THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
July 17, 2016
www.theparacast.com
Gene and Chris Talk Shop 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 new Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features and Classic Episodes. Check out our new “Lifetime” membership! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
This Week's Episode: It’s shop talk time once again, as Gene and Chris take extra time to catch up on a host of subjects, including how to treat guests with wacky viewpoints, whether Chris is, of late, more accepting of a possible extraterrestrial solution to cattle mutilations, music and beliefs in UFOs, and strange sounds from time and space. Or from somewhere. We even include a few samples with which to assault your eyes. The discussion also focuses on upcoming guests, and there is, yes there are, a few moments of politically-related chatter and a response to people who prefer we not talk politics. After focusing on the harmful effects of trust funds on some of the rich and famous, Gene mentions his pal, the late Jim Moseley, and how he might have saved more of his fortune had he left well enough alone.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on July 17: Gene presents a special interview with Nick Pope, the former UK Ministry of Defence official, well known for his investigation of the Rendlesham Forest UFO case. But he wears another hat for this interview, that of conspiracy theory skeptic. The discussion focuses on the JFK assassination, the rumors that Paul McCarney is dead, the premature deaths of certain rock stars, 9/11, and even UFOs. While admitting some conspiracies are real, he focuses mostly on the ones that he believes do not hold water, reminding us that it’s very common to disbelieve what the government tells us.
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.
Thoughts of Life in Outer Space
By Gene Steinberg
If I believed everything I believed when I was 21, I’d be ashamed of myself. I like to think the decades have brought with them not just creaky bones, but a little wisdom. So the things I accepted as true then are no longer taken seriously.
Some of that is simply due to the fact that science has discovered a few things over the years, and theories that may have been regarded as possible once upon a time has been shown to be less so once more data was available.
Take the possibility of life on Mars. In the mid-1950s, people who believed UFOs were spaceships may have also believed the red planet to be a possible source. That came at a time when the possibility of canals was yet to be discarded.
Martian life and canals were long part and parcel of sci-fi in books, movies and TV shows. Popular early fiction, such as the John Carter tales from Edgar Rice Burroughs, depicted Mars as a dying planet and the canals as decaying waterways of a bygone age. In the comic book world, writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa created the Martian Manhunter, also known as J’onn J’onzz, for DC Comics.
Despite the growing skepticism of the prospects for any intelligent life on Mars, the Martian Manhunter has became a popular character over the years. He’s even featured on The CW’s “Supergirl” TV show, mixing the live actor, David Harewood, with CGI. Comics and TV shows based on them do not need to depend on science for their influences.
In the 1950s, UFO contactees often spoke of two main sources for their friends from space — Venus and Mars. Again, science didn’t matter.
Today, astronomers regard Mars as a mostly dead world. But having water, perhaps tiny microbes still exist there, but it would take a stretch to theorize that the Martians over the centuries migrated to more hospitable quarters beneath the surface of the planet. And, no, nobody expects to encounter giant green shapeshifters, such as the Martian Manhunter.
Still, there are some who find possible artificiality in various formations on Mars. Are we seeing the images of ancient beings who have long since died off, or traveled elsewhere for safety? Are humans the real Martians, or is that just the result of the DNA from meteorites that contaminated Earth’s biosphere?
And maybe, just maybe, we are seeing beings in those formations that are not really there. It’s just another Rorschach test.
When I was first exploring the unknown as a child, I naively believed that life could exist on Mars. All those juvenile sci-fi shows on TV, such as “Captain Video,” were especially primitive in their depiction of beings from space, and considerations of scientific accuracy were seldom taken into account. These shows were, after all, mostly designed for children. TV executives had difficulty imagining that adults might actually enjoy adult sci-fi fare, and I can imagine how hard it was for producer/writer Gene Roddenberry to bring “Star Trek” to the small screen.
If anyone cares, 50 years after “Star Trek” premiered on NBC, you can thank none other than Lucille Ball for saving the show. It was originally produced by her studio, Desilu (the company she originally founded with Desi Arnaz). She still believed in the property after the original pilot was rejected by network executives as too cerebral, and lobbied them to consider filming a second pilot with a mostly new cast. The changes included recasting the captain, which brought William Shatner as Captain Kirk aboard the Enterprise, and the rest is history.
In passing, Captain Kirk and crew never attempted to convince us that Venus and Mars had intelligent life.
That sad, several worlds in our solar system appear to have water, sometimes liquid, so it’s quite possible there is some form of life there. But that doesn’t mean evil insectoid beings from Titan are poised to attack us, or that such life is even intelligent in the traditional sense of the term.
Scientific discoveries have allowed us to widen our horizons, and we now know about loads of exosolar planets, some of which may be possible sources of life. From there, it’s not hard to extrapolate the possibility that some have spawned intelligent life, that there are indeed civilizations advanced enough to perfect space travel.
Maybe some of those beings are visiting us, and thus the theory that UFOs are extraterrestrial gains credibility. It doesn’t yet translate into iron-clad proof, but it raises all sorts of fascinating possibilities.
