OZ SETI on the ball?

Left: Dr Ragbir Bhathal

It warmed our little hearts to read an article in todays Australian newspaper about OZ OSETI (o for optical) and the opinions of various Australian astrophysicists on the search for ETs. Ragbir Bhathal, an astrophysicist at the University of Western Sydney, who teaches the only university-based course on SETI in Australia, went on record stating that "for an advanced civilisation, radio wave technology would be old hat". He also waved a red flag in the face of Shostakian views adding, “our failure to pick up any interstellar signals so far could mean that advanced civilisations are using a communications technique still not discovered on Earth.”

He further suggested that, “we are nowhere near being able to put a sensible figure on how common life may be". Ah, the sweet sound of humility and an open mind. Be still our beating hearts.

On the other hand, Ain de Horta, a project scientist with the Australian SETI Institute, proposed that “we're counting on the physics being the same elsewhere in the universe”, and spouted the usual Shostakian view that there are “UFO nuts out there”. Well, we may be a little nutty but we’re certainly not out there. However we feel we can forgive de Horta today (having a warm and fuzzy moment) because while he’s rubbing intellectual shoulders with the likes of Ragbir Bhathal, we feel certain that the chip on his shoulder will be worn away sometime in the future.

Let there be light.

Full story at http://tinyurl.com/owfu7k

Northern Territory UFOs

A Territory mother has backed up claims unidentified flying objects have returned to the Top End after she photographed two "discs of light" in the sky.The mother-of-three, who wished only to be known by her first name Kym, took the photo as she watched the dark rain clouds roll towards her Palmerston home last month.Kym said the image was taken on her mobile phone and that she didn't notice the strange lights in the clouds until she downloaded her pictures on to her computer.

She took many photos and even some video footage on her phone but said the UFOs only appeared in the one shot."It's hard to tell what it is - it's very strange," she said."There was some lightning at the time but the shape of these lights is different.""If it was streaks you'd think it was lightning but these are circles."I thought it could be a street light reflection in the screen of the mobile I took the photo with but the street lights aren't on."

Her story follows that of Territorian Alan Ferguson, who told in the Northern Territory News this month how unidentified flying objects had returned to the skies above his Acacia Hill home.More Territory UFO picturesMr Ferguson put the rural suburb, 50km south of Darwin, on the international map last year when he first photographed UFOs flying around his home.He said he quickly grabbed his camera on seeing a bright silver flickering object in front of a cloud last month.The skywatcher said the UFOs seemed to appear when it was hot."Those aliens - they must have some pretty good airconditioning in those things, hey," he said.Kym said she had never had any previous encounters with UFOs."I've never really thought about them or had a view on them," she said."But my motto is never say never - anything's possible."

Source: Northern Territory News April 21, 2009
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2009/04/21/46371_ntnews.html

Goodbye Albert

On the morning of the 29th January 2009, UFORQ received a phone call from Albert Pennisi's goddaughter, who informed us that Albert died last Sunday morning 25th January, 2009. Albert, of Tully Saucer Nest fame, died of a heart attack after he had attended a church service.

The funeral took place on Friday 30th January at St Clares Church, Tully, Queensland. The family asked that no flowers be sent, but instead please make a donation to the church.
Email for details znclare@qldnet.com.au

Albert was to turn 90 that week and a party had been organised for him by his family at the local bowls club.

Alberts wife Amy died some years ago. Albert has 4 children, two of them, Shane and Adrian, accompanied Albert who attend the UFO conference in Brisbane in 2006 to update the public about other UFO occurrences on his property in Queensland.

More details of the Tully Saucer Nest case at http://www.uforq.asn.au/casefiles/tully.html

Another UFO Sighting - In Australia!

Source: Harlow Herald 24 - Stevenage, England, UK
http://tinyurl.com/8bmtao

The Herald's article about UFO sightings on New Year's Day has reached a global audience.

Australian Yvonne Vincent contacted the Herald newsroom this week to tell us about her own UFO experience on January 1. She wrote: "I read your article as I typed in UFO 1st Jan 2009 after I saw a UFO on this night. I have not even contacted my local news. It was great to read your article it is fantastic!

