Stanton Friedman has reiterated calling my book The Rosetta Deception disinformation even though he hasn't bothered to read it. He also said that I am full of baloney and puts forward an article he wrote for the MUFON Journal in 2010 as the basis for his comments. What he doesn't yet realize (because he hasn't read my book) is that his 2010 comments only bolster the book's theory and do no not detract from it.

I didn't respond back in 2010 but since Stan decided to dredge up his article, it is time I set the record straight. I won't address his comments on Roswell because my book is NOT about Roswell. If he had bothered to read it, he probably would have tempered his comments accordingly. Instead, I will focus on Stanton's comments on the subject of disinformation.

Stan says: 

• "I am definitely in agreement with James that disinformation is a very important aspect of hot and cold war activities. Certainly New Mexico is no stranger to disinformation and intentional misinformation. When the extraordinary first nuclear explosion was set off at Trinity site on the White Sands Missile Range on July 16, 1947, at 5:29 AM, it was seen by people as far as 100 miles away. Many calls were made to Sheriff's offices, police forces, etc. In a few days a totally false story was released indicating that an ammunition dump had blown up and that fortunately nobody was injured. It was only after the nuclear detonations on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on August 6 and 9, that the true story came out. The city of Los Alamos, NM, where the scientific work connected with the development of those weapons was conducted was a totally secret city. Nobel prize winning scientists travelled under assumed names. And there were many more examples. A very distressing disinformation release occurred on Sept.12, 1945, when the New York Times quoted General T.F. Farrell, Chief of the War Departmentís mission to Hiroshima, saying that the bomb produced no long lived radioactivity. That was known to be totally false as a result of medical observations of very sick people in Hiroshima a month after the blast."

Thanks Stan for confirming that the NY Times was a conduit for disinformation. I highlight the NT Times complicity in disinformation in my book on page  169.

Stan continues:

• "During World War II there were many examples of Disinformation. The allies made a very elaborate and subtle effort to convince Hitler that the expected invasion of Germany would take place near Calais, France, under General Patton. Instead Normandy was the location. Hitler was fooled and withheld his reserve troops not knowing that Normandy was just a feint. It was too late when he finally responded."

Thanks Stan for mentioning the WW2 disinformation operations that were conducted as strategic deception against the Axis powers. The deception planners that designed and conducted those disinformation operations were the London Controlling Section in the UK and Joint Security Control in the United States. The perpetrators of the 1946 Ghost Rockets just so happened to be the successor members of these two deception planning organizations. On the American side, these included Joint Security Control members  General Hoyt Vandenberg, General George McDonald, General Stephen Chamberlin and General Clayton Bissell, among others. If you read the book you will find extensive footnotes that point to the official documents that show the involvement of these characters.

Stan further asserts:

• "James goes on at some length about a Project Seal supposedly conducted in secrecy by New Zealand, the USA and the United Kingdom towards the end of WW II. The idea was to see if an artificial Tsunami could be created using underwater explosives and causing a huge tidal wave to wash away the Japanese troops on Pacific Islands. He focused on articles appearing in Mid-June 1947 suggesting the project had been working on something as powerful as the atomic bomb and makes much of the timing of one of the articles being in a newspaper next to one about Kenneth Arnold's sighting. For reasons unknown the articles named 2 professionals involved in the project. James is right to ask what that was all about. Was it to tantalize the Russians? But he provides no link between that story and Roswell or the Soviets.

You also failed to mention that the press in 1947 did not know that the already terminated project was a tsunami creator as the project wasn't declassified till much later. Instead the speculation two weeks before Kenneth Arnold had his sighting was that the super secret weapon was an airborne weapon.
When you read my book you will see the connection this story has with the Soviets.

What is that debunking tactic you really hate others using? Oh yes - "What the Public doesn't know, don't tell them

Stan acts surprised when:

• "Carrion doesn't mention the story told by Professor Valery Burdakov of the Scientific Geoinformation Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences in a large article in Rabochhaya Tribuna (the Workers Tribune) in August 1991, Professor Burdakov told how he had been told by Sergey Korolyev, the Soviet Union's top rocket designer,that Josef Stalin had ordered Korolyev to spend time in secret reviewing a number of foreign articles about UFOs including about Roswell. Several Translators were provided."

You won't be surprised Stan to see in my book that this is exactly what the Rosetta Deception was about - to get the Soviets interested first in the Ghost Rockets and later Flying Saucers for a mundane although highly important reason that had nothing to do with ET.  The book will explain how important those foreign articles were to pulling off the deception.

And most importantly Stan, thank you for mentioning that:

• "Korolyev told Stalin the saucers seemed to be real, but were not a security threat to the USSR. Stalin said other scientists had provided the same opinion. Burdakov was asked about the source of the information. His answer was from Spies. We now know, of course that there were, in 1947, Russian spies such as the Rosenbergs and Klaus Fuchs working at Los Alamos."

Yes Stan, the source were Soviet spies because the Rosetta Deception is intimately tied to the Venona Project, the highly secret counterintelligence program that was being conducted from 1946 onward to expose those very spies.

So Stan, thank you for bolstering my book precognitively in 2010. It is too bad your precognitive abilities failed you when you predicted before reading the book, that the Rosetta Deception itself is just disinformation. If you still stand by that comment, then you won't object to a public debate where you present evidence disputing that my book presents anything other than factual evidence backed up by documented sources. 

Stanton Friedman - Look In the Mirror

I will answer Stanton’s comments on the Rosetta Deception by using Stanton Friedmanisms: "Don’t bother with me the facts, my mind is made up and if you can’t attack the data, attack the person."

All of my Rosetta Deception research is based on facts that are well documented in the book. Stanton admits he hasn't yet read the book but then categorically says I am full of baloney. Stanton later says he will read the Rosetta Deception and write an article for the MUFON journal on it but then states that he “predicts the book will be disinformation.”

Astoundingly, later on in the interview when asked to offer an opinion on Stan Romanek, he says “I don’t have enough information to have a reasonable opinion”. When asked about some alleged new Roswell related material recently found in some attic, Stan states, “I don’t know enough to have an opinion” and “why should I replace facts with conjecture?” Uh? Did you not just do that Stan by calling my research baloney and disinformation when you still have not read the book?

So Stanton, here is my response to your penchant at contradicting yourself: Practice what you preach and do your homework and get your facts straight before you commit to an opinion.

The things Stanton said in the interview we can agree on and which should stick out to him when he reads the book and as he is penning his MUFON journal article:

• How easy it is to keep secrets and how important “need to know” is in the
  intelligence community
• The tremendous amounts of money earmarked for the intelligence
  community
• Disinformation is a well-known Government activity and was used heavily in WW2
• The importance of code breaking during WW2, “Thank God for Enigma and
  Purple”
• The enemy reads American newspapers too

Americans Aren't Sure If Trying To Contact Aliens Is Such A Great Idea

Humans have been searching for signs of life on other planets at least since the 1960s, when scientists began scanning the heavens for radio signals that might be evidence of extraterrestrial beings. Scientists even have tried to reach out to aliens by sending out radio messages, beginning with transmissions made in 1974.

But does it make sense for us to try to establish contact with alien life? A new HuffPost/YouGov poll shows that many Americans have their doubts.

It's not that Americans don't think intelligent life exists beyond Earth. Fifty percent think intelligent life is out there somewhere, the poll shows. Nineteen percent think there's no intelligent alien life, and 31 percent say they're not sure.

And 46 percent think it would be possible for humans to contact intelligent aliens. But only 37 percent think it's a good idea to try. Twenty-seven percent said it's a bad idea, while 36 percent aren't sure whether it's a good or bad idea.

Americans who think attempting to contact alien life is a bad idea had differing reasons for saying so. Eight percent of all Americans said it would be a waste of time to try because intelligent life is unlikely to exist. Another 8 percent said they think it might be dangerous, because our efforts might alert unfriendly aliens to our presence.

Five percent said an alien contact program would be a waste of money even if it did work, and 2 percent said it would be too difficult because we lack the necessary technology. Another 2 percent said it would be a bad idea for some other reason.

The poll shows that men are more likely than women to believe intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe (58 percent to 43 percent) and to think that it would be possible to contact extraterrestrial life (53 percent to 40 percent). Forty-one percent of men and 33 percent of women said it's a good idea to try to contact other intelligent life forms, but those who said it was a bad idea gave similar reasons for why.

The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted July 17-19 among 1,000 U.S. adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet
access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.

The Huffington Post has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov's nationally representative opinion polling. Data from all HuffPost/YouGov polls can be found here.

Apollo 14 plus 41: The unexpected benefit of Edgar Mitchell

On January 31, 1971 at 4:04:02 pm local time, Apollo 14 lifted off from Cape Kennedy, carrying Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell into history. When the Command Module Kitty Hawk splashed down in the South Pacific on February 9, the world changed, but not for a reason anyone other than Ed Mitchell could realize at the time.

In the ensuing 41 years, the travails and accomplishments of Apollo 14 have become the stuff of American aerospace legend: the difficulty docking with the LEM prior to translunar injection, Mitchell’s emergency reprogramming of the LEM flight computer, the most precise lunar landing to date, the heartbreaking decision to deploy the second EVA research package 30 meters short of the unseen rim of Cone Crater, the first lunar Olympics, a successful completion of the nearly disastrous Apollo 13 mission profile.

It was a story that epitomized the can-do legerdemain with which the Apollo program gave America a world cultural identity in the late ’60’s and early ’70‘s. It was a triumph of engineering, science, training and ‘right stuff’ grace under pressure. At the time, the ramifications of the mission to the understanding of human consciousness were the furthest thing from anyone’s mind. Except the mind of Edgar Mitchell.

Shepard and Roosa are gone, leaving Mitchell as the last living member of the crew. Which is a good thing for humanity, because in the post Apollo years, he has dedicated his life to a far more complex journey.

And therein lies a story of the unexpected benefits of exploration.

A ‘Nobel Prize’ for Thinking.

The sixth man to walk upon the moon became the seventh person inducted into the prestigious Leonardo da Vinci Society for the Study of Thinking during an induction ceremony at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona in June of last year.