The “Star Trek” universe depicted a galaxy rich with life in various shapes and sizes. The prevailing optimism was that, despite the mercurial warrior Klingons and the evil Romulans, there were plenty of planets populated by intelligent creatures who were only too happy to become part of a galactic Federation and combine their efforts for the betterment of everyone.
Well, except for the fact that the crew of the Enterprise seemed to almost always encounter warlike creatures with whom to do battle.
Some UFO believers suggest there may indeed by a real counterpart to “Star Trek’s” Federation, and that races of Space Brothers may, some day, encourage us to join with them. It would involve a sort of real life “First Contact,” in which humans are formally accepted by a race of beings who have been aware of our presence, waiting for us to ready ourselves to receive that invitation. Sort of like the Vulcans.
But to assume that intelligent beings become kinder and gentler because they possess more advanced technology is unrealistic. That ET has more fancy toys than we do doesn’t mean they are any less war-like than we are. The overriding thesis of “Independence Day” and its less successful sequel, is that the aliens are locust-like beings who conquer a planet, exploit its resources, and move on to another conquest in giant city-sized mother ships.
The message is that we shouldn’t trust someone or something merely because they are advanced beings from outer space.
While some claim to have contacted peaceful Space Brothers, there is really no reason to believe the words and thoughts of those beings. Why should anyone assume they are telling us the truth? Perhaps they are pulling the wool over our eyes to fulfill goals that may not in any way favor humanity.
Besides, even if they appear to be human or humanoid doesn’t mean that is their true form. I suppose you can consider the concept of the reptilian creatures in TV’s, “V”,” or Whitley Strieber’s “Alien Hunter” novel, adapted into a TV show, “Hunters,” which recently concluded its one and only season on SyFy.
I can’t help but recall the scene in the movie “Contact,” based on the Carl Sagen novel, in which the protagonist, a radio astronomer portrayed by Jodie Foster, meets up with ET, who appears to her in the form of her late father. The creature tells her that she couldn’t accept its true form.
It’s a smart but far from unique concept. That creatures are smarter than us, more advanced than us, doesn’t mean we should take them at face value. Their true appearance could be utterly grotesque. And their claims of being benevolent could represent a Trojan Horse maneuver meant to quietly take us over for reasons best known to themselves.
What you see — or think you see — may not at all represent what’s really there. But that goes for UFOs too. Are we really seeing their true form, or do we subconsciously filter the image to something more acceptable? Or is this phenomenon the result of deliberate manipulation by trickster-type elements that are playing games with us?br>
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!
July 17, 2016
www.theparacast.com
Gene and Chris Talk Shop 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 new Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features and Classic Episodes. Check out our new “Lifetime” membership! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
This Week's Episode: It’s shop talk time once again, as Gene and Chris take extra time to catch up on a host of subjects, including how to treat guests with wacky viewpoints, whether Chris is, of late, more accepting of a possible extraterrestrial solution to cattle mutilations, music and beliefs in UFOs, and strange sounds from time and space. Or from somewhere. We even include a few samples with which to assault your eyes. The discussion also focuses on upcoming guests, and there is, yes there are, a few moments of politically-related chatter and a response to people who prefer we not talk politics. After focusing on the harmful effects of trust funds on some of the rich and famous, Gene mentions his pal, the late Jim Moseley, and how he might have saved more of his fortune had he left well enough alone.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on July 17: Gene presents a special interview with Nick Pope, the former UK Ministry of Defence official, well known for his investigation of the Rendlesham Forest UFO case. But he wears another hat for this interview, that of conspiracy theory skeptic. The discussion focuses on the JFK assassination, the rumors that Paul McCarney is dead, the premature deaths of certain rock stars, 9/11, and even UFOs. While admitting some conspiracies are real, he focuses mostly on the ones that he believes do not hold water, reminding us that it’s very common to disbelieve what the government tells us.
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.
Thoughts of Life in Outer Space
By Gene Steinberg
If I believed everything I believed when I was 21, I’d be ashamed of myself. I like to think the decades have brought with them not just creaky bones, but a little wisdom. So the things I accepted as true then are no longer taken seriously.
Some of that is simply due to the fact that science has discovered a few things over the years, and theories that may have been regarded as possible once upon a time has been shown to be less so once more data was available.
Take the possibility of life on Mars. In the mid-1950s, people who believed UFOs were spaceships may have also believed the red planet to be a possible source. That came at a time when the possibility of canals was yet to be discarded.
Martian life and canals were long part and parcel of sci-fi in books, movies and TV shows. Popular early fiction, such as the John Carter tales from Edgar Rice Burroughs, depicted Mars as a dying planet and the canals as decaying waterways of a bygone age. In the comic book world, writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa created the Martian Manhunter, also known as J’onn J’onzz, for DC Comics.
Despite the growing skepticism of the prospects for any intelligent life on Mars, the Martian Manhunter has became a popular character over the years. He’s even featured on The CW’s “Supergirl” TV show, mixing the live actor, David Harewood, with CGI. Comics and TV shows based on them do not need to depend on science for their influences.
