THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
July 16, 2011
UFO Crash and Great Pyramid Updates Featured on The Paracast
Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network.
Here's How You Can Help 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. So we hope you'll be willing 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, right below our logo. 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! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. On July 3, The Paracast was introduced to millions of listeners in New York City, New Jersey, and Long Island, when we arrive on WVNJ radio. But that's just one recent conquest.
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!
You Can Now Order The Official Paracast T-Shirt: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and a collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt, just pay a visit to our new online store at Welcome to The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We now also offer a lineup of other premium merchandise featuring The Paracast logo.
Sunday, July 17, 2011: 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 hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present veteran UFO researcher Dennis Balthaser, who has become extremely disenchanted with the state of UFO research, and is seriously considering whether to leave the field. He'll deliver an update about the legendary 1947 Roswell UFO crash, and will also discuss his long-time interest in the mysteries of the Great Pyramid.
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet
Dennis Balthaser's Site: http://truthseekeratroswell.com/
Coming July 24: Gene and Chris present long-time investigative UFO journalist Don Ecker, a forum moderator for The Paracast, and host of the Dark Matters radio show. Ecker will focus mostly on the frauds he has exposed in the UFO field, but he will also bring you up to date on all sorts of incredible lunar mysteries.
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet
Don Ecker's Site: Dark Matters Radio - Cause it matters in the Dark ! !
Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
On Letting the Critics Set Our Agenda
By Gene Steinberg
It’s easy to put labels on the people who aren’t convinced that there is such a thing as a paranormal event, let alone any semblance of behind a UFO sighting, at least an unearthly sort of reality. You call them debunkers, and pass them by, but the arch critics can sometimes do the sort of investigative reporting that is sadly lacking in these fields.
Take Lance Moody, a resident skeptic who has posted hundreds and hundreds of critical comments on The Paracast Community Forums and elsewhere. To be sure, he believes that every so-called paranormal event has some sort of conventional explanation, if only enough data is available. My biggest criticism of Lance is that he seems apt to want to bait certain people into participating in an online flame war of some sort, and that’s not productive. Regardless, Lance is my friend, and he deserves his due, particularly when his sharp instincts pay off.
Take the case of Philip Imbrogno, a noted author of paranormal books, who has been involved in these fields for several decades. As a contributor to “Night Siege,” also co-authored by the late Dr. J. Allen Hynek, you had to take Imbrogno seriously. So when he claimed to have earned advanced degrees late in life from MIT, there was no reason to be skeptical.
But you had to wonder whether Imbrogno might be going overboard when he also posted pictures of himself wearing a telltale MIT T-shirt. Was he trying a little too hard to promote the connection? It’s also true that Imbrogno made claims, on The Paracast and elsewhere, about encountering paranormal phenomena that sometimes stretched the usual boundaries of credibility. Besides, would someone with all those stellar credentials accept work as a middle school science teacher? Or as an unpaid volunteer for an astronomy club? Surely he was meant for something far more lucrative.
Well, as most of you know, Lance’s suspicions proved correct. There is no record of a Philip Imbrogno, or anyone named Imbrogno for that matter, ever having attended MIT. His earlier educational credentials have been put under the microscope by others, including Don Ecker, a long time UFO investigator and host of the "Dark Matters" radio show, and Ron Collins, one of our forum moderators. It may be that Imbrogno was a poseur right from the beginning.
Imbrogno’s behavior since this discovery has been doubly suspicious. Lance has published emails from Imbrogno claiming he went to school under an assumed name, to protect his privacy from – what? The paparazzi? Hardly. Yet another email to the hosts of a pay-per-listen paranormal radio show claims the MIT degrees were “sealed,” which is equally suspect. At the same time, Imbrogno has halted his writing career and left the field, or so he says.
More recently, Imbrogno posted a vulgar “goodbye” message on a paranormal message board. Laden with misspellings, you had to wonder if it truly was Imbrogno, but those who know him best will point out that the writing style was his, no doubt about it. I pity the editors at the book publishers who chose to put his work into print. Worse, it now appears that Imbrogno may have also fabricated his military record, an act that amounts to a grave insult to the brave men and women who have actually served.
Philip Imbrogno is not the first imposter in the UFO field, nor, I fear, the last. Throughout the history of the field, you’ll find a smattering of personalities sporting fake degrees to buttress their equally fake claims. And, as most of you now, falsifying one’s educational background and work experience is not uncommon in regular life. But it’s not something that anyone other than a potential employer, or perhaps a random investigative journalist, would bother to check.
With millions of people having earned genuine undergraduate and advanced college degrees, we tend to accept such claims without question. Not only is it impolite but highly unproductive to say, “prove it” every time someone claims to possess such degrees.
Besides, having a college degree isn’t a guarantee of success. Our shaky economic climate has forced many with even advanced degrees to accept low-paying jobs, in fast food restaurants and supermarkets, in order to pay the rent. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time, such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, never got their degrees. Jobs, in fact, barely attended college.
Some suggest that the unfortunate Imbrogno episode ought to serve as a wake up call, that one’s claims of having a great education ought to be regularly put under the microscope. That may be going too far, but if someone offers credentials that, on the surface, seem a little too good to be true, maybe it’s time to ask the right questions before others do it for us.
If we hope to have claims of paranormal experiences taken seriously by the “outside” world, we have to clean our own houses first.
