Ufology: Live at Budokan

It is often said that within ufology, the internal dialog is often more about it’s players than the phenomenon itself. While this is probably true in many fields of interest, it seems to glare more harshly in ufology.

In fact, ufology feels so propelled by the celebrity aspect, that it makes one wonder if there is really a true and deep interest in the subject by certain names, or if it’s a vessel for mediocre fame by those who might not otherwise gain notoriety. Big in Japan.

Hey, it worked for Cheap Trick.

In the case of abduction research and hypnotic regression, names like Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs are reminiscent to some of old-Hollywood royalty: even if they’re bad actors, they still get the headlines. And like Hollywood, interest is more often placed on the people themselves than the details of their work. Fans tend to cling to the legendary status of the figures they admire and adore, simply because of headlines, causing them to brush away criticism of their work, citing blasphemy.

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Saucers, Slips, and Cigarettes

Just a few lines to let you know that my first column, Saucers, Slips, and Cigarettes (which is really just an introductory piece) is now available in the latest edition of UFO Magazine (Vol. 24 No. 1, Issue #154).

If you pick it up, be sure to also check out the columns of Regan Lee & Lesley Gunter, not to mention the piece Aliens vs. Predator: The Incredible Visitations at Emma Woods, by Jeremy Vaeni!

I haven't gotten around to the other articles and columns yet, but I'm sure there are more great pieces in this issue. Give it a go!


Thanks for reading!

~Deirdre

Technology, Privacy and Nothing About UFOs

A popular discussion for many years has been the acceleration of technology and our dependence on that technology at the cost of less human memory usage. This is not a new take on the idea that we are losing some of ourselves to an increasingly gadgetized world, but rather just my input, which tends to fall on deaf ears when discussed with most people.

We certainly love our devices. Our phones, our laptops, our Global Positioning Systems, and the myriad softwares available for each. Our phones process faster than all of NASA’s computers during the age of the Space Race, our laptops packed with more punch and much less size than a 386 IBM circa 1996. We carry with us music studios, vast music libraries, and thousands upon thousands of photos & documents. The total collection of each of our lives, comfortably fitting on a handful of gigabytes with room to spare. These are, of course, amazing and impressive things, but what price have we paid beyond dollars?

How many of you could tell me 5 of your friends phone numbers without referring to you cell phone’s contact library?

I can barely remember my own, let alone the number of anyone else. I’d be proper fucked if I had to make an emergency phone call, sans cell phone. Yeah, I could try 411 if anyone I knew was listed.

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Sometimes It's Just a Giant Sumerian Phallus

It's July 19th, and while I'm unhappy that we're officially in the Summer-zone, I'm glad May and June are over. Not that May was a bad month. In fact, it was one of the better months I've had in many years.

A lot of change has happened (and still continues to happen), that really began to show form in early May and carried on through until the end of last month. As anyone who has gone through significant life changes can attest to, it can be positively exhausting! I've not written much anywhere in the last few weeks -- been too busy fighting through the cloudiness and disorientation that often travels with discovering new perspectives... but I hope to be coming out of that haze sooner rather than later.

I've been thinking a lot about my voice (however small it is) in UFOlogy, and it's been occurring to me that I pick on so many topics, that some of you might think I don't believe in anything. I even began to wonder if I was looking like a debunker more than someone actually interested in sorting out the un-sortable mysteries of the world.

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Rayguns: Practical Applicatons

As sick as I am hearing about Roswell, I think I’m more sick of people talking about how sick they are of hearing about Roswell.

And of mysterious alien technologies, too.

There’s a lot of people swearing by extra terrestrial technologies that could be made available to humanity that would cure cancer, solve our energy problems, and cleanup the BP oil spill. Boy, ‘those aliens, sure do have everything, don’t they!

“Commander Zorlagh, it looks like those neurotic ape-people have fucked up the ocean again. Better pull out the ol' OS Raygun.”

Jeff Peckman, the godfather of Metatron Technology and the Extra Terrestrial Affairs Commission, has told the Denver Daily News that if we made contact with ET, they could fix that big BP mess right up:

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Are You There Congress? It's Me, Margaret

Damn. People are still pretty bent about that Hawking's statements from the first episode of his new series Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. I thought it might settle down once everyone actually watched the episode, instead of taking the statement out of a 45 minute context, but what the fuck do I know? I wonder what pissed people off the most -- was it painting extra terrestrial biological entities in human shades? Was it upsetting the folks who have spent an awful lot of time concocting their elaborate little universe, which has been fictionalized and knocked-up for so long that it has blurred the dividing line between perceptions of reality and make-believe? Maybe they just hate motorized wheel chairs.