In the 1950s, UFO contactees often spoke of two main sources for their friends from space — Venus and Mars. Again, science didn’t matter.
Today, astronomers regard Mars as a mostly dead world. But having water, perhaps tiny microbes still exist there, but it would take a stretch to theorize that the Martians over the centuries migrated to more hospitable quarters beneath the surface of the planet. And, no, nobody expects to encounter giant green shapeshifters, such as the Martian Manhunter.
Still, there are some who find possible artificiality in various formations on Mars. Are we seeing the images of ancient beings who have long since died off, or traveled elsewhere for safety? Are humans the real Martians, or is that just the result of the DNA from meteorites that contaminated Earth’s biosphere?
And maybe, just maybe, we are seeing beings in those formations that are not really there. It’s just another Rorschach test.
When I was first exploring the unknown as a child, I naively believed that life could exist on Mars. All those juvenile sci-fi shows on TV, such as “Captain Video,” were especially primitive in their depiction of beings from space, and considerations of scientific accuracy were seldom taken into account. These shows were, after all, mostly designed for children. TV executives had difficulty imagining that adults might actually enjoy adult sci-fi fare, and I can imagine how hard it was for producer/writer Gene Roddenberry to bring “Star Trek” to the small screen.
If anyone cares, 50 years after “Star Trek” premiered on NBC, you can thank none other than Lucille Ball for saving the show. It was originally produced by her studio, Desilu (the company she originally founded with Desi Arnaz). She still believed in the property after the original pilot was rejected by network executives as too cerebral, and lobbied them to consider filming a second pilot with a mostly new cast. The changes included recasting the captain, which brought William Shatner as Captain Kirk aboard the Enterprise, and the rest is history.
In passing, Captain Kirk and crew never attempted to convince us that Venus and Mars had intelligent life.
That sad, several worlds in our solar system appear to have water, sometimes liquid, so it’s quite possible there is some form of life there. But that doesn’t mean evil insectoid beings from Titan are poised to attack us, or that such life is even intelligent in the traditional sense of the term.
Scientific discoveries have allowed us to widen our horizons, and we now know about loads of exosolar planets, some of which may be possible sources of life. From there, it’s not hard to extrapolate the possibility that some have spawned intelligent life, that there are indeed civilizations advanced enough to perfect space travel.
Maybe some of those beings are visiting us, and thus the theory that UFOs are extraterrestrial gains credibility. It doesn’t yet translate into iron-clad proof, but it raises all sorts of fascinating possibilities.
The “Star Trek” universe depicted a galaxy rich with life in various shapes and sizes. The prevailing optimism was that, despite the mercurial warrior Klingons and the evil Romulans, there were plenty of planets populated by intelligent creatures who were only too happy to become part of a galactic Federation and combine their efforts for the betterment of everyone.
Well, except for the fact that the crew of the Enterprise seemed to almost always encounter warlike creatures with whom to do battle.
Some UFO believers suggest there may indeed by a real counterpart to “Star Trek’s” Federation, and that races of Space Brothers may, some day, encourage us to join with them. It would involve a sort of real life “First Contact,” in which humans are formally accepted by a race of beings who have been aware of our presence, waiting for us to ready ourselves to receive that invitation. Sort of like the Vulcans.
But to assume that intelligent beings become kinder and gentler because they possess more advanced technology is unrealistic. That ET has more fancy toys than we do doesn’t mean they are any less war-like than we are. The overriding thesis of “Independence Day” and its less successful sequel, is that the aliens are locust-like beings who conquer a planet, exploit its resources, and move on to another conquest in giant city-sized mother ships.
The message is that we shouldn’t trust someone or something merely because they are advanced beings from outer space.
While some claim to have contacted peaceful Space Brothers, there is really no reason to believe the words and thoughts of those beings. Why should anyone assume they are telling us the truth? Perhaps they are pulling the wool over our eyes to fulfill goals that may not in any way favor humanity.
Besides, even if they appear to be human or humanoid doesn’t mean that is their true form. I suppose you can consider the concept of the reptilian creatures in TV’s, “V”,” or Whitley Strieber’s “Alien Hunter” novel, adapted into a TV show, “Hunters,” which recently concluded its one and only season on SyFy.
I can’t help but recall the scene in the movie “Contact,” based on the Carl Sagen novel, in which the protagonist, a radio astronomer portrayed by Jodie Foster, meets up with ET, who appears to her in the form of her late father. The creature tells her that she couldn’t accept its true form.
It’s a smart but far from unique concept. That creatures are smarter than us, more advanced than us, doesn’t mean we should take them at face value. Their true appearance could be utterly grotesque. And their claims of being benevolent could represent a Trojan Horse maneuver meant to quietly take us over for reasons best known to themselves.
What you see — or think you see — may not at all represent what’s really there. But that goes for UFOs too. Are we really seeing their true form, or do we subconsciously filter the image to something more acceptable? Or is this phenomenon the result of deliberate manipulation by trickster-type elements that are playing games with us?br>
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!