Cosmologist and Astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell, whose academic credentials include a doctorate in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, joined physicist Dr. Michio Kaku and technologist-futurist Ray Kurzweil in the exclusive society.

Mitchell is best known for his exploration of the Fra Mauro highlands. His investiture in the Da Vinci Society, however, was earned for accomplishments after leaving NASA in 1972. These include founding the Institute of Noetic Sciences and more recently Quantrek. Most significantly,
Mitchell has developed a new cosmology that holds promise for an evolution in how we see ourselves in relation to reality around us.

At Quantrek Mitchell assembled a stellar interdisciplinary team of degreed scientists including Dr. Gary Schwartz, Dr. Walter Schempp and long time colleague Dr. Hal Puthoff to detail that cosmology.

The induction ceremony took place during a colloquium and luncheon in the main hall of the UAT in Tempe. UAT founder, Domnic Pistillo, is also the visionary force behind the Da Vinci society.

In welcoming remarks to the attendees, Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman commended the UAT for its innovative approach to education. He concluded by reading proclamation declaring June 3, 2011 as the Leonardo da Vinci Society for the Study of Thinking Day.

The presentation of the award was done by former Phoenix area broadcaster and noted author Charles Goyette, after which Mitchell addressed the audience. He delivered a low-key but powerful assessment of his life's work after Apollo.

Dr. Mitchell's selection as one of the great thinkers of our time is not an honorary degree. His goal is correcting what he sees as a flaw in man’s approach to thinking induced in the 17th century. This mistake placed western scientific thinking within a box of materialist context. That, in turn, precludes complete understanding of the laws of the universe.

From Edgar Mitchell's perspective, the best minds of our civilization are not thinking comprehensively. Until they are, we as a species won't likely get where evolution beckons us.

The Da Vinci Society was established in 2005 when renown expert on lateral and parallel thinking Dr. Edward de Bono was inducted as the inaugural chair. Debono's work explored the way we think. Subsequent inductees have been selected on the basis of what they thought about. Mitchell's unique contribution is to attempt to reconcile what is doing the thinking (mind) with what is being thought about (matter).

René Descartes famously said "I think, therefore I am."

Edgar Mitchell seems to be saying "As I think, therefore reality is."

With his induction into the Society for the Study of Thinking, Mitchell joins a group of thoughtful people. Prior Da Vinci inductees include Dr. de Bono; Dr. Margaret J. Wheatley who investigates speed and change in our society; Dr. Fritjof Capra, author of The Tao of Physics; Dr. Kaku, once called a ‘superhero of the incomprehensible’; Kurzweil, who popularized the concept of a technological singularity; and Dr. Lynn Margulis, a leading proponent of Gaia Theory.

Edgar Mitchell’s cosmology, which he calls the Dyadic Model of Consciousness, fits right into this body of thought. A key component of it is the concept of the Quantum Hologram, derived in 1992 by the German mathematician Dr. Walter Schempp.

The division of Church and Science

According to Mitchell, the origin of an intellectual catch-22 was a deal cut in the 17th century that denies science a complete mathematical description of reality. Western European civilization had been held together during the dark ages by the church. Religion was the fundamental organizing principle of society. Intellectuals were subject to persecution if they discussed ideas at odds with religious doctrine.

The well spring of our current technological society was hopelessly mired in religious dogma. Strict adherence to biblical tenants and religious orthodoxy made attempts to deduce the underlying principles of the real world perilous.
When Galileo used his telescope to gain observational evidence that supported Copernicus's heliocentric thesis, not only did the church officials refuse to even look through the telescope at the evidence, they tried him for heresy.

As a result, scientific thought was imprisoned.

The emerging rational mind was not to be denied, but there had to be a compromise. In the establishment of scientific thinking as acceptable behavior, the reformists cut a deal with the church.

This agreement was actually a faustian bargain. The philosophical dividing line left consciousness exclusive to religion in exchange for science getting the freedom to investigate everything else. Science got chemistry, physics, mathematics, geology, biology and other disciplines which have shaped western technological civilization. The church got spirits, miracles, prayer and an unseen presence that oversees everything.

The dividing line came to be known as Cartesian Duality, the notion that mind and matter do not interact and hence could be considered separately. It was a fatal reductionism that would preclude holistic understanding for centuries.

For over 400 years a fundamental if intangible aspect of the universe was outside the bounds of hard technical science. The catch-22 is that while you cannot understand everything scientifically until you take consciousness into account, if you are a scientist you can’t take consciousness into account.

Thanks to the separation of church and science along the lines of mind and matter, observable phenomenon that are ‘normal’ in the sense that they reasonably derive from a quantum hologram model, got erroneously labeled 'paranormal'. The implied stigma associated with the 'paranormal' prevented scientific minds from investigating a significant subset of the reality they were working so hard to understand.

The distinction between mind and matter lasted until the early 20th century, when quantum mechanics emerged out of classical mechanics. Even so, hard science clung to the notion of Cartesian Duality. Consciousness is still left out of serious scientific consideration for the most part.

Part of the problem is that Newtonian physics explains everyday experience.
It was Newton's equations that enabled a precision landing at Fra Mauro. In addition, the subjective nature of consciousness makes it a difficult phenomenon to study.
It's no wonder the bargain held so long.

An epiphany in space.

Science’s trusty sidekick engineering designed and built the massive Saturn V launch vehicle that injected Shepard, Mitchell and Roosa into low earth orbit over four decades ago.

Ironically, the technology of Apollo afforded Edgar Mitchell the epiphany that would propel him for the rest of his life. On the return trip, Mitchell was no longer preoccupied with the operational checklist. He sat in the capsule and watched the universe slowly drifting outside the window. The capsule was spun to equalize the fierce heat of sunlight and intense cold of deep space.

In a thoughtful frame of mind, Mitchell watched the earth, sun and moon drift past his view in metronomic progression. He had a 'sudden and profound' realization that connected his consciousness with that of the universe around him.

Upon his return from the moon, Mitchell began a search for an explanation for that moment of profound realization. The search would lead him deep into physics theory.

The holy grail of physics is a unified field theory, a 'theory of everything'. The goal is one set reliable of equations that explain all science can observe and measure.
These are currently based on the interactions of four fundamental forces that underly all physical matter: electromagnetism, the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation.

Mitchell thought there must be more to it than that. The answer, Mitchell now believes, lies in thinking outside The Standard Model of physics, the closest current theory set that can explain everything.

Integrating consciousness into the theory of everything would go a long way towards explaining a range of so-called 'paranormal' occurrences, spoon bending,
telepathy, precognition, the apparent teleportation of objects and similar phenomena described in Mitchell's book The Way of the Explorer.

That integration is intrinsically difficult. The mathematics of consciousness are far more complex than those needed to get from Cape Kennedy to Fra Mauro.
The forces that physics grapples with are invisible, however their effects are measurable. Consciousness is both invisible and unmeasurable.

"Fundamentally, I'm a cosmologist." Mitchell says, "And the question is: 'How did all of this come about? How does mind and matter interact? How can we write the equations for intentionality?’" The last question is an example of Mitchell’s thought process.

The path to those answers begins, he believes, with understanding Zero Point Energy. Zero Point Energy is the energy that remains when all other energy is removed from a system.

The direction from there became apparent when Mitchell came across Schempp’s work, which used the notion of a holographic mechanism for conveyance of nature’s information. Reading Schempp's paper, Mitchell had another epiphany.

“My God,” he remembers thinking, “this is what consciousness is about.”

The notion of a Quantum Hologram, Mitchell realized, was the means to include consciousness in the quest for a unified theory. Finally, a mathematical hook was in place to allow consciousness to be part of the equation of everything.
Exactly how remains to be derived, although Mitchell is excited with the initial progress made.

“We have to find a good definition of ‘consciousness’ within the scientific rubric.” Mitchell says, “We think we have a start on it but it's not fully developed."

"Now that we know that consciousness is fundamentally a quantum phenomenon,” he continues, “we can start to look at all of these areas, including alternative methods of healing and on and on."

Building on the realization that the Quantum Hologram model might be able to link General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics through the Zero Point Energy field, Mitchell developed what he calls the Dyadic Model of Consciousness. It is this new model of consciousness that attempts the unification of understanding of mind and matter.

That is the unexpected benefit of Apollo 14.

Path to a new cosmology.

Mitchell's goal is to provide science with a means of understanding the thing that is doing the thinking—our consciousness. In order to do so, he has developed a cosmology that proposes to integrate Schempp's model of the Quantum Hologram into the quest for a unified field theory.

In order to understand this and take the ‘small step for mankind’ from the Quantum Hologram to the Dyadic Model of Consciousness, we must take a brief tour through the history of physics.

Gravitation.

The parable used to illustrate the dawn of the age of reason is of an apple falling from a tree. It hits the head of Issac Newton and a realization strikes him that gravity must be a force acting on an object.

What became known as Classical Mechanics begins with Newton's 1687 publication of his Principia Mathematica. That work put forth the notion of universal gravitation and three laws of motion. This served to explain the observations of Tycho Brahe and Galileo Galilei.

Newton's Principia Mathematica is revered not only for its scientific content but the standard it set for scientific publication. It began a precise dialog that continues to this day, wherein new principles and concepts are described in exacting context of prior work and supported by observational results.

Newton's work would evolve in one direction into orbital mechanics, by which the trajectory of Apollo 14 could be directed to ultimately arrive at a specific location on the surface of the moon. Buzz Aldrin's thesis at MIT was on orbital mechanics. Before that, in 1738, the Dutch-Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli, used it to define Bernoulli's principle, a foundation of aerodynamics.

Newton's work triggered a long list of papers that defined such things as differential equations, generalized forces, the conservation of energy and the canonical equations of motion.

All of this work gave us the foundation to understand gravitation. It is a force working on macroscale objects, things we can handle and identify. These include a spinning baseball that curves in to nip the inside corner of the strike zone or, at astronomical scale, the earth, moon or even a spacecraft in spaceflight.

Thanks to Isaac Newton and a host of successor thinkers, we have gravitation as a fundamental that must be accounted for in a unified theory. Gravitation interacts on all particles that have mass, has infinite range, cannot (to our present understanding) be transformed or shielded against, always attracts and never repels. Gravitation was the first of these fundamental forces to be described mathematically, the litmus test for inclusion in scientific theory.