Who really knows why everyone spit up their Gerber at the idea that an alien civilization could have it in for humanity and our little blue world. Sure, you can run your formulas, pour over philosophical ramblings, and imagine every scenario your limited mind allows, but when you're finished, you're still gonna know jack-shit -- until you come face to face with every alien civilization out there. So, kick back, take a pill, and STFU for a bit. There's certain to be more coming out of the science and paranormal communities to enrage and disgust you, soon enough!

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Things You Might Find in a Vaudville Show

Every so often something comes along that really just makes my day. It's usually never as grand as this, but whether it's a poorly planned hoax or an alien wearing Bermuda shorts, a good laugh is always a nice change up from the usual  stream of garbage and drudgery. Such is the case of the freshly pickled Pickerings and their mysterious 'Source A' disclosure agent, now revealed as one Richard Theilmann. If you haven't read this beautifully executed exposé, do yourself a favor.

Let me throw a bit of the back-story at you (though I highly recommend reading the entire piece written by Stephen Broadbent):

Shawn and Clay Pickering have been milking a story about a secret inside-source who divulged information regarding alien contact with the US government, having been a liaison officer to these very extra terrestrials. Known only as 'Source A', this man was touted as having a very illustrious career in the Navy of which he still claims active-duty. Source A, a.k.a Richard Theilmann, a.k.a. Chaps McGee, confided in the Pickerings not just that extra terrestrials were in contact with the government, but that these beings were actually involved with the government. Nothing too shocking there - we've heard this story a bazillion times before. But on April 9th of this year, Clay Pickering attended an event that would, within a month's time, pull the rug out from under his feet (as well as his brother's), tearing off the shroud of secrecy covering their mysterious source in the process.

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Circles, Sound, and Synchronicity

I just got finished telling Erik (at some point we're going to have to stop mentioning each other all the time) that I was going to review Colin's Paratopia appearance as well as his blog before writing up my piece about his presentation this past Saturday at the UFO Fest in McMinnville, Oregon. However, after mulling it over, I was concerned if I waited too long, I'd forget some of the intensity I experienced -- not only with Colin, but with the weekend in general.

I had an idea of what to expect with Mr. Colin Andrews, but I really wasn't prepared for the full impact of his presentation. It started off a little rocky for me, as he divulged to us (apparently for the first time) that he had undergone hypnotic regression in the past and that he had 'hidden' memories of being contacted, citing "little men" as part of this experience. You know how I feel about hypnotic regression as it applies to abduction, so it was difficult for me to roll myself over that first hurtle. But he then went on to explain that during this regression he recalled a specific location from his childhood. Upon returning to the location that was brought forth through the regression, he discovered the 'remains' of an old crop circle, one that was formed in his youth, and where the ground is still scarred to this day.

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Reflections on the 2010 McMinnville UFO Fest

Well, that was unexpected! I had a great time at the annual McMinnville UFO festival, in McMinnville, Oregon! Oh, it wasn't so much the festival itself that was grand -- I mean, it was filled with your usual nutbaggery and abundant silliness complete with grey-type alien faces galore *shudder*. No, the best parts were the times Maggie and I spent with Erik Stitt, Regan Lee and her husband, James Rich.

Regan is an amazingly cool woman! I was very happy to finally meet her in person. We all had some great conversation the first night, nestled into a quiet corner in the always-overpriced McMenamin's. For those of you who aren't familiar with McMenamin's, it's a company that buys up old landmark buildings and converts them to restaurants, pubs, hotels and so on. This particular McMenamin's was a bar/hotel, but featured the same inflated prices and overrated consumables you've come to know and love from the chain. Despite this, I very much enjoyed myself.

Sadly, Maggie wasn't feeling well, so I drove her back to our hotel a couple of miles down the road and put her to bed, before I headed back to the pub to continue on with our conversations. Regan and her husband eventually called it a night and ascended up to their room, while Erik and I closed the bar -- and then some.

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Not Everything Goes Well With Cheez Whiz

I was going to write something about the Larry King Live alien debate that aired on Friday. This show came about due to the overwhelming response Stephen Hawking's 'alien statement' received. That statement was lifted from the first episode of his new series called Into the Universe on the Discovery channel, and appeared in the last 3 minutes of that program.

Having finally had a chance to watch the actual episode with the 42 other minutes no one bothered to mention, I am even more baffled by the amount of anger it has been met with.

Anyway, I realized that I really had nothing important to add regarding King's latest round-table, and so I've decided not to bang on that drum.

Nah, I'm just screwing with ya.

Seriously, what the fuck was that?

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On a Long Enough Timeline...

This initially began as a response to comments on a post here, at IHW, as well as an article posted by Erik Stitt of Contact, and is in regards to Stephen Hawking's recent opinions on the nature of extra terrestrial life. But once I'd posted it thought it might make for a good piece on it's own, after elaborating on some points and cleaning it up a bit.