I am a 30-year-old young woman. I live in Donvale, Victoria, Australia. My male friend, 37, and I went to McDonald's to get drive thru McCafe latte around 9.40pm our time. On my short drive home I saw a fireball sphere in the sky. In Donvale, which is about 14km from Melbourne. I thought it was a meteor rock on fire.

I drove left into Shirvington Place a street off Doncaster Road and watched it for a good two and a half minutes. I kept asking my friend what was it and he was stunned jumping out of my car, we watched it. The streets were quiet it was a dark street anyway. Watching the fireball it seemed not very far away, quite close actually. It was orange and yellow flames inside a perfect, perfect sphere. There was no glow around it and no sound. There was no trail behind it, it just moved as a perfect sphere that looked like a fireball.

I did not panic any longer when it changed direction so accurately and sharp. It then began to lift through the low thin cloud and we watched it still so bright fly into the distance until my naked eye could see no longer."I called my father who lives half hour from me. It was a few minutes before 10pm our time when I saw it. I had rung dad at 10pm.

This was no plane, helicopter, light reflection after a small drizzle of rain on a cool January night. It was an unidentified flying object!"This was what the people saw in that town your article explains. I called dad the other day for him to look up your news article. I am convinced it is the same - on the same day - understandably there is time difference but that is fast to travel across the world like that if it is the same one.

No-one here in my local paper seems to have said anything or in our Herald Sun. No-one came out of their house to look at what we saw, a lot of people were on holiday and it was quiet as most people went out the night before.

Recently I read about some orange lights in another town in UK hitting wind turbine! "I was a person whose response would be more of a 'yeah right' attitude to such a thing. It was such a privilege and honour to see such a beautiful sighting in the sky. It was scary to begin with but then just amazing! It changes perspective on life to be more open minded and I am a deep thinker most of the time really anyway so this is very interesting."

'Muscle Car' UFO Hoons Over Australia

Source: Daily Telegraph - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
http://tinyurl.com/9j5qev

A MYSTERIOUS blue car-shaped UFO has been spotted as it flew across a cloudy wet season sky over northern Australia. But in the words of amateur photographer Mark Schmutter, 79, "It does look like a car but what would a car be doing up in the sky?"

Mr Schmutter said he snapped these shots as he was standing on the ninth-floor balcony of a friend's CBD apartment in Darwin just before 6pm earlier this week. "I decided to go out on the balcony and take some shots of Darwin," he said. "I just held the camera up and I saw this thing flash through the sky and I thought 'Oh my goodness what was that?', and then it came back again so I hit it with the camera."

He said he saw the object move across the sky about the speed of a plane - then it flew straight upwards before it disappeared into the sky. "But it wasn't an airplane, no noise ... it was a fair way away, you know, but I didn't hear any noise." Mr Schmutter, of Lyons, said he had no idea what it was - be it a strange, newfangled aircraft or a UFO shaped like a muscle car. "I've got no idea about aliens, but anything's a possibility, isn't it?"

Defence spokesman Stephen Mullins confirmed no Defence aircraft were flying in the area at that time Tuesday night. The Top End Flying Club last year suggested many of the local sightings of UFOs could actually be Sigma-4 ultralight aircraft - informally dubbed the flying sperm - which fly slowly and with little noise. The club's Mark Christie said the blue object didn't resemble any of their aircraft though. He said at least one of the photos looked to be altered with the object cut and pasted on to the background. But Mr Schmutter insisted none of the pictures had been 'Photoshopped' in any way. He said he was hoping someone could tell him what it was he caught on camera.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/9c6x3z
WE had a bumper year for aliens in which UFOs were seen over the state's South Coast and flying saucers popped up on Google Maps - now fresh sightings have emerged suggesting there is plenty of activity in the skies over NSW.

Last June an unnamed Nowra alien addict reported seeing a military helicopter following a UFO over the local golf course.

And in December our story on how a Daily Telegraph reader spotted what appeared to be a flying saucer hovering near the Sydney Harbour Bridge while checking out Google Maps caused a web sensation. See the picture.

