Episode 102: Fact Far Stranger Than Fiction
Skitz, one of the household cats, simply won't leave me alone. I've often wondered what it is about cats that makes them so perceptive.
After doing a lot in the way of research (the reason I haven't been making my posts as of late) I've determined that fact is far stranger than fiction. When I was younger, I thought I knew everything. It's only now in my adulthood that I realize that I don't know jack. I've been listening to people's stories, reading over accounts, poring over videos and basically flooding my senses with gobs of material on things that haven't been explained.
I wonder if the world that we see, smell, touch, taste and hear is all that there is? I'm almost certain it can't be. I've experienced things that I couldn't explain or quantify and I've heard of things that can't be written off...unless you'd just rather not think of them because there's a belief system to protect.
Cats, on the other hand, seem to be perceptive to something. I'm still unsure as to what it is. I've watched Skitz, Isis and Izzy running around the house batting at what seems to be open air; nothing at all. Still, I have to wonder if they're seeing something that I'm simply just not seeing. I've seen plenty of stuff like that and none of it can be quantified properly.
Now, the new X-Files movie is coming out and, I'm going to go see this because I'd seen the first one in the theater but this one is the one I hope wraps up some loose ends. I guess it was in preparation for this movie (which I'll end up seeing a week from Friday due to work) that I decided to go on another one of my kicks to see just what I could find that isn't quantifiable or explainable but fascinating nonetheless. In that time, I've learned some basic numerology, heard stories of spiritual experiences of extreme athletes, the dirty dealings of The RAND Corporation, Daniel Sheehan's testimony of the Karen Silkwood case and his examination of UFO evidence...you name it, I've probably looked at it. Even then, there were things that I looked at and didn't fully believe. Why? Well, lots of reasons.
Chances are, if you have a story, you know what happened at the very base. You can figure out what was said in conversations, that you went from one place to another, that you ate something that day, etc. There are facts that can be rattled off the top and during a question and answer session, you should be able to provide at least most of the answers without seeming too hesitant. The story about the Athiest meeting an extraterrestrial who claims to be his guardian angel but didn't bother to ask him about the existence of God...I'm not too sure about that claim. I would have at least asked about His nature or how Divinity really works or what in the Bible did we as humankind royally fuck up. He never bothered answering one of these questions. He says the curiosity struck him but I see it didn't get the better of him or he couldn't be bothered to answer. He just seemed too hesitant to me.
Many others were able to come in and put it all on the table. Others played it a little close to the vest due to book sales. Others still...the story just didn't add up.
As a kid, I was always fascinated by the paranormal and the unexplained. How others never even became curious is something I think I'll never understand. I've been ripped from one place to the other. I've travelled through a fog I'm still not sure of. I've seen things I'd called "crazy" actually happen and through it all I still encounter skeptics and negativists. I like skeptics...I don't have any problem with them but the negativists have got to go. I've noticed that the negativists are hardly needed to be loud and noisy if what their claim of us being our own worst enemies are true. I wonder...if the claim is so true then what threat do we represent to anyone other than ourselves? According to one report (Journal of The Inquiring Skeptics of Upper New York Vol 1, Issue 7), the mere act of believing in UFOs "even though they aren't real" matters because "Devoting one's life to a fictitious belief is a terrible and unproductive waste of time and energy."
The paper itself begins without a good analysis of the UFO phenomena at all, simply makes mere mention of the Betty and Barney Hill case, dismisses it in a wave of opinion stated as fact and then spends much of it's time on two forms of lightning discovered in recent history (i.e. roughly the past 40 years.) I would dare say that this is not the work of a skeptic, it's the work of a negativist.
Already his own work crumbles under the weight of the burden of proof. Many of those who research UFOs work for a living and are not living on government subsidy, they're doing it on their own time and their focus is not simply limited to the world or even to that one subject but a universe of extreme possibility.
It is my opinion that the act of climbing to the top of a high slope and then sliding down it at high speed on nothing but a board is dangerous and unproductive but does it matter that others are doing it? No. Does it matter whether or not I do it myself? Yes. I have weighed the outcomes and have based my decision on it.
Unfortunately, the ability to stay on topic does nothing to devalue the research (which isn't even given mention much less critically analyzed.) A true skeptic would take the casework and put the cases point-by-point through analysis using the scientific method to the test. This brief piece of anecdotal work does nothing remotely resembling that.
Still, supposedly, I am my own worst enemy. I still continue to get paid at my job (oh no!) I still manage to eat, shower and take care of myself and my surroundings everyday (holy crap!) and I still...even to this day...maintain a healthy social life, internet radio show, a vast array of hobbies and I even find time to work out (the horror and humanity!) If that's what it means to be my own worst enemy then leave me to it. I'm perfectly happy with the harm I'm doing to myself.