Electromagnetism.

With the publication of James Clerk Maxwell's 1873 Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism in which the interactions of positive and negative charges were shown to be regulated by one force, the concept of electromagnetism emerged.
Electromagnetism is the force that governs interaction between electrically charged particles. It is also the force that is responsible for observable phenomenon of daily life, beyond those attributable to gravity.

Maxwell's theoretical unification of electricity and magnetism, confirmed by Michael Faraday is described as "one of the key accomplishments of 19th century mathematical physics."

The harnessing of electromagnetism was to the early 20th century what harnessing the steam engine (another result of Bernoulli's work) was to the 19th century. A profound motive force in our society, electromagnetism provided us with the electric light, the electric motor, radio, radar, television.

Understanding electromagnetism was as essential to Mitchell’s journey as understanding gravitation. With the advent of the transistor and its ability to express Boolean logic came the computer chips that performed the calculations that guided Apollo 14 to landing on the moon.

Quantum Mechanics.

As physics probed deeper into the unseen forces that affect matter, it found a realm where bizarre, counter-intuitive effects are at work. This gave rise to notions such as the non-locality of quantum entanglement, wave-particle duality and the uncertainty principle.

A who’s who of famous physicists, among them Max Plank, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger and others contributed to quantum mechanics which, as Richard Feynman remarked, deals with "nature as she is — absurd."

The Weak Force.

The 1930's saw the arrival of Enrico Fermi's description of what became known as the weak Force. It's at this point that physics gets down to business difficult to associate with daily life. The weak force affects sub-atomic particles known as fermions, is responsible for radioactive decay and triggers fusion that powers stars. It is measurable over a very short range and is several orders of magnitude less powerful than electromagnetism.

The Strong Force.

Physics become even less tangible to common experience with the arrival of the theory of the strong force, that has tremendous power over a vanishingly short range. When John Dalton's atomic model was reduced to protons, electrons and neutrons in 1908, there needed to be a force to counter the electrostatic repulsion that would otherwise rip apart the nucleus of the atom. This is the strong force.

From the 1940's through the 60's a cavalcade of exotic sub-atomic particles with whimsical names such as muon, pion, hadron and boson were discovered as theoretical physics went down a rabbit-hole into a world where things got curiouser and curiouser.

By now, it was taking teams of minds to advance understanding. In the early 1970's Murray Gell-Mann and Harald Fritsch proposed a theory that David Gross, Frank Wilczek, and David Politzer extended to allow comparison to experimental evidence, and the theory of quantum chromodynamics solidified.

All that was left, it seemed was to figure out the equations that would wire these four theories together and a theory of everything could emerge.

Steps to unification.

In 1979, Abdus Salam, Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg won the Nobel Prize in Physics for defining the electroweak interaction, which unified electromagnetism and the weak force. With just three puzzle parts to fit together, what became known as the Standard Model emerged, which described a reasonably sensible relationship between the electrowesk, gravitation and strong nuclear interactions. The Standard Model can be thought of as the theory of almost everything. If its component can be melded successfully, physics hopes to arrive at grand unification and understand how everything works.

Relativity, special and otherwise.

In 1905, Albert Einstein published a paper that presented Special Relativity. In it, he generalized Galileo’s principle of relativity, that all uniform motion is relative, from classical mechanics to all the laws of physics. With it came the principle that the speed of light is the same for all observers, regardless of velocity relative to the source. In exchange for that certainty, Einstein introduced seemingly bizarre consequences such as time-dilation and length contraction at excessive speed.

All of this applied to a special case based on the frame of reference where the speed of the observer is constant. Einstein removed that limitation in 1916, with the theory of General Relativity.

There things stand, with science on an increasingly expensive quest to derive experimental evidence that would vindicate one of a number of competing theories as to what exactly goes on at the sub-atomic level.

“The real dilemma in physics these days,” Mitchell says, “is to bring general relativity and the non-locality of quantum physics into synthesis. We still don’t know how to do it. But physics will not be complete until we do.”

Enter the Quantum Hologram

A hologram in popular understanding is a record of a three-dimensional object’s light emissions captured through the process of holography. Projecting a hologram reconstructs the three-dimensional appearance of the object in the perception of the observer, even though the object is no longer there.

Imagine, as Schempp did, a dynamic hologram, produced with Planck’s Black Body Radiation which, Mitchell explains, is “a property of every physical object, has photon emissions that are nonlocal, quantum entangled and carry information about the emitting object that can be recovered and used by perceptive minds.”

The result would be something akin to 'The Force' in Star Wars, an 'energy field created by all living things, that surrounds and penetrates living beings and binds the galaxy together.' It would provide, Mitchell says, “a mechanism for the ancient concept of the Akashic Record which the ancients believed was the inherent record of everything that happens in Nature.” It would also explain Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of morphic resonance, along with a host of paranormal phenomena and a variety of loosely defined new-age concepts.

The reason for this optimism is that the Quantum Hologram theory extends the reach of the spooky effects of quantum mechanics to the macroscale range of everyday life. That would explain many reports once considered religious or spiritual phenomenon, intuition and intention. Lynne McTaggart is  experimenting with intention in search of scientifically valid results.

It’s possible that practical application of the Quantum Hologram effects have been known all along without anyone realizing it. Psychologist Dr. Alberto Villoldo is effectively teaching western minds abilities along these lines derived from knowledge he gained from descendants of the Inca and Q’ero of Peru.

In that context, what Mitchell is seeking might be termed the reunification of mind and matter.

Interdisciplinary investigations.

One of the remaining tasks is to define the means of perception in the brain which translates the projections of the Quantum Hologram into the mind of the perceiver.

Which leads to a discussion of neurophysiology beyond the scope of this article.

The interdisciplinary nature of the investigations Mitchell and the Quantrek team are engaged in is such that it’s easy for skeptics to discount his ideas as preposterous. Like the blind man trying to describe an elephant by feeling its leg, many don’t have a broad enough understanding of the complex puzzle Mitchell is piecing together. Copernicus's heliocentric thesis was considered outrageous 400 years ago, but is now accepted as fact.

Ever patient, Mitchell presses on, despite the controversy inherent in the realm of thought so far removed from what seems to be consensus experience. Consensus experience, however, is still bound by the confines of the box of context that science was confined to at the dawn of the age of reason.

Although popular appreciation of his work remains elusive, progress is being made on the theoretical front, one small step at a time. Mitchell points to a paper done by Weili Lou (a member of the Quantrek scientific team) on Intrinsic Awareness, in which she postulates a form of basic awareness upon which consciousness is built.

Dyadic Model of Consciousness.

At the end of this long trail of increasingly sophisticated models of what is, the summation of Mitchell’s quest, is his cosmology, which he presents in a four page paper at the Quantrek website. It’s demanding reading. The essence is that the Cartesian Dualism is an artificial distinction and that no true 'theory of everything' can stake claim to success unless it accounts for the integration of a theory of mind with a theory of matter. Therefore a new, truly unified model is
required.

Cosmological relevance.

What has all of this to do with UFO's

Two things:

• One is the tantalizing prospect that understanding how the ephemeral awareness of consciousness interacts with classical and quantum physics might lead to an explanation of the fantastic and unbelievable behavior of certain observable phenomena that are lumped into the category of UFO’s. Recent developments suggest that electromagnetism may play an unrealized role in the manifestation of the phenomenon, beyond the notion that the propulsion and control systems might be based on an undiscovered interaction of electromagnetism and gravity.
• Another more pragmatic connection is that Edgar Mitchell is part of a growing demographic: intelligent, thoughtful individuals who have read the valid literature, done their own thinking and come to the conclusion that humanity is faced with an enigmatic phenomenon that represents consciousness so advanced that it often appears, as Arthur C. Clarke put it, 'indistinguishable from magic'. The observed behavior reported is often dismissed out-of-hand by scientists too hamstrung by the tenets laid out at the beginning of the age of reason and too confident in their hard-earned intellectual prowess to acknowledge the implications of evidence they either won't consider or can’t rationalize away. Mirroring the range of life on earth, there is a wide range of exoconsciousness interacting with humanity, with varying methods and motives. It does so in a covert and enigmatic fashion and thus is dismissible by many who don’t look too closely at the evidence. Western technological civilization, or at least its political, media, academic, scientific and military establishments are content ignoring or denying this fact of everyday life.

In both his remarks to a student assembly the day before the induction ceremony and during his acceptance speech, Dr. Mitchell made a brief and direct comment that he believes advanced intelligence exists in the vast universe.
Further, he said, it is already interacting with humanity. Elements of the U.S. Government and industry are aware of this, he said, but are keeping what they know from the understanding of the population by controlling the message of the media and steadfastly refusing to discuss or admit the situation. Ridicule remains an effective weapon in their arsenal, although it grows increasingly strained.

The reason for secrecy and denial of this is traditionally ascribed to concern the public might panic. But more likely an admission that advanced intelligence is already here on earth would challenge the stature of the minority in power in political, media and military establishments. There may be other reasons as well, given how little is actually known about the advanced intelligences and their motives.

Mitchell is as matter-of-fact about the existence of advanced intelligence operating in earth's biosphere as he is about having been to the moon. It would
be a mistake to underestimate his conviction based on the tenor of his presentation. His soft spoken demeanor belies the daring yet thoughtful nature of the test pilot he once was, and at heart, still is.

While others, such as the largely ineffectual exopolitical community, loudly decry the lack of 'disclosure' to little or no avail, Mitchell prefers to simply and quietly educate those he meets to the extent he estimates they are prepared to listen.

Towards an advanced civilization.

If Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of the morphogenic field holds true for humanity, and it certainly must if it is true at all, then when a critical mass of human quantum biocomputers (our brains) start operating with an understanding of how we are all connected, the whole human race will ‘get it’.

That would revolutionize our value system. It would free us from the twin chains of a purely materialistic world view and a religious world view divorced from evidential reality. This duality vexes our civilization and is at the heart of conflict over resources and our lack of stewardship of the ecology, among other things.

Mitchell’s efforts to break the ideological logjam and open up western minds to the point where contact can occur in a more open and official manner are based on two realizations:

Humanity cannot advance to a point where it can join the cosmic ecosystem until such time as it gets past a crippling dependence on dwindling supplies of petrochemical based energy. Or the alternative, the remarkably dangerous practice of generating power through the expensive high-wire act of maintaining controlled nuclear fission to generate electricity.