But that's not all. Turns out the Campbelltown-based UFO and Paranormal Research Society of Australia - one of 30 UFO research groups around the country - has been busy cataloguing even more sightings.

Gallery: UFOs ... are they out there?

The society's NSW close encounters database - full of sightings emailed in by avid alien watchers - reveals that last November a Blacktown man saw a range of cigar and diamond-shaped craft speeding through the night sky over two hours.

"They would be from the south horizon to the north horizon in under a minute," the witness wrote. "Sometimes they would stop mid-flight, float for a bit and move in a different direction. Others would move vertically and they looked unlike anything I had ever seen. "I must have seen at least 50 instances of the objects, having about eight or nine visible at the same time." The witness continued: "At first I thought it might have been military training from the RAAF base at Richmond, but there were no squadrons and no set pattern to any of the crafts' flights."

It wasn't the only strange craft spotted over Sydney's west, either. Less than two weeks ago another alien spotter saw something in the skies over Leumeah - while hanging out the washing. The unnamed observer reported a "sudden fly-by of a spherical object from southeast to northwest". It was reportedly white and semi-transparent, with murky centre. The writer added: "Airborne debris or any other airborne artefacts can be possibly be ruled out as the direction of travel was inconsistent with wind direction."

UFO special: Videos of Aussie sightings

Worldwide, it appears 2009 is picking up right where 2008 left off on the phenomena front. Just this week a wind turbine was mysteriously wrecked on an English farm - and locals say it was hit by a UFO they claim to have seen and heard. Watch the video on the right.

Locals in Conisholme, Lincolnshire, were reportedly woken by a 4am smash that ripped one of the turbine's 20m blades clean off after strange lights were spotted streaking towards the towering 88m generator. There was no trace of the missing blade.

UFO Research NSW spokesman Doug Moffett is sure a growing number of people believe alien life is possible. "I guarantee that you would know someone who believes in extraterrestrial life," he said. "But they're not going to come out and wave a flag in the middle of Pitt St because you know what would happen - if you jumped up in the middle of your lunch room and said 'Hey guys I saw a UFO last night' they would just bag you out."

If You Eat Your Vegies Will You Make Contact With ET?

Here it is, approaching Christmas, a time of year when we kick back, take a breath and ponder over the years UFO events. Sometimes you get so busy with the “doing” that its easy to forget the “being”. And while we’re on the subject, can someone tell us how you have to “be” to make contact with ET? There’s a few theories floating around that, when you weigh them up, don’t really make any sort of sense.

For example, There’s the “spiritually developed people will make contact with ET” theory. Well some people believe that ET is a bit picky and choosey over who they contact. Not for them the drunken bum in the gutter, they prefer the human who is well on their way to spiritual enlightenment – presumably this will make it easier on the ETs, somehow. But don’t worry, ET can still use those bums in the gutter in their breeding program, apparently.

Then there’s the theory that humans must be ‘pure of body’ to make contact. This means no eating meat or sullying ourselves with drugs and alcohol (some believers even deny themselves sex…egads). Apparently having a pure body makes contact more desirable. Hmm. Making contact with ET is starting to sound more and more like joining a Buddhist monastery, huh.

But why DOES ET put so many caveats on making contact? Why are they concerned with our spiritual development and our physical state of being? What would it matter? We’re here, we’re mean, and we’re not very green. They either want to meet us or they don’t, and how long do they plan to wait until we make ourselves presentable? Why hang around, taunting us with their presence, if we’re too distasteful to make contact with?

Well in our not so humble opinion, as we perch in our ivory tower, it’s all human projection. As far as we’re concerned ET gives bugger-all about our “development”. We’re sure they have concerns about their emerging galactic neighbours but they’ve had a long time to learn to cope with those who may not be up to scratch.

So in the spirit of the season, we suggest that ET show us some tenderness and mercy and stop beating around the bush. Make yourselves overtly known to humanity, love thy fellow, um, being and get on with it. It’s what Christmas is all about! Isn’t it?