The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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
July 16, 2011
UFO Crash and Great Pyramid Updates Featured on The Paracast
Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network.
Here's How You Can Help 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. So we hope you'll be willing 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, right below our logo. 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! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. On July 3, The Paracast was introduced to millions of listeners in New York City, New Jersey, and Long Island, when we arrive on WVNJ radio. But that's just one recent conquest.
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!
You Can Now Order The Official Paracast T-Shirt: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and a collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt, just pay a visit to our new online store at Welcome to The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We now also offer a lineup of other premium merchandise featuring The Paracast logo.
Sunday, July 17, 2011: 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 hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present veteran UFO researcher Dennis Balthaser, who has become extremely disenchanted with the state of UFO research, and is seriously considering whether to leave the field. He'll deliver an update about the legendary 1947 Roswell UFO crash, and will also discuss his long-time interest in the mysteries of the Great Pyramid.
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet
Dennis Balthaser's Site: http://truthseekeratroswell.com/
Coming July 24: Gene and Chris present long-time investigative UFO journalist Don Ecker, a forum moderator for The Paracast, and host of the Dark Matters radio show. Ecker will focus mostly on the frauds he has exposed in the UFO field, but he will also bring you up to date on all sorts of incredible lunar mysteries.
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet
Don Ecker's Site: Dark Matters Radio - Cause it matters in the Dark ! !
Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
On Letting the Critics Set Our Agenda
By Gene Steinberg
It’s easy to put labels on the people who aren’t convinced that there is such a thing as a paranormal event, let alone any semblance of behind a UFO sighting, at least an unearthly sort of reality. You call them debunkers, and pass them by, but the arch critics can sometimes do the sort of investigative reporting that is sadly lacking in these fields.
Take Lance Moody, a resident skeptic who has posted hundreds and hundreds of critical comments on The Paracast Community Forums and elsewhere. To be sure, he believes that every so-called paranormal event has some sort of conventional explanation, if only enough data is available. My biggest criticism of Lance is that he seems apt to want to bait certain people into participating in an online flame war of some sort, and that’s not productive. Regardless, Lance is my friend, and he deserves his due, particularly when his sharp instincts pay off.
Take the case of Philip Imbrogno, a noted author of paranormal books, who has been involved in these fields for several decades. As a contributor to “Night Siege,” also co-authored by the late Dr. J. Allen Hynek, you had to take Imbrogno seriously. So when he claimed to have earned advanced degrees late in life from MIT, there was no reason to be skeptical.
But you had to wonder whether Imbrogno might be going overboard when he also posted pictures of himself wearing a telltale MIT T-shirt. Was he trying a little too hard to promote the connection? It’s also true that Imbrogno made claims, on The Paracast and elsewhere, about encountering paranormal phenomena that sometimes stretched the usual boundaries of credibility. Besides, would someone with all those stellar credentials accept work as a middle school science teacher? Or as an unpaid volunteer for an astronomy club? Surely he was meant for something far more lucrative.
Well, as most of you know, Lance’s suspicions proved correct. There is no record of a Philip Imbrogno, or anyone named Imbrogno for that matter, ever having attended MIT. His earlier educational credentials have been put under the microscope by others, including Don Ecker, a long time UFO investigator and host of the "Dark Matters" radio show, and Ron Collins, one of our forum moderators. It may be that Imbrogno was a poseur right from the beginning.
Imbrogno’s behavior since this discovery has been doubly suspicious. Lance has published emails from Imbrogno claiming he went to school under an assumed name, to protect his privacy from – what? The paparazzi? Hardly. Yet another email to the hosts of a pay-per-listen paranormal radio show claims the MIT degrees were “sealed,” which is equally suspect. At the same time, Imbrogno has halted his writing career and left the field, or so he says.
More recently, Imbrogno posted a vulgar “goodbye” message on a paranormal message board. Laden with misspellings, you had to wonder if it truly was Imbrogno, but those who know him best will point out that the writing style was his, no doubt about it. I pity the editors at the book publishers who chose to put his work into print. Worse, it now appears that Imbrogno may have also fabricated his military record, an act that amounts to a grave insult to the brave men and women who have actually served.
Philip Imbrogno is not the first imposter in the UFO field, nor, I fear, the last. Throughout the history of the field, you’ll find a smattering of personalities sporting fake degrees to buttress their equally fake claims. And, as most of you now, falsifying one’s educational background and work experience is not uncommon in regular life. But it’s not something that anyone other than a potential employer, or perhaps a random investigative journalist, would bother to check.
With millions of people having earned genuine undergraduate and advanced college degrees, we tend to accept such claims without question. Not only is it impolite but highly unproductive to say, “prove it” every time someone claims to possess such degrees.
Besides, having a college degree isn’t a guarantee of success. Our shaky economic climate has forced many with even advanced degrees to accept low-paying jobs, in fast food restaurants and supermarkets, in order to pay the rent. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time, such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, never got their degrees. Jobs, in fact, barely attended college.
Some suggest that the unfortunate Imbrogno episode ought to serve as a wake up call, that one’s claims of having a great education ought to be regularly put under the microscope. That may be going too far, but if someone offers credentials that, on the surface, seem a little too good to be true, maybe it’s time to ask the right questions before others do it for us.
If we hope to have claims of paranormal experiences taken seriously by the “outside” world, we have to clean our own houses first.
The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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