Nor is it likely advanced intelligences would consider widespread, open contact until humanity evolves spiritually past Cartesian Dualism and out of the ego-based, materialist isolation. Perhaps contact is not possible unless the human mind has learned to operate in a truly Dyadic fashion.

To address the first, Quantrek is actively engaged in research to enable widespread utilization of Zero Point Energy, a process involving nano-scale fabrication of massive diode arrays that could extract virtually limitless amounts of motive power from the quantum level foaming of atomic structure.

To address the second, Mitchell presents his cosmology whenever possible. He realizes the power of the morphogenic field of mass human consciousness. A collective adoption of the Dyadic Model of Consciousness could end the duality between the indigenous people’s belief systems and western technological civilization.

In retrospect, Mitchell's hard scientific data gathered on the moon, while significant and valuable, pales in comparison with his realization of nature of the universe and reality.

If he can get his message into enough minds, something marvelous may be in the offing. Waiting in the wings somewhere beyond 2012 is an evolutionary leap, a revolution in consciousness.

Edgar Mitchell, now past 80, is still a man on a mission.

His mission is not continue to explore the physical cosmos, although he is complementary of the efforts of the New Space community. He is wistfully serious about wanting to break John Glenn's record for the oldest person to go orbit.

His mission is to give human consciousness the means to understand itself.

This article is copyright © 2012 Larry D. Lowe and can not be copied to in its entirity to other websites or email lists without author's written permission.

Permission is granted to include short extracts of this article on websites and email lists with a link to this original work.

‘Alien’-Like Skulls Found in Mexico

Cristina Garcia/INAH

Dec 21, 2012 3:17pm

Archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered 25 “alien”-looking human skulls with in a cemetery in the northwest state of Sonora, they said today.

Some of the skulls showed “deformities,” said Cristina Garcia Moreno, who worked on the excavation project with Arizona State University, which analyzed the bones. The bones are about 1,000 years old, dating from 945 A.D. to 1308 A.D.

“This was an Hispanic cemetery with 25 skulls, and 13 of them have deformed heads,” Moreno told ABC News today. “We don’t know why this population specifically deformed their heads."

Moreno said that scientists had found skulls in other parts of Mexico, including Guasave, south of Sonora that also showed similar deformities in certain groups of people. Scientists believe they put beams of wood on the front and back of individuals’ heads and wrapped the wood with bands to exert pressure on the skull, Moreno said.

“We know that in some parts of Mexico, people deformed their heads because they wanted to distinguish important people or they wanted to distinguish people from one group from another,” she said.

Moreno said that skulls like this had never before been found in Sonora, and that many of the skeletons in the cemetery were those of children.

What's to lose at this point?

Don Berliner, former NICAP investigator and director of the mostly dormant Fund For UFO Research, has some ideas on how to jump-start a sober re-evaluation of The Great Taboo that doesn't involve new research: Declassify all the Project Blue Book files (yes, some are still censored more than 40 years later), assemble a team of independent credentialed scientists to render evaluations on the true unknowns, case by case, and air them out in the contemporary public arena.  No doubt the effort would run into some bucks, but the cases would come from official government files. And non-government panelists wouldn't likely shy away from criticizing the slipshod work of another federal agency.

De Void rarely features guest bloggers, but at 84, Berliner merits some space here, meager though it be. So here's Don:

Why not use original government data to get it right the second time around?/CREDIT: paranormalknowledge.com

For the past several decades, the private UFO community hasn't moved one inch closer to solving the greatest mystery of the past century. Even worse, we've lost almost all our ability to influence the opinions of members of the scientific community, the mainstream media and most of the governments of the world.

We reached our peak in the mid-1960's when the 14,000-member National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), under the inspired leadership of Donald Keyhoe and Richard Hall, had established highly effective relationships with those vital elements of our society. The media, in particular, regularly came to NICAP for facts and guidance. Today, with two national organizations each collecting more than 500 UFO/UAP reports a month, it would be hard to find a reporter who has any clue that such is happening, with the result being that the public has no idea that strange craft are still being seen.

NICAP's facts were produced by the highly qualified and experienced members of carefully selected investigative sub-committees who went out into the field to find out what had actually happened, not to reinforce anyone's preconceived opinions nor to add to anyone's collection of allegedly unexplained events.

There are changes that can be made to improve the situation:

• 1. Get rid of "UFO", which to most people means "flying saucer," and that means alien spacecraft. In other words, "UFO" is a conclusion, when it should be no more than a starting point. A replacement is ready and waiting: "UAP," meaning Unexplained Aerial Phenomena. Many of the scientists in the private UFO community have been using this for years.
• 2. Get rid of "Ufology" and "Ufologist," which strongly imply that the collecting of information and the subsequent study of it constitute a science.
  It will remain no more than a hobby until we make drastic changes in the way we view the subject and our own involvement.
• 3. While we're at it, let's add "sincere" to our list of words to be dropped.
  The category of people most needing to be considered sincere is "con-artist."
  And while we certainly aren't suggesting that more than an occasional sighting witness deserves to be in that group, using it to describe someone who hasn't been subjected to an extensive background investigation is passing judgement on the basis of emotion, rather than logic.
• 4. Stress the need for field investigators having advanced educations and/or practical experience in appropriate scientific fields. By including hobbyists and "saucer fans," we are actively discouraging the participation of the very
  people we need most. Imagine a curious scientist joining a field investigation, only to find himself working alongside someone who is in serious danger of flunking freshman chemistry. The scientist won't be back, while the marginal student will.
• 5. Forget about trying to influence the U.S. Congress as a way to force the release of a large quantity of withheld government information. Members of Congress lack both the will and the motivation needed to risk their jobs over an issue that promises little beyond embarrassment. Let's face it: one of the easiest ways to replace a sitting member is to accuse him of believing in flying saucers. He or she may be able to withstand personal attacks based on financial or sexual misconduct, but not on something viewed by peers as suggesting a serious lack of common sense.
• 6. Start using the Hynek "Strangeness/Credibility Scale" to pin-point UFO/UAP reports having the potential for adding to the accumulated knowledge of UFOs/UAPs. Cramming filing cabinets with sightings of meandering night lights amounts to nothing more than wasting time on trivia. It is the quality of cases that will eventually pay off, not the quantity.
• 7. Perhaps the biggest step we can take in the near-term is to stop behaving like the mystery has been solved and all that remains is to lay out the evidence for the ignorant masses to absorb. In fact, the UFO mystery has not been solved, nor will it be until we have acquired proof, not merely debatable evidence. Just because we haven't been able to come up with logical, non-alien explanations for hundreds of baffling cases doesn't mean that there aren't any. Maybe we have overlooked something subtle that could change the picture.

Just what will constitute proof?

• 1. Clear, sharp photographs that can be scientifically verified and which show sufficient detail so that they could not possibly be of anything terrestrial.
• 2. Government documents that can be scientifically confirmed as original (not photocopies), and which include specific information whose authenticity can be checked.
• 3. Physical evidence such as obviously unusual debris from one or more crashes, whose origins can be traced with confidence and whose properties do not resemble anything found on Earth. The professional scientists or scientific organizations doing the analyses must be willing to sign their names to any reports.

We aren't going to get any of the above by sending out "saucer fans" to interview people who claim to have seen funny lights. We have to start taking the mystery as a serious challenge, and not as entertainment or a way to attract attention to ourselves.

[Got any ideas for Don Berliner? rofuf@konsulting.com -- De Void]

America, The Cause and Solution to UFO Research: Jacques Valle to the Rescue

The problem with American UFO Research: Jacques Vallee has a
Solution

At 1am eastern on July 28th, 2014 we all were able to tune in to one of the most important 2 hours of the year in talk radio, in my opinion of course. George Knapp, long time weekend host for the overnight juggernaut we know and love as Coast to Coast Am, had Jacques Vallee on as a special guest. Jacques sounded well, upbeat and as always full of knowledge that you will not find at your local conference or internet radio show and realistically not on my weekly show either but, we can dare to dream. The fact is if you had to create your own version of a Mount Rushmore of UFO/UAP researchers mine would have Jacques Vallee on it 4 times. You didn’t really expect me to rattle off 3 other researchers did you? It is a fantasy Mount Rushmore and mine will have the same person on it that I know for a fact is not in the field of research for fame, big money or fabulous prizes. The man is a venture capitalist, need I go further in dispelling any idea he is here for money? No? Good. As for the fame and fabulous prizes, he has already had that 40 years ago. I don’t need to go into detailed defenses on a mans credibility because Jacques Vallee is the only one for sure that is not lying to me.

American UFO research is predicated on a few things and one of which that holds up the entire field is the propriety of collected data. That’s right, the data that various research organizations, feel free to name your own alphabet soup group if you wish to fill in the blank, is locked away for safe keeping or worse minimized. Why? Well, there are various legalities that can be trotted out about how it’s a step to protect the abductee/witness which is of course necessary. What happens next is a side effect that not many intended and has been perpetuated for decades. The data dies a slow death in a hard drive or folder creating what I call a Mind Cemetery, literally. The events, ideas, thoughts, feelings and facts get hidden from the world. Most importantly, other research organizations.

When I call the data from cases collected proprietary then I mean it becomes theirs to do so as they wish. Most organizations, big & small alike hold onto the data for the purpose up pitching it to a production company as a way to get more exposure/interest/memberships. In the cases of individual researchers it seems that the case data slides right into whatever narrative that researcher is promoting. This is where it gets greasy. This is the breeding ground of the mentally disturbed, ever vigilant, never questioning and always praising… fan or the long version fanatic.  Now, a symbiotic relationship exists that must be feed, nurtured to grow bigger and inevitably less intelligent, like a mindless rabble. It pays well to have a big tent. It pays well to play to an already paranoid base by blaming the same Gub’ment boogy-man. It’s safe and we all hate the boogy-man.

The solution that Jacques Vallee spoke of is simple: Develop an international database, Yes this means you too America. 