The Truth Is Out There

Source: Weekender, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia. 6 November, 2008
http://www.theweekender.com.au/features_det.php?id=288

It’s a question most people have pondered at one time or another: Are we alone in the universe? As UFO sightings again hit the headlines, it’s clear there is no easy answer or explanation. But one Sunshine Coast research group, based in the centre of an “alien hot spot”, has spent the past decade looking to the skies for answers.

Words GREGORY STANTON

Our minds often dismiss aliens, UFOs and paranormal activities as absurd. But there are many who believe. They carefully document, research and share their experiences and encounters with phenomena that are not easily explained. They believe there really is something out there. Paul Boulton is just one such person who, after “cross-referencing forever”, has developed a lifelong fascination with UFOs and the paranormal. “There is so much that’s not known,” he says.

A psychic therapist who works out of Montville, Paul’s main area of work is emotional trauma, including clients with instances of alien encounters (previously called alien abductions), although the number of such treatments is miniscule. He is also a member of private research group UFOria, based in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. The “diverse” group (he won’t elaborate any more to protect its privacy), now in its 11th year, meets every two weeks to consider sightings on the Sunshine Coast, generally regarded by UFO researchers as a hot spot of activity.

The airspace above the hinterland is reportedly used by an abundance of extra-terrestrial craft, but also by military and commercial aircraft. “Our goal is to create a safe forum to allow people to discuss what they’ve seen and felt,” Paul says. “If someone tells me they have seen an unidentified flying object, then I have to work out whether they have seen a galactic ship, a military black-ops project, otherwise known as an alien replication vehicle, or a terrestrial-based alien culture’s vehicle. There is also the possibility of misidentification of something else. ‘Unidentified’ adds to the mystery.“The number of encounters is difficult to calculate, but the individual feels emotionally helpless and insecure,” Paul continues. “Because of the memory blocker factor, people are frequently hovering between ‘Did it happen?’ and ‘Will people believe me?’ It’s only after a long time of contact that people may feel I’m safe to talk to. “Usually, when people try to integrate back into society after an encounter, it’s not unlikely they’ll live a solitary life because of our limited world view and the naivety of our mindsets. It was real for them but not in the wider view.”

According to Paul, UFO sightings are statistically on the rise worldwide. UFO stories began circulating more readily after the infamous Roswell incident in 1947, where several eyewitnesses spoke of an unexplained aircraft crash in the US state of New Mexico. An initial press release from the Roswell Army Air Field on July 8, 1947, said personnel had recovered a crashed flying disc. It was later denied by the Commanding General of the Eighth Air Force. Despite evidence to the contrary, the public was told it was nothing more than a weather balloon.Further clouding the issue was the fake video that surfaced, supposedly depicting an alien autopsy. In 2006, the promoter of the film, Ray Santilli, revealed the footage was not entirely genuine.

Brisbane-based association UFO Research Queensland lists 72 reported sightings last year on its website. Functioning since 1956, the number of reports so far this year looks set to eclipse that figure. A reason for higher sightings could be the prevalence of hand-held recording devices to capture a sighting, with the ability to instantly upload to internet sharing sites.“The importance of this is that (the image) hasn’t been filtered,” Paul says, alluding to the ever-present threat of a cover-up. “The goal of the disinformation community is to keep the public in a state of uncertainty and confused anxiety. They attempt to suggest the topic is only of interest to the lonely and unhinged.” This goes hand in hand with media coverage.

“It’s a funny topic,” he says. “If a person is not responsive to it, I end up looking like a loony. Authenticity is the key.”There are plenty of believers. Former US president Jimmy Carter filed a UFO sighting in 1973. Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell is one who strongly believes in alien activity while pop star Robbie Williams has made headlines of late with talk of contact and plans to become a ufologist. In May, British Government files released under Freedom of Information laws recount UFO sightings compiled by the Ministry of Defence between 1978 and 2002. Of particular interest are the corroborated witness accounts by air traffic controllers, pilots and policemen.