Thank you...goodnight.
After doing a lot in the way of research (the reason I haven't been making my posts as of late) I've determined that fact is far stranger than fiction. When I was younger, I thought I knew everything. It's only now in my adulthood that I realize that I don't know jack. I've been listening to people's stories, reading over accounts, poring over videos and basically flooding my senses with gobs of material on things that haven't been explained.
I wonder if the world that we see, smell, touch, taste and hear is all that there is? I'm almost certain it can't be. I've experienced things that I couldn't explain or quantify and I've heard of things that can't be written off...unless you'd just rather not think of them because there's a belief system to protect.
Cats, on the other hand, seem to be perceptive to something. I'm still unsure as to what it is. I've watched Skitz, Isis and Izzy running around the house batting at what seems to be open air; nothing at all. Still, I have to wonder if they're seeing something that I'm simply just not seeing. I've seen plenty of stuff like that and none of it can be quantified properly.
Now, the new X-Files movie is coming out and, I'm going to go see this because I'd seen the first one in the theater but this one is the one I hope wraps up some loose ends. I guess it was in preparation for this movie (which I'll end up seeing a week from Friday due to work) that I decided to go on another one of my kicks to see just what I could find that isn't quantifiable or explainable but fascinating nonetheless. In that time, I've learned some basic numerology, heard stories of spiritual experiences of extreme athletes, the dirty dealings of The RAND Corporation, Daniel Sheehan's testimony of the Karen Silkwood case and his examination of UFO evidence...you name it, I've probably looked at it. Even then, there were things that I looked at and didn't fully believe. Why? Well, lots of reasons.
Chances are, if you have a story, you know what happened at the very base. You can figure out what was said in conversations, that you went from one place to another, that you ate something that day, etc. There are facts that can be rattled off the top and during a question and answer session, you should be able to provide at least most of the answers without seeming too hesitant. The story about the Athiest meeting an extraterrestrial who claims to be his guardian angel but didn't bother to ask him about the existence of God...I'm not too sure about that claim. I would have at least asked about His nature or how Divinity really works or what in the Bible did we as humankind royally fuck up. He never bothered answering one of these questions. He says the curiosity struck him but I see it didn't get the better of him or he couldn't be bothered to answer. He just seemed too hesitant to me.
Many others were able to come in and put it all on the table. Others played it a little close to the vest due to book sales. Others still...the story just didn't add up.
As a kid, I was always fascinated by the paranormal and the unexplained. How others never even became curious is something I think I'll never understand. I've been ripped from one place to the other. I've travelled through a fog I'm still not sure of. I've seen things I'd called "crazy" actually happen and through it all I still encounter skeptics and negativists. I like skeptics...I don't have any problem with them but the negativists have got to go. I've noticed that the negativists are hardly needed to be loud and noisy if what their claim of us being our own worst enemies are true. I wonder...if the claim is so true then what threat do we represent to anyone other than ourselves? According to one report (Journal of The Inquiring Skeptics of Upper New York Vol 1, Issue 7), the mere act of believing in UFOs "even though they aren't real" matters because "Devoting one's life to a fictitious belief is a terrible and unproductive waste of time and energy."
The paper itself begins without a good analysis of the UFO phenomena at all, simply makes mere mention of the Betty and Barney Hill case, dismisses it in a wave of opinion stated as fact and then spends much of it's time on two forms of lightning discovered in recent history (i.e. roughly the past 40 years.) I would dare say that this is not the work of a skeptic, it's the work of a negativist.
Already his own work crumbles under the weight of the burden of proof. Many of those who research UFOs work for a living and are not living on government subsidy, they're doing it on their own time and their focus is not simply limited to the world or even to that one subject but a universe of extreme possibility.
It is my opinion that the act of climbing to the top of a high slope and then sliding down it at high speed on nothing but a board is dangerous and unproductive but does it matter that others are doing it? No. Does it matter whether or not I do it myself? Yes. I have weighed the outcomes and have based my decision on it.
Unfortunately, the ability to stay on topic does nothing to devalue the research (which isn't even given mention much less critically analyzed.) A true skeptic would take the casework and put the cases point-by-point through analysis using the scientific method to the test. This brief piece of anecdotal work does nothing remotely resembling that.
Still, supposedly, I am my own worst enemy. I still continue to get paid at my job (oh no!) I still manage to eat, shower and take care of myself and my surroundings everyday (holy crap!) and I still...even to this day...maintain a healthy social life, internet radio show, a vast array of hobbies and I even find time to work out (the horror and humanity!) If that's what it means to be my own worst enemy then leave me to it. I'm perfectly happy with the harm I'm doing to myself.
Thank you...goodnight.
posted by Lord Genocyde at 6:28 AM
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