A one-stop shop internet database of every piece of digital or soon to be digitally converted data from all UFO/UAP research organizations in America. Lofty? More like impossible. With the field the way it is now and the same old language being used it’s looking more and more like researchers using Unidentified Aerial Phenomena are on the right track. The less people who keep using pseudoscience labels such as Ufologist the better.  Change the language, open the faults and increase the collective knowledge. Forget the fantasy of Disclosure. That ship has sail and caught fire like a viking funeral. If any alien visitor et al. wanted to let you know they were here they would do so themselves. Asking a congressperson to watch a DVD and then bring it to the floor for discussion is career suicide in/out of election years. These things we know to be obvious but, for some reason the band plays on. Propriety.

Ask, Why?

Ask your favorite UAP research organization, be it one you are in or one you follow closely, because they gained your trust. Is this organization willing to participate in an international data base? If not, why? I bet you hear about witness/abductee confidentiality concerns which are very real and should not be taken lightly. That is unless you get some cash flashed at you then the books come flying open. That was proven the fact with a highly popular organization and an independent space pioneer. Notice how the concerns for the public’s best interests melt away with cool cash. I leave it up to the community, the culture that we have right now and the people most interested in the subject to call their local researcher tell them you want your case to be apart of a national database like Jacques Vallee has discussed. I understand the server requirements, logistics and such need to be worked out. They get worked out a lot sooner the more interest that comes Jacques Vallee’s way.

Be proactive and push the UAP researchers as individuals and organizations to work with Jacques Vallee.

Jacques Vallee is worthy of the communities trust.

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Careful what you ask for

by Billy Cox, Herald-Tribune

Radioastronomer Seth Shostak, last making headlines in May alongside colleague Dan Wertheimer by appearing on Capitol Hill to appeal for congressional SETI funding, is one of the nicest, brightest and most approachable scientists you’ll ever want to meet. Even during disagreements over
The Great Taboo, the SETI Institute’s senior astronomer is unfailingly cordial.
So when British chemist Erol Faruk tuned into a podcast in which  Shostak asked listeners to send him “just one good example” of UFO evidence, Faruk took him at his word.

Sometimes it just doesn't matter how prepared you are .../CREDIT: www.pintinterest.com

The results of Faruk’s quixotic quest for a fair hearing from Shostak and mainstream science have just been released in his self-published ebook on Amazon. It pretty much strips away the myth that institutional scholars would welcome Great Taboo data if Only They Had Decent Stuff To Study. Its title is a mouthful - The Indisputable Scientific Evidence for a UFO Landing and Deposition (aka The Delphos Case) that was denied Publication by Scientific journals — but it’s a relatively succinct reiteration of the hallmark timidity that characterizes — or more aptly, impedes — America’s learning curve into terra incognita.

First, Erol Faruk has what exclusive groups like to call standing. He has a PhD in chemistry, worked research posts at Oxford and Nottingham universities, and became a development chemist at the corporation that became GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals. He has published peer-reviewed papers in arcane industry journals such as Helvetica Chimica Act, and The Journal of Antibiotics. He holds several formula patents. He speaks the language.

Years ago, Faruk got interested in the 1971 Delphos, Kan., UFO case. No need to rehash the whole thing here, you can read all about it online, but what sucked him in was the ring of glowing soil it left behind.
The family took pictures moments after the UFO took off, local media and law enforcement converged on the scene, and the ring scars lingered long afterwards.
Fungal growth was the chief suspect at the top of the conventional explanations list, but it couldn’t account for the temporary blindness alleged by one witness, nor the numbing sensation reported by another who touched the glowing earth when it was still fresh.

Faruk, years later, subjected several grams of affected soil to chemical analysis and discovered some puzzling behaviors in the sample compounds, including an apparent paradox in water soluble and water repellent properties.
Most intriguing to him was how, as he would later write, the UFO “appears to have contained within its periphery an aqueous solution of an unstable compound whose likely sole function would be light emission.” Many UFOs are reported to glow. Maybe these trace effects held implications above and beyond this single event.

Faruk’s research was published in the Journal of UFO Studies in 1989.
Analytical chemist Phyllis Budinger later weighed in with her own study.
Budinger interpreted some of Faruk's findings differently, but she also discovered complexities that he had missed. JUFOS published Budinger's work in 2002.

Their combined efforts vanished with little comment. Faruk figured maybe that was because they were circulated in narrow-niche publications, and that it needed more eyes. So he decided to approach mainstream science journals, starting with Nature, the bible, in 2012. Maybe the exercise was doomed from the beginning, given the title of his paper — “The search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence on earth; strong chemical and physical evidence for the existence of an unconventional luminescent aircraft (commonly called a UFO) observed by multiple witnesses at a farm in Delphos, Kansas, USA.” Ugh, that acronym again. But this is where things get interesting.

After being initially rejected outright since his work had been previously published, Faruk explained how the paper could be reworked to satisfy Nature’s exemptions to that rule. But the Nature editor declined to even run it past journal  referees. He said he was “unable to conclude that the work provides the sort of firm advance in general understanding that would warrant
publication.”

(De Void will interject at this point that De Void would have run with the editors’ names. Faruk stated in an email “I didn't wish to put any names on journal editors, since this isn't a personal issue. Each of the editors have to watch their own backs anyway, and aren't likely to risk their own careers by publishing material their bosses might not be happy about.” De Void would rgue the unnamed editors could earn brownie points among fraternal colleagues by being recognized for standing firm against The Great Taboo, but whatever ...)

Anyhow, Faruk shopped it to the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, which informed him “the subject matter is not within the [journal’s] publication scope.” When Faruk reminded the editor a UFO-related paper had been published in its ostensibly unsullied pages seven years earlier, the editor retorted that was under another regime. “As I am Editor of JBIS,” he assured Faruk, “it is not my policy to promote the publication of UFO report papers.”
The same editor admitted he hadn’t even read Faruk’s paper, “although I am sure it is a good read.” And oh, btw, “This is not to say it isn’t a worthwhile ‘phenomenon’ to study, I just don’t believe JBIS should be the home of such studies, where a higher standard of scientific rigor is required.”

Ouch. And without even reading it. Faruk would later discover JBIS had run yet another UFO article — alien abductions, actually — in 2010. JBIS declined to respond to Faruk's subsequent appeals for additional discourse.

Enter Seth Shostak’s encouraging podcast solicitation for UFO evidence. So Faruk forwarded his material to the guy. “I’m not a chemist, so can’t really speak to how unusual this ring was,” Shostak wrote back. “... And beyond that, the SETI Institute doesn’t investigate UFO sightings (we don’t have the staff ... we’re a very small group.”)

Oy vay!

We can solve this riddle -- but first we have to know it's in the approved category/CREDIT: braininjurysociety.com

Faruk wrote back with emphasis on the “potentially chemiluminescent substance” that could put the evidence into a “special category.” Shostak responded that “Odd arrangements (of) unusual material ... could have prosaic explanations” falling far short of a smoking gun. Faruk wrote that was the whole point, to put it out there to encourage more investigation: “The only thing I can think of as a ‘clincher’ is to do an isotopic analysis of the precipitated soil compound and check for anomalies.

Shostak’s riposte: “What I would suggest is that you submit this to a refereed journal.”

(De Void: EEEEEEEEE!!)

Faruk told Shostak he’d already been rebuffed by JBIS. Shostak wrote “Too bad, Erol. JBIS would have been one of those I would have recommended.”

So, eight months after telling it to the hand, Faruk approached JBIS again, going through its website channels. Same editor, same response: “Please don’t take the rejection personally. It is simply my editorial policy to not publish UFO papers. This is not because I don’t think that field of study is worthy but because I think there are other more fitting journals which specialise in this area and JBIS does not, by my choice.” Said editor referred him to other UFO magazines.

Faruk protested again. The editor restated his policy, and that of his advisory board, none of whom had read Faruk’s article, either. “I agree it’s one of the biggest scientific problems,” conceded the JBIS boss. “Keep in mind that NASA and ESA scientists publish in JBIS. How would they feel about it? It’s a tough one. Need to maintain academic credibility. But I say again, this doesn’t devalue the worth of your work. Keep doing it.”

Shostak actually seemed to sympathize with Faruk, and added, “I know that it sounds as if the world is against this, but that’s really not true. The International Journal of Astrobiology publishes stuff that’s controversial if the referee feels that the evidence presented is decent.”

So Faruk went to the IJA. The IJA editor replied “This is not a rigorous research paper.” Faruk asked for clarification. “We need detailed chemical analyses not just morphological analyses,” the editor countered. “In my opinion you have the ground for the formation of a hypothesis, but not the proof.
Suggest a few alternative hypotheses and test them experimentally as well.”

Faruk: “If there is someone out there who could suggest another explanation, I would be interested to hear it. But in order to do that, the paper needs to be published to allow alternative explanations to be forwarded. I cannot myself — in all honesty — suggest an alternative hypothesis.” The IJA locked the door this time.

Faruk approached yet another journal, called simply Astrobiology. Response: “We are unable to publish your manuscript as UFO’s do not fall within the scope of our Journal.”

Faruk continued to bounce ideas off Shostak, who was clearly at the end of his rope with Faruk’s persistence: “You could always go for a self-published book. I have a stack of those, actually ... so yours wouldn’t necessarily stand out, unless what you say is quite different.” Bottom line, Shostak declined altogether any further speculation with Faruk on the Delphos mystery.

Wonder if that podcast offer to evaluate UFO data still stands ...

Rare TV interview with Admiral Richard E Byrd 'There is a secret land mass the size of the US'

As fighting continues in Israel and Gaza, astronauts living aboard the International Space Station can see signs of the deadly conflict from space.

Alexander Gerst, a German astronaut with the European Space Agency, posted
photos to Facebook and Twitter today (July 23) showing Israel and the Gaza Strip alongside a grim caption.

"My saddest photo yet. From the International Space Station we can actually
see explosions and rockets flying over Gaza and Israel," Gerst wrote on Facebook underneath two nighttime views of the region.

Israeli troops and Hamas militants have been embroiled in conflict for more than two weeks, exchanging heavy fire that has left 680 Palestinians and 34 Israelis dead so far, according to the Associated Press. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon went to Jerusalem in an attempt to help broker a ceasefire, but as of Wednesday afternoon, no such deal had been struck.

