maintained that radiation poisoning might be a fatal risk for people who want to travel to Mars, that we cannot possibly develop the means to protect a spaceship’s crew from serious injury or certain death.
Of course, to some, saying something is impossible is the biggest incentive of all to attempt to make it so.
In the meantime, I don’t pretend to know what UFOs really are or, if physical craft, their means of transport. But their existence may inspire us to greater technological achievements, just as “Star Trek” inspired many young scientists and engineers to create great things. Some are even now working on matter transporters and warp drive.
But does that even give us a glimmer of what an alien race might have perfected? Would it even be possible for us to understand what they’re about even if they do exist?
Copyright 1999-2017 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!
February 5, 2017
www.theparacast.com
Don Ecker Complains About the Sorry State of UFO Research on The Paracast
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 $1.49 per week, 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: Gene and Chris present a return appearance from our favorite UFO curmudgeon, Don Ecker. During this episode, Don will catch up on UFO lore, incredible lunar mysteries, the sighings he’s looked into, the hoaxes he’s exposed, some of the curious characters he’s run across. Don is the host of the one and original “Dark Matters” radio show. Accept no substitutes; the name has been used by other shows and sites. In addition to hosting radio shows about UFOs, Don and his wife Vicki Ecker were the former editors and publishers of America’s UFO Magazine, which was available on the newsstands for a number of years.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Dark Matters Radio: Dark Matters Radio - Downloads | CyberStationUSA On Demand Programming
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on February 5: The episodes begins with a brief discussion of the use of colorful metaphors on radio shows, as Gene talks of his experience in traditional broadcast radio where the FCC rules had to be followed. Special guest Don Ecker explains how he’s recently tried to cut back, that “enough is enough.” Possible radiation threats in outer space are discussed in light of Chris O’Brien’s recounting an article suggesting it would be too intense to allow humans to safely travel to Mars. The discussion moves to strange phenomena on the Moon, and Don explains why the conspiracy theory that humans never went to the moon is utter nonsense before bringing up the possibility that there’s a secret space program.
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.
UFOs and the Unlearning Game
By Gene Steinberg
Over the past few weeks, I’ve focused these columns on changing the discussion about UFO reality. Instead of accepting the possibility that we’re being visited by extraterrestrials, and that the governments of Earth need to disclose what they know, I’ve insisted that it’s time to widen your horizons.
I’ve argued that much of UFO research is stuck in the 1950s, that most of the ideas being expressed in the field are little different from the ones propounded in the 1950s. Even then, it was widely assumed the flying disks were physical spaceships from outer space, and that a “Silence Group” within the U.S. government was hiding the truth from us.
That explains why today’s demands for UFO disclosure sound little different from the ones made decades ago. The main difference is the constant predictions that success will be achieved this year or the next year. Only that never seems to happen. It’s long past the point where you can take any of those predictions seriously, since they never come to pass.
It’s not that I wouldn’t want the alleged secret to be revealed. If it happened, UFO clubs and lecturers might need to find other things to do, but we could all get on with our lives. There are lots of unexplained mysteries for The Paracast to explore should the day come that UFOs become IFOs.
I may not even be around to worry about what to do next.
My first argument about the way things are done is that most UFO research is more about collecting. Sighting reports are put into cardboard boxes or databases. Maybe they are used as fodder for lecturers to talk about, but it’s not as if much is done after an initial report is taken, unless a case gets lots of publicity. Even then, follow-ups may be more about quoting and summarizing then trying to get more data, and perhaps look into possibilities not previously considered.
That’s why I’m especially pleased with the work long-time researcher Kevin D. Randle is doing in looking back at old cases to see how well they hold up. As a result, it now appears that the Roswell crash is a lot less than it first appeared to be, at least based on eyewitness testimony that simply doesn’t hold up. It doesn’t mean the case is solved, but it also means that it’s time to set it aside and look to other UFO reports with more substance to them.
But just fine-tuning the case histories is only part of the picture. Once the evidence has been gathered, just what does it mean? Some might feel the sheer volume of evidence of strange aircraft is more than sufficient to demonstrate the existence of a mystery, and that’s likely true. But it doesn’t confirm that we are being visited by spaceships, interdimensional visitors, time travelers, or just fellow human beings who have decided to separate themselves from our civilization and carve out their own independent existence.
To many, the act of labeling something as a UFO is akin to talking about spaceships, since that’s the only possible explanation for unsolved cases. That’s just too limiting so far as I’m concerned. We’ve stuck with that theory — and often belief — for decades and it’s taken us nowhere.
As I’ve suggested, even if we were being visited by advanced spacefarers from far-off locales in our universe, we may not even recognize them as intelligent creatures. Or anything at all, since they are so advanced. Even if they could be recognized as something that is human-like, that doesn’t mean we’d be able to see the products of their technology. They may be so far advanced that we wouldn’t understand it as evidence of technology.
Our images of spaceships are heavily influenced by “Star Trek” or “Star Wars,” which are largely based on taking our own aircraft and imagining what they’d look like a couple of hundred years from now or thereabouts. But what about a thousand years, 10,000 years? Would they even need a physical conveyance to transport themselves from one place to another?
Even if they needed a machine to take them to distant locales, what about a network of devices that allowed them to instantaneously transport themselves from one location to another via a wormhole? A popular sci-fi concept is the stargate.
But you’d still need physical spaceships to assemble a stargate system, since you have to install machines at each location.
Personally, I’d prefer to use a stargate to travel through space. Even if a warp drive scheme of some sort had been perfected, it would still be about a physical spaceship moving from one place to another with all its potential hazards. Depending on the distance between the start and end points, the trip could still take a while. But the stargate does its thing within just a few seconds. You enter one gate, it goes through its transport process, and you emerge from the other gate just seconds later. Or maybe it’s not seconds at all, but a matter of traveling outside of time and space.
So are there stargates hidden away on Earth? Well, they got away with it on those “Stargate” TV shows, but in the real world?
Just the other day, I read an article that went to great lengths to explain why it wouldn’t be possible to travel via a wormhole, that if we found the means to enter one, we wouldn’t survive the experience. So there you go — or don’t go — until you realize that scientists were once certain that humans couldn’t fly in heavier-than-air craft, or faster than the speed of sound.
Space? Scientists once maintained that, once astronauts flew past the Van Allen radiation belt, they probably wouldn’t survive the experience. On this weekend’s edition of The Paracast, Chris mentions an article he read that maintained that radiation poisoning might be a fatal risk for people who want to travel to Mars, that we cannot possibly develop the means to protect a spaceship’s crew from serious injury or certain death.
Of course, to some, saying something is impossible is the biggest incentive of all to attempt to make it so.
In the meantime, I don’t pretend to know what UFOs really are or, if physical craft, their means of transport. But their existence may inspire us to greater technological achievements, just as “Star Trek” inspired many young scientists and engineers to create great things. Some are even now working on matter transporters and warp drive.
But does that even give us a glimmer of what an alien race might have perfected? Would it even be possible for us to understand what they’re about even if they do exist?
Copyright 1999-2017 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!