With Stephen Hawking's latest statement on extra terrestrial life, their arose the question of anthropomorphic tendencies among some physicists. Of course, this isn't anything particularly new. It's human nature to project human qualities on other forms of life and sometimes even on inanimate objects. These peculiar inclinations of ours provide a lot of interesting questions and has produced some awful literal representations. But when it comes to inserting our qualities into the mind of an intelligent alien life form, when does it become overly presumptuous, if not completely presumptuous from the start?

I have mentioned in past articles that labeling the possible actions of an extra terrestrial civilization with terms like 'good' or 'bad', is a bit ridiculous because it assumes that all intelligent beings would act more or less like us, portraying the same kinds of emotions and have the same ideas of what is considered 'right' and 'wrong'. So, when science speaks up and theorizes that contact with EBEs may be to our detriment because they could live a malevolent existence and seek to conquer us, it gives the general public the impression that life really is like Star Wars and that it might not be such a slick idea to set up base on Hoth.

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Hoodely-Hoo and the Blah, Blah, Blahs

When my girlfriend and I are watching movies that have some pretty far-fetched plot changes in a seemingly realistic story, she often comments on how completely unbelievable it is. I usually counter that by replying, "Suspension of Disbelief, dear". More often than not, this receives a playful, mocking impression of me, waving her hands all about like a kid who's had too much Lik-M-Aid, exclaiming, "Suspension of Hoodely-Hoo! Suspension of Hoodely-Hoo!"

I was thinking about this last night while watching some old Star Trek episodes (TOS) and it occurred to me that the kind of off-the-wall claims present within UFOlogy are not too unlike a B-movie plot that requires a healthy serving of Suspension of Disbelief. Then there are those like myself, shaking there head at the screen mumbling "Like that would ever happen".

Calling UFOs or referring to UFOlogy as 'science fiction' is nothing new, but still, it is depressing that so much of it plays out like an old Buck Rogers episode, and that so many would be willing to stave off reality and common sense for the sake of a few thrills they can cling to in opposition to the monotony that is most of our lives.

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Fame, What You Get Is No Tomorrow

Tina Sena of Y.Ufology has an excellent follow-up article to Bruce Duensing's piece "Does Ufology Have A Future When It's Non-Existent?" (also a great article). As you might surmise, both discuss the sorry state of UFOlogy today (and probably yesterday, too).

Some of the expected points are made, such as how those who use UFOlogy as some kind of quasi-celebrity vehicle, are helping to slowly kill the entire 'field', and how Science is still donning the gloves of elitism, denouncing paranormal claims as hogwash, simply because the existence of bizarre phenomenon is (currently) void of anything scientifically plausible. And they are good points -- but my favorite part is Tina's argument that the world we live in just isn't as cool as a lot of the UFO Yo-yo's and knuckleheads prefer to believe.

And she's right -- Fiction and Reality have been merged in the minds of the overly-wishful, most probably out of a need to believe that there has to be more to life than work, sleep and fucking (though I am rather fond of the latter). They dive into UFOlogy and start to build their case for the existence of a galaxy crammed full of extra-terrestrials, playing out some geek's elaborate Star Trek fantasy.

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Some Kind of Strangers

With your head stuck shoulder-deep in the quicksand of UFOlogy, it's sometimes easy to forget that most of the world goes about it's merry, ignorantly blissful way, void of paranormal concerns or interest. Such is the life of my family and friends. I'm the quirky, left-of-center girl they have come to love, but probably think of as a bit of a space cadet -- no matter how skeptical natured or grounded I may appear to be. And if anything esoteric pops up in discussion, they usually have no fucking idea what I'm going on about.

This has been my relationship with people most of my life. I understand that the majority of society is wrapped up in survival, socializing, leisure and the various goings-on of day-to-day life. I'm wrapped up in those things as well -- I think most everyone is -- but where they are primarily aware of what they can see and are told, some of us have a different kind of awareness - or maybe it's an 'extra' one. Having experienced my past 35 years as a continuum of strange phenomenon while most of my acquaintances have not, the differences between us and them are often in sharp contrast. One might assume that interest in the Strange is directly related to those having experienced such, but this isn't quite true. There exists a decent chunk of people within UFOlogy and the paranormal fields who have had no paranormal experiences whatsoever, yet are still deeply intrigued by the prospect of the Unknown. But what about the rest of the world? Why is the interest often lost on them?

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The Underside of Abduction Hypnotherapy II

I began writing this article in early March but had trouble with the ending. Prompted by Regan Lee, and because of the interview with Emma Woods that aired on Paratopia yesterday, I decided to buckle down and finish it up.