"We have certainly made some steps forward and there's still work to be done," Kerry said in remarks today before his meeting with Ban.

For all their risky and difficult work, the astronauts living on the space station are rewarded with a rare view of the planet. They see neon green auroras hovering over the curvature of Earth and the floodlit veins of big cities at night. But not every vista inspires wonder and appreciation, and Gerst is hardly the first astronaut whose view has been tarnished by destruction, both natural and manmade, on the ground.

On Sept. 11, 2001, NASA astronaut Frank Culbertson captured a photo of a plume of smoke billowing from the World Trade Center after two hijacked planes crashed into New York City's twin towers. From an altitude of 220 miles (350 kilometers), Expedition 26 astronauts could see the lingering floodwaters from the devastating tsunami that swept over Japan on March 11, 2011, after a huge 9.0-magnitude earthquake. Another group of astronauts aboard the space station photographed the damage and flatted buildings in Port-au-Prince in the days after a massive earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010.

Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+.
Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+.
Originally published on Space.com.

The Rosetta Deception

JAL 1628: Capt. Terauchi's Marvellous "Spaceship"

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on December 30, 1986, "The crew of a Japan Air Lines cargo jet claimed that a UFO with flashing white and yellow strobe lights followed them across the Arctic Circle in route from Reykjavik, Iceland, to Tokyo" (p.1). On January 1, 1987, that paper reported, "A veteran pilot whose UFO sighting was confirmed on radar screens said the thing was so enormous that his Japan Air Lines cargo jet - a Boeing 747 - was tiny compared with the mysterious object" (p.2). Feeling the heat, the FAA soon re-opened its investigation of the incident. "The reason we're exploring it is that it was a violation of airspace," said FAA spokesman Paul Steucke. "That may sound strange, but that's what it was" (p. 4).

Capt. Terauchi (from People Magazine).

The FAA reviewed its data, and found reasons to doubt its earlier statements.
By Jan 8, the press was reporting,

The FAA has concluded that the unidentified object on radar now appears to be an unexplained split image of the JAL Boeing 747 and not a separate object .... The review of radar data indicates that no second object was present and represents a reversal of earlier FAA statements that a second object was confirmed on radar. "The bottom line is that this tells us that we don't have any radar confirmation of the object that the pilot said he saw," Steucke said (p. 5).Philip J. Klass investigated, and soon CSICOP issued a Press Release, written by Klass (p. 7):

•  At  the  time  the UFO incident began near Ft. Yukon, the JAL airliner was  flying  south  in  twilight  conditions  so  that  an extremely bright Jupiter  (-2.6  magnitude) would have been visible on the pilot's left-hand side, where  he first reported seeing the UFO, according to Klass. Jupiter was  only 10 degrees above the horizon, making it appear to the pilot to be at  roughly  his  own  35,000  ft.  altitude.  Mars,  slightly lower on the horizon, was about 20 degrees to the right of Jupiter but not as bright....Although  the  very  bright  Jupiter,  and less bright Mars, had to be visible  to JAL Capt. Kenjyu Terauchi, the pilot never once reported seeing either  -- only a UFO

Capt. Terauchi's UFO, as he reported it 

Many  of  the  colorful  details  of  the incident carried by the news media, largely based on the six-week-old recollections of the pilot of JAL Flight  1628,  are  contradicted by a transcript of radio messages from the pilot to FAA controllers while the incident was in progress. For  example, news media accounts quoting the 747 pilot said that when he  executed  a  360 degree turn, the UFO had followed him around the turn. But  this  claim  is contrary to what the pilot told FAA controllers at the time.

An interesting historical footnote: in the press release, Klass credits "astronomers Nick Sanduleak and C. B. Stephenson, of Case   Western   Reserve  University,  in  Cleveland,  for  their  valuable assistance  in  computing  the  positions  and bearings of bright celestial bodies relative to the 747 airliner at the time of the incident." In February 1987, the month after this press release was issued, southern hemisphere astronomers discovered Supernova 1987a, in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was the brightest supernova seen from Earth since 1604, easily visible to the naked eye. Researchers discovered that the progenitor star (before the Supernova explosion) was a blue giant star known as  Sanduleak -69° 20. Yes, that Nick Sanduleak (1933-1990). He catalogued the stars of the Large Magellanic Cloud. He also discovered Sanduleak's Star, a very unusual object in the Large Magellanic Cloud, with a "giant, highly-collimated bipolar jet." In his spare time he attended CSICOP conferences, where I met him several times, a very friendly fellow.
Unfortunately, he died of a cardiac arrest a few years after this.

The FAA issued an in-depth report, with primary references and interviews included.
Unfortunately, the FAA charged $194.30 for the complete package, including all written records, photographs, and all tape recordings. It wasn't exactly a best-seller: not too many people were sufficiently interested to send in almost $200 for information about a UFO report. In fact, it sounds very much like the
FAA constructed this expensive package to deter the many persons badgering them for information on the case. But that didn't deter Philip J. Klass.

Klass wrote an article in The Skeptical Inquirer, Summer 1987: "FAA Data Sheds New Light on JAL Pilot's UFO Report." It was reprinted in the book, The UFO Invasion (Prometheus Books, 1997), Kendrick Frazier, Barry Karr, and Joe Nickell, eds.
Klass wrote,

• The FAA data package reveals Terauchi to be a "UFO repeater," with two other UFO sightings prior to November 17, and two more this past January, which normally raises a "caution flag" for experienced UFO investigators. The JAL pilot is convinced that UFOs are extraterrestrial and when describing the light(s) Terauchi often used the term spaceship or mothership.

 During his January 2 interview with FAA officials, Terauchi said that he believed the "mothership" intentionally positioned itself in the "darkest [easterly] side" of the sky because "I think they did not want to be seen." This enabled the UFO to see the 747 "in front of the sunset and visible for any movement we make." In his report to the FAA, he expressed the hope that "we humans will meet them in the new future"... [On January 11] he again reported spotting unusual lights in roughly the same area while on a repeat flight from Paris to Anchorage...

[Terauchi] always failed to mention that two other aircraft in the area that were vectored into the vicinity of the JAL 747 to try to spot the UFO he had been reporting were unable to see any such object... [Flight Engineer Yoshio Tsukuba] "was not sure whether the object was a UFO or not"... When the copilot [Takanori Tamefuji] was asked if he could distinguish these lights "as being different" from a star, he replied: "No."

Bruce Maccabee has written a very long report (as is his habit) on the JAL 1628 UFO. If you want to read every detail of Capt. Terauchi's account, it is here. Maccabee wrote,

• CSICOP was not finished with the case.  Evidently even Phil Klass could see that his Jupiter-Mars explanation had failed. In the Summer, 1987 issue of the Skeptical Inquirer he published a new analysis.  [Actually, Jupiter was still part of Klass' analysis, but the fainter Mars was not.] This time the lights were explained as reflections of moonlight from the clouds and “turbulent ice crystals.”   (Recall that the air crew reported thin clouds below them.)  
  According to Klass the turbulent ice crystals “could have generated flame-colored lights” and “this would also explain why the undulating lights would periodically and suddenly disappear and then reapper as cloud conditions ahead changed.  When the aircraft finally outflew the ice clouds and the initial ‘UFO’ disappeared for good (the Captain) would search the sky for it, spot Jupiter further to the left and conclude it was the initial UFO.”  Klass attributed the airplane radar sighting to “an echo from thin clouds of ice crystals.”

KLASS’s explanation verges on scientific garbage.  There is no reason to suppose that moonlight reflected off ice crystals in the clouds would generate “flame colored lights.”   Klass’ explanation certainly could not account for the heat which Terauchi felt on his face.  Nor would it explain the distinct arrays of flames or lights associated with two independently flying objects that appeared ahead of the plane and ABOVE for many minutes (the clouds were reported to be below the plane).

Artist's conception of Capt. Terauchi's UFO

While I tend to agree that moonlight reflecting off clouds would probably not make a very good "UFO" display, there are so many sources for 'lights in the sky' (including 'lights on the ground,' which Terauchi agreed with the FAA was an explanation for his January 11 UFO sighting) that once the main "UFO" has been demoted from a giant "mothership" to 'unexplained lights,' it no longer impresses us as much of a mystery. Even J. Allen Hynek was dismissive of  'lights in the sky' UFO reports. The bottom line is, Terauchi's own flight crew saw only 'lights,' and other aircraft checking out the situation saw nothing unusual.

The case merits a chapter (#22) in Leslie Kean's book, UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record. Written by John J. Callahan, he claims that Terauchi's crew "both saw it, too." Of course this is false - they saw only lights, not the giant spaceship that Terauchi reported. Callahan also claims that "it flew alongside his jet" after he turned, but (as Klass notes), this contradicts what Terauchi told FAA controllers at the time. Callahan ices the cake with his claim that the CIA has over 30 minutes of radar data confirming Terauchi's UFO, but they refuse to release it, to prevent public panic.

Kean is enormously impressed by pilot sightings, which she describes as “a unique window into the unknown.” She writes that pilots
“represent the world’s most experienced and best-trained observers of everything
that flies… these unique circumstances potentially transform any jet aircraft
into a specialized flying laboratory for the study of rare anomalous phenomena.”
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the late USAF Project Blue Book consultant who Kean repeatedly cites as a respected UFO authority, came to exactly the opposite conclusion. On  page  271  of his 1977 book The Hynek UFO Report, he  wrote, “Surprisingly, commercial and military pilots appear to make relatively poor witnesses.” Kean actually quotes from other pages of that book, but makes absolutely no mention of Hynek’s low opinion of pilot sightings.


Re-reading Terauchi's own statements about the incident, I don't think that anyone could call him an unbiased or objective observer. 

UBO's (Unidentified Box-like Objects) - Part 2

This post has been difficult to write because, ultimately, my main interest lies with how and why the element of boxes became so prevalent, and in that sense it doesn't really matter if some details in a report turn out to be lies or confabulations, only that it has been influential enough in further reproducing this particular element of UFO culture. At the same time, though, I clarity to the Gum Creek story.
I hope readers will be able to follow both of these trails. I have done my best to separate them.

The Finnish-Australian Connection

This article appeared just as details of the Imjärvi encounter were slowly unfolding, with details of the flying saucer being revealed in the very same issue. To be more precise, this means that the Plympton and Gum Creek encounters were not only featured a few months prior to the details about the Imjärvi humanoid (which happened in FSR issue 5, 1970), but were also printed in the main medium where the case was unfolding.

It should also be mentioned that Colin McCarthy's “versions” of both the Gum Creek and Plympton encounters are included in Eileen Buckle's ”The Scoriton Mystery” from 1967, which became a very popular book at the time (although for very different reasons) and therefore one to be referenced heavily. What remains a bit unclear, is why this article was included in a 1970 issue of Flying Saucer Review, when the cases covered had already been featured in a book which everyone in the UFO field knew about, 3 years earlier. But first a resumé of the accounts themselves, as they are presented in McCarthy's article:
In the early spring of 1963 (perhaps a typo, as there is no doubt that it happened in 1964) in the Adelaide suburb Plympton, South Australia, two boys of 9 and 10 years old witnessed a glowing disc like object land in a nearby field. Out of it came an approximately 7 ft tall humanoid with red skin (as if it was freshly sun-burnt), wearing a tight tunic, gauntlets, purple cape and leather cap. The tall entity also had a belt with a panel-like contraption, which it was constantly fiddling around with. After spotting the boys, it went back into the craft where another similar being was briefly seen appearing in a window. The craft took off with a humming sound.
In his article, Colin McCarthy makes an attempt of verification by drawing a parallel to the Gum Creek incident, which according to him hadn't yet gotten any publicity at the time of the Plympton encounter (and therefore couldn't have inspired the boys' story):
A few weeks prior to the Plympton encounter, In Gum Creek (about 100 miles north of Adelaide), a woman was woken up one night, by a strange light coming through her window. She looked out, and spotted a humanoid carrying a box-like contraption, about the size of a large cake tin, which it was directing towards certain areas of the garden. When it discovered her, it pointed the box in her direction, from which came a buzzing and clicking sound. According to McCarthy, the description of the humanoid “...agreed exactly with that given by the two Plympton boys.” 

If we put aside any technical issues about the investigation for now, the obvious question we are presented with is: Could Heinonen and Viljo have read McCarthy's article in that issue of Flying Saucer Review, and then confounded the details from the two encounters, if only on a subconcious level?
It certainly seems both possible and plausible, as they would be well aware that Flying Saucer Review was the main publication for their gradually unfolding tale. There is no way one can overlook many of the similarities between the Imjärvi humanoid and the two above: the similar garments, the belt with a panel, and of course the box. Put these things together, minus of course a few details such as the difference in height and skin color, you have almost all the main features of the Imjärvi humanoid. 

But...

As much as I found all this to be a revelation (although I might not be the first to have it), it still raises further questions. Because, even if the Plympton and Gum Creek incidents were erroneously reported, and confounded, of the type of cases I talked about in part 1 - many of which took place several years before in...Finland.
The basic elements of the Imjärvi humanoid encounter had been experienced there, long before anything of the sort happened in Australia, and therefore, so to
from anywhere. But perhaps all it needed was a revitalization, which was then (coincidentally?) provided by Colin McCarthy's article? Maybe there is another more subtle connection too, since there was quite a diaspora of Finnish people in Australia, during the years 1947-1971? Are UFO experiences so independent of any will always take precedence, achieve a life of it's own, and further perpetuate UFO mythology? 
These are interesting questions for sure, and some can in part be answered. But I would like to save that discussion for a later post, and instead look at another, more accurate, account of the Gum Creek incident. Regarding the Plympton case, it seems that Colin McCarthy got some of the details wrong here too, and that the boys could perhaps have heard about what happened at Gum Creek after all. I won't go further into it than that, but instead suggest that you look at this post on Keith Basterfield's blog, where Gum Creek is referred to as the Clare Incident. 

The "real" Gum Creek

This similarity between "the box" and a Brownie camera becomes even more clear, when looking at this sketch by John Burford from 1968, approved by Doris Player herself.

Hope you enjoyed this little detour, and feel ready for a part 3 in the very near future.
Main Sources:
Albert Rosales' Humanoid Catalogue: http://ufoinfo.com/humanoid/

Buckle, Eileen: The Scoriton Mystery (1967)

WATCH LIVE NOW: Experts Discuss Search for Habitable Alien Worlds-

•  Kepler-186f, the first Earth-size planet orbiting in the habitable zone of its star, is just one of the many potentially habitable planets in the Milky Way galaxy.CREDIT: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech

A panel of scientists and engineers will talk this afternoon (July 14) about the ongoing search for exoplanets that may be capable of supporting life, and you can follow along live in the window below, courtesy of NASA TV.

NASA is hosting the exoplanet discussion, which takes place Monday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. EDT (1800 to 1930 GMT) at the space agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C. You can ask questions via Twitter during the event by using the hashtag #AskNASA.

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will give opening remarks, then turn things over to the panelists, who include:

• — Ellen Stofan, NASA’s chief scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington
• — John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator, NASA's Science
  Mission Directorate in Washington
• — John Mather, Nobel Laureate and Senior Project Scientist for the Webb
  telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
• — Sara Seager, MacArthur Fellow and Professor of Planetary Science and Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
• — Dave Gallagher, director for Astronomy and Physics, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
• — Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and Telescope Scientist for the Webb telescope

More Resources: 

10 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life   

The Strangest Alien Planets (Gallery)

5 Bold Claims of Alien Life

REPLAY: Buzz Aldrin Visits Space.com to Discuss Apollo 11 Anniversary

Famed Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin will visit Space.com today (July 14) at 12p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) in a live Google Hangout to help us mark the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, and discuss his vision for the future of human space exploration. You can follow Buzz Aldin's Apollo conversation with Space.com live on our Google+ page, as well as below here as the event begins. 

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NASA's Apollo 11 moon landing  mission was an iconic event in human history. It marked the first time humans ever set foot on another world. Buzz Aldrin  served as the Lunar Module Pilot on that mission, with Neil Armstrong  as Commander and Michael Collins  as Command Module Pilot. Aldrin became the second man to walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 flight, after Armstrong, and the trio received a hero's welcome when they returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. Five more manned moon landings would follow by 1972. [Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 Moonwalker, in Photos ]

To mark the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11, Aldrin launched the Apollo 45 Project this month to invite the public to recount memories of the Apollo 11 moon landing. You can learn more about Apollo 45 Project via its YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/apollo45

More Resources: 

Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin Launches Campaign for 45th Apollo 11 Anniversary

NASA's Historic Apollo 11 Moon Landing in Pictures

NASA's 17 Apollo Moon Missions in Pictures

Photos: New Views of Apollo Moon Landing Sites

Live NASA Television
/roadcast live streaming video on Ustream

HD Views from the International Space Station

NASA is now live-streaming views of Earth from space captured by four commercial high-definition video cameras installed on the exterior ofthe International Space Station. The project, known as the High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment, aims to test how cameras perform in the space environment. Full Story: NASA Now Streaming Live HD Camera Views of Earth from Space
Live streaming video by Ustream

• Earth From Space: Amazing Astronaut Photos
• UrtheCast Photos: HD Cameras Watch Earth from Space Station: Gallery
• Photos: Amazing Images of Earth from Space
• Planet Labs Photos of Earth from Space: Gallery
• Astronaut Chris Hadfield's Amazing Photos of Earth From Space

REPLAY: SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell Talks USSpaceflight Future

SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell will discuss the private spaceflight company's achievements in commercial space travel in a live Atlantic Council event in Washington, D.C., and you can watch it live here beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT):

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The Atlantic Council webcast will be moderated by Bharath Gopalaswamy,deputy
director of the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center, and will be focused on the rise of SpaceX's commercial rockets and Dragon spacecraft. It will run through 11:45 a.m. EDT
(1545 GMT).

From the Atlantic Council: "SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell will address the company's ongoing efforts to support commercial, civil, and national security customers with All-American launch services and the challenges faced in introducing change to government national security space launch acquisition."

More Resources: 

• How SpaceX Dragon’s Taxi to ISS will Self-Land
• Meet Dragon V2: SpaceX's Manned Space Taxi for Astronaut Trips (Photos )
• 6 Fun Facts About Private Rocket Company SpaceX
• Quiz: How Well Do You Know SpaceX's Dragon Spaceship?

At 11 a.m. ET: National Academy of Sciences Committee of Human Spaceflight

The NAS Committee on Human Spaceflight will hold a press conference today on the future of manned spaceflight un the United States to mark the release of a new report on American spaceflight capabilities. The press conference will begin
at 11 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) and can be seen live on the NAS human spaceflight committee website here: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/DEPS/ASEB/DEPS_069080

If possible, Space.com will embed the webcast as well.

Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration" is an upcoming report from the National Research Council that describes the rationales for, and value of, human spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit. Written by a diverse committee of experts, the report develops recommendations that could guide the U.S. human spaceflight program in a sustainable manner.

NASA Satellite TV Information:

NASA TV is available in continental North America, Alaska and Hawaii on AMC-18C. A Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) is needed for reception. Below are parameters for each channel:

Uplink provider = AMC 18 C
Transponder = 3C
105 degrees
W
C-Band
Downlink Frequency: 3760 MHz
Downlink Polarity:
Vertical
Transmission Format = DVB-S, 4:2:0
FEC = ¾
Data Rate = 38.80
Mbps
Symbol Rate = 28.0681
Modulation: QPSK/DVB-S

You can follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Space aliens walk among us? Indeed, claims retired Temple prof

While most people might write off UFO believers as deluded, conspiracy-theorist kooks, Jacobs isn't your typical believer.

He was a tenured professor at Temple University, where he taught American history for 36 years before retiring in 2011. He's a married father of two who lives in a picturesque, 134-year-old Victorian just over the Philadelphia line, in Wyndmoor. He makes his case with well-reasoned, articulate explanations and applies a scholarly approach to his research, which he has shared in four books - printed by well-known and academic publishers.

Jacobs has interviewed about 150 people who say they've been abducted by aliens, the forgotten details of their cosmic kidnappings resurfacing in relaxation sessions the self-taught hypnotist does in his home.

Citing public polls, he estimates that aliens have abducted more than a million Americans.