If you haven't caught my post from a couple of weeks ago, The Underside of Abduction Hypnotherapy, it was a brief update regarding an episode of Partaopia in which they aired a recording of a phone dialog between Emma Woods and David Jacobs. As you might imagine, it has stirred the emotions and opinions of many people on either side of the hypnotherapy argument, causing the Paratopia forum, as well as a few others, to erupt with some pretty strong opinions - the main arguments being whether or not abduction scenarios are created during hypnosis sessions by the hypnotist (in this case, David Jacobs), either intentionally or unintentionally, and whether Jacobs acted poorly in his dealings with Ms. Woods.

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Another Brief Update (Still Void of Panties)

I just posted my first Women of Esoterica article entitled Get Ahead, Go Figure, Go Ahead and Pull the Trigger. It's my take on the 2012 thing, brought on by a curious question my girlfriend asked me this evening.

I have an article for IHW in the works that I'm hoping to finish tomorrow. It's about all of the lunar and planet anomalies Hoagland pulls out of his magic ass -- so keep an eye out for that. Or don't.

And I still have to finish 2 other articles I have been promising to finish for over a month now. *le sigh*

Greetings from the Merlot Madam

Somewhere between the treadmill and my first glass of wine, I decided to -- whoops! Silly me, I went and left my wine on the kitchen counter!

Ok, back! I didn't just get off the treadmill, for the record. That happened around 5. Afterwards, I spoke with a friend online regarding some interesting info, which then lead to a 45 minute roast of paranormal television and nutty exopolitical leaders. I think I even mentioned David Sereda's name, which is a rarity. That reminds me -- Joseph Capp of UFO Media Matters just posted a new article called UFOs: Deconstructing Sereda. I think a few of you just might enjoy this, so give it a read if you've got the time (and lets face it, if you're reading the crap I'm writing, you've certainly got the time.

Speaking of crap I write, I finally broke down and purchased a domain for IHW. I wanted to break 6 months to see if it was actually being read or that I actually kept maintaining the site before doing so. And while it will probably affect my page ranking, I figured I might as well do it now rather than when its way too late. So, the new official URL is: http://www.interstellarhousewife.com/

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A Raymond Chandler Evening

I've got 2 long articles I can't seem to finish. One is for WOE and the other for here... I think. I've got a little bit of block and there hasn't been a whole lot of nuttiness going on as of late -- aside from MOD's order to destroy all future UFO reports after 30 days (to avoid having to release them to the public). Frankly, I'm surprised they released anything in the first place. So, with relative quiet on the UFOlogical front, there's not much to pick on.

Although I did hear someone use the phrase "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water" for the 4th time in a week. It's a particular peeve of mine, since its a peculiar saying that tends to stand glaringly out when in use -- and it is in use a lot during paranormal interviews. And besides, I dislike children, so naturally, I would want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If anything, I'd be more inclined to save the bathwater. It's not unlike "having my cake and eating it to", though I haven't eaten any children (in case that wasn't clear).

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Wrapping My Lil' Head Around This

About half-an-hour ago, I received a comment response notification to a post Regan Lee made about my article "Alien Healthcare and How I Got a Unicorn".

Yes, I was criticized by someone (not Regan, to be clear) who used Mayan Prophecy as part of her argument.

I'm not even kidding.

I was a little surprised, to be honest because the post hit me for having an opinion that was the same kind of “non-productive 'Lets trash Salla and Greer and Wilcock and and and' bile that gets spewed around on any of the male-dominant sites.” Because, you know, I'm not allowed to agree with boys about anything. Not only is it the Women in UFOlogy code, but also the Lesbian code (of which I have probably been in breech of for years) *laughs*

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Another One Down the Rabbit Hole

I saw this film last night that was fucking awesome, called MaLice in Wonderland. It was a very unique take on the old story of Through the Looking Glass. All of your favorite characters were there, sometimes played as parts of a few different characters. It had a very Guy Ritchie feel, but still had it's own flavor, and was quite a visual and audible trip.

Anyway, in the intro credits, I noticed Danny Dyer was listed, and I was like "Hey -- I've been seeing a bunch of stuff about him and UFOs lately". So after the film I looked him up and checked out the UFO Special he did called I Believe in UFOs. I was worried, but overall, I liked it. It amused me.

Why was I worried? Because I kind of love that guy -- I never really knew his name before MaLice, so when I realized it was him, I was kind of excited to see him looking into a topic I'm deeply interested in. I had to keep in mind that unlike a lot of us, he doesn't sit at home all night reading every imaginable article on UFOs and/or Abduction. I cut him a healthy dose of slack, and was very happy to see that when he left Stan's house, he second guessed his initial feeling of the footage being legit (yes, Danny got to spend a few hours with Stan Romanek and saw the footage before it was released to the public). At first he was all kinds of amazed, but after he left and had time to process it all, he said he was skeptical because -- and I paraphrase: "He has an agent... and he is asking for 50,000 for the footage". *heart*

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