He readily admits that the evidence of extraterrestrial life and body-snatching is "weak," muddied by an abundance of blurry photos and confabulation (phony or misinterpreted "memories").

Yet he insists evidence exists:

• * Abductees independently report similar experiences and recall common
  details, such as the humanlike or insectlike appearance of aliens and their
  mission to breed.

Many abductees told Jacobs that aliens stared deeply into their eyes, sometimes touching foreheads, in a neurological scan that enabled them to harvest human sperm and eggs. Women frequently claimed that aliens impregnated them, removed the alien-human hybrid fetuses from their wombs and forced the women to nurse the hybrid babies.

• * People are physically absent during the time they say they were abducted, Jacobs said. Some families even have reported loved ones missing or seen them vanish, he added.
• * Abductees sometimes are taken in groups; strangers who never met on Earth recall each other from their deep-space experiences, Jacobs said.
• * People return with unusual marks, injuries or scars - including scar tissue that formed overnight, "a biological impossibility that I have seen myself," he saidis iconvenient truth

For years, Jacobs shunned speaking locally about alien abductions.

"I knew that it was embarrassing to the university," he said, remembering one Temple donor who threatened to end his charity unless Jacobs quit  teaching his UFO class, the only one like it in the country.

But he didn't quit. Still, his beliefs carried a cost: Tenured in 1981, he said he was twice rejected for promotion and never became a full professor at
Temple.

"I was not rewarded for my views," Jacobs said. "But you do not often find yourself in the middle of a phenomenon that allows you to make a contribution to something that could be of unsurpassing importance in human history."

Jacobs is among a small but surprising array of well-known folks who reportedly believe in extraterrestrial life, including former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, former astronauts Edgar Mitchell and Gordon Cooper, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and celebrities Mick Jagger, Dan Aykroyd, Muhammad Ali and William Shatner.

On the skeptical side

Critics aren't swayed by the big names.

Even smart people can believe weird things, said Michael Shermer,  founde rand editor of Skeptic magazine and a Scientific American columnist.

Shermer interviewed Jacobs for his weekly NPR show, shortly after Jacobs' 1999 book, The Threat, was published. Shermer said Jacobs "spoke like an academic" but that his beliefs are rooted in his "circular, impenetrable argument" that sneaky aliens have lulled skeptics into disbelief and complacency.

William Hartmann, a senior scientist at the Arizona-based Planetary Science Institute, described Jacobs' methods as concerning: "Dr. Jacobs' website describes 'alien abduction' reports extracted under hypnosis, but my sense is that most of the scientific community gives little credence to reports coming from hypnosis," Hartmann said.

Hartmann said he and other scientists examined "photo evidence" of UFOs as members of the U.S. Air Force's "Condon Committee" in the late 1960s.

"I went in hoping to find real evidence of some extraordinary phenomena, but I came out feeling we had no convincing evidence we could take back to Congress or the USAF or public, and that the sociology of the UFO phenomenon was much more interesting than any actual physical evidence like the alleged photos," he said.

The SETI Institute is a private, nonprofit science group based in California that searches for signs of extraterrestrial life. But a spokesman declined to comment on Jacobs or the possibility of aliens on Earth, saying that SETI hunts for signs of alien life in deep space, not here.

No 'gee-whiz thing'

Jacobs himself says he has never seen a UFO nor been abducted by aliens. "I've never been to Japan either, but that doesn't mean Japan doesn't exist,"he
said.

He remains undaunted by skeptics. He has been a believer since he first began researching extraterrestrial life in 1970.

As a college student, he read about aliens and UFOs "for R&R" - but became entranced when he thought: "This could be real," he said.

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he switched his doctoral dissertation from the portrayal of women in pre-1915 films to the UFO controversy in America.

He began focusing on alien abductions in the 1980s and vows to continue that research even as it terrifies him more each day.

"I used to think it was the most amazing, wowee, gee-whiz thing," Jacobs said. "But the more I learn about it, the more I fear it, the more I don't want to have anything to do with it."-

That's because he suspects that aliens are intent upon planetary domination, as humans remain mired in ignorance and denial.

"This is a clandestine phenomenon," Jacobs said. "There is one thing that I can say for sure: They don't want us to know what they're doing - because what they're doing benefits them and not us."

Take the quiz: Have you ever been abducted by an alien?

On Twitter: @DanaDiFilippo

Blog: phillyconfidential.com

This Morning: 'Teleporting isn't just possible, it's already happening'

A comment made at the end of today's ITV This Morning programme by the gorgeous and brilliantly clever Professor Brian Cox was an astonishing bit of news that I would have thought was newspaper headline stuff.

He told Phil and Holly that yes, we can already teleport things. That means, he said, that you destroy something in the place where it is now, and then make it appear somewhere else. Not a copy, but the actual same thing. It could be a person, or an animal or a car or a flower. At the moment though, it is just tiny molecules, but they are managing to teleport stuff that is bigger and bigger all the time, and there is no reason why in the future we can all teleport ourselves around as a means of transport. The professor said we could even one day teleport ourselves across the Universe - like Star Trek.

When Brian Cox talks about science, he makes it fascinating, and easy to understand. If he was your physics teacher at school you know you'd get an A*.

We were reminded that his TV career started on ITV This Morning years ago, and we saw VT clips of him doing science experiments - some quite dangerous ones - and some funny - with Phil and Fern

The professor was on the show to talk about his award winning science/comedy radio show with Robin Ince, called 'The Infinite Monkey Cage.' The 10^th series of the popular show starts on BBC Radio 4, Monday July 7th at 4.30pm. He also discussed an exciting new series he's fronting soon on BBC 2 called The Human Universe.

He explained that one of the things they would be looking at is 'what came before the big bang' that created the universe we occupy. The universe is 13.8 billion years old and there had to be a point where it was created, so what was there before? Scientists now have theories, he said, that there was an ongoing massive expansion of space and that when it stopped the big bang happened. More theories being investigated are that there were lots of big bangs happening, not just ours, and that means there will have been other universes, millions of them being created too.

(Previously on ITV This Morning: My dolls are attached to the souls of the dead)

It is possible, said the professor, that there could be parallel universes going on right now that are duplicates of our own, and of us.

If that doesn't blow your mind for a Thursday morning - I don't know what will!
Aurora James is a single parent, published author, professional journalist, keen home cook, and yo-yo dieter. An expert at family budgeting, useless at DIY, so an avid viewer of ITV This Morning

I-Team: Crossing the line into Area 51 gets caught on camera

LAS VEGAS -- A tour bus carrying visitors to the edge of the top secret Area 51 military base has done something that many people have only fantasized about doing. It crossed the line and entered the base.

The driver and his four passengers learned a quick lesson about how serious Area 51 is about its boundary and its security. And the entire incident was captured on video.

In the 25 years since I-Team reports first put the once unknown base on the map, tens of thousands of curious people have trekked out to take a peek.

A few strayed over the line, on purpose, and were quickly scooped up. As far as we know, this is the first intrusion caught entirely on video and it nearly caused the tours to be shut down.

Area 51's years in obscurity ended in 1989 when news reports about classified projects at the Nevada base set off a stampede of UFO seekers, aviation watchers, and media. The base is still a favored location for classified military projects, so security is justifiably tight.

Motion detectors, high-tech cameras, the ominous cammo dudes and warning signs, which declare deadly force is authorized. The signs themselves have become photo ops, the money shot for guided outings like those operated for 15 years by Adventure Photo Tours.

“Some of them are just curious. They don't know what it's about. Others believe they have been abducted. Other people believe they are aliens and they want to go back out there to hopefully get back home. We get all kinds of people,” Adventure Photo Tours co-owner Donna Tryon said.

Tryon says the typical tour includes stops at main shrines of Area 51 lore: the ET highway sign, the Little A'le'inn, and the holy of holies, the very edge of the base itself.

But there is one thing the tour most certainly does not include.

“Our guys make it a point to tell the passengers that, you know, you can't go over that line, and if you step over that line, you're on your own,” Tryon said.

But on May 28, it happened to driver Denis Ryan and his four passengers, all of it recorded, inside and out. The video shows Ryan and group having a good time, zipping toward the edge of 51.

At precisely the wrong moment, one of the tourists asked Ryan a question about sports books. It was just enough of a distraction that he blew right past the warning signs, and kept on going.

After 45 seconds or so, Ryan started looking around, wondering where the cammo dudes were.

Less than two minutes after crossing the boundary, the passengers inform Ryan that a white truck is right on their tail.

“A gentleman in full military garb gets out. The one on the passenger side, he had a fully automatic rifle,” Ryan said.

Ryan says the military men told him he had crossed the line and was trespassing on a military installation.

Inside the vehicle, the tourists, a couple from the UK and a mother and son from the East Coast, thought it was all part of the tour, actors playing their part.

“They said they would let the company know, ‘you took us the extra mile.’ They thought it was part of the whole process,” Ryan said.

They soon learned it was no act.

“I apologize for this. Those are the Men in Black,” Ryan told his tour.

After Lincoln County deputies arrived, the driver and passengers were pulled out, cited for trespassing, and given court dates.

The projected fine: $650 apiece and a misdemeanor conviction. Co-owner Will Tryon contacted Lincoln County District Attorney Dan Hogue and tried to get the out of state passengers off the hook.

“We were afraid they would issue a bench warrant for these people, turn good tourists into criminals,” Will Tryon said.

But Hogue wasn't budging. He suspected it was done on purpose.

The company decided that if the citations stuck, they would close down the tours to 51, which would be a blow to the fragile rural economy.

What the DA didn't know until the I-Team contacted him is that the incident was on video. One look at video, and the expressions on these faces, and the DA knew it wasn't intentional. The driver has to pay but the passengers don't.

Driver Denis Ryan is now barred for at least two years.

Lincoln County has an arrangement with Area 51. It handles all trespassing cases. The DA told the I-Team that while tourism dollars are important to the county, so is the base, which generates a lot of tax revenue.

After the I-Team told him about the video, the DA agreed to drop the charges against the passengers, but on one condition: that no video recorded by the van's forward camera be made public. That camera recorded cammo dudes coming from the other direction.

ExMinistry of Defence UFO project insider examines the facts