Movies and popular culture play a major role in complicating matters, from the tinfoil helmets of Signs to the kind of hostile invasion seen in everything from The War of the Worlds to blockbuster Independence Day. “There’s a big problem with disinformation coming from the movies,” Paul says. “We seem to have the cultural capacity of chickens: we shoot it first then do an autopsy, rather than thinking how we interact with aliens. That anxiety filters down through public thought. Anxiety is an amazing thing. They can rule with massive insecurity in the public.”Conspiracy theories are synonymous with UFOs and aliens. It is said upper echelons of governments have been using alien-inspired technology for decades. Folkloric events such as the Philadelphia Experiment and Montauk Project in World War II supposedly investigated time travel and invisibility. Since then, technology has advanced to proportions similar to the film Men In Black.

It is with a wry smile Paul suggests viewing the 1997 film, minus the hostile alien nature, as a documentary. But governments deny any cover-up.“That’s what anyone is up against in trying to present their findings,” he says. “This keeps everyone under a limited Newtonian view.” It has been estimated one in every 50 people in the US has had contact with extraterrestrials and UFOs. “When you’re looking at more than 301 million people, that’s a lot of people,” Paul says, although he suggests memory blockers are in use. Paul proffers that aliens live among us and have done so for centuries, alluding to the amazing feats of ancient Egyptian and Mayan civilisations as examples.

Sharing a view with many, he implies some aliens can invisibly cloak themselves, and look human. But there is no malicious or hostile intention.Former emergency doctor from North Carolina, Dr Steven Greer — who Paul calls a credible expert in the field — filmed more than 450 personal accounts and testimonies from willing military, corporate, intelligence, government, scientific and aviation personnel in a 2001 venture, The Disclosure Project. “After researching the UFO topic for more than 20 years, I have never read such well-researched first-hand accounts on the topic of UFOs, extra-terrestrials and their vehicles, life forms and their intentions and interactions with humanity,” Paul says.

“The overall theme is no threat or harm is meant to us.”As a researcher of the paranormal, Paul is not averse to investigating the unusual. He recently escorted Bill Homann, the custodian of the Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull, on its Sunshine Coast visit. The skull, discovered by F.A. Mitchell-Hedges in Belize in the 1920s, was brought to Australia by Duncan Roads from the Montville-based Nexus Magazine and was the main event at a conference at Twin Waters last month. While in the company of the skull, Paul noticed it resonated with people who were intuitive and open, often to startling effect. One example was an elderly woman who was able to dispense with her cane. But for Paul, UFOs and alien encounters are more than just intriguing. “There’s a bigger picture truth,” he explains. “If you look at where we are as a planet, we are quarantined in the solar system. We are at the end of a cul-de-sac. This means we are visited, but it also means we are subjected to a lot of disinformation.” One way or the other, the truth is out there.

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THE X-FILES From the files of UFOria

A woman driving home at midnight from Maleny notices a disc-shaped craft about 7-10m wide fly nearly 15m above her car for the entire journey. When she turns into her street, it flies ahead and hovers across from her house. She watches as the craft moves slowly away.

UFOs are often reported coming out of the ocean off Coolum.

One couple is visited by a large craft with a strong downward draft above their home. The power from the craft causes the house to shake violently and several household items break. They don’t recall anything afterwards.

A UFO is seen travelling slowly through the hinterland at Witta. It comes from the Lake Baroon direction and lights up the ground as it flies. It hovers quietly in front of the witnesses’ house.

Some people came out of their house late one night to watch the moon land in a nearby field. They remember nothing else for several hours.

Various blinking lights and unexplained glowing in the sky have been reported over Tewantin, Flaxton, Tinbeerwah, Cooroy and elsewhere on the Coast.

UFO Witnesses Require An Apology and Reconciliation

Aboriginal reconciliation has been a hot topic in Australia for years now. The Australian government has finally agreed upon the unique status of indigenous Australians and their need for recognition, respect and understanding in the wider community.

However there is another group of people whose needs remain unaddressed and this is the collection of witnesses who have experienced UFO sightings or close encounters with extraterrestrials and/or their vehicles.

Over the years these people have been forced to live with their experiences in secret without the support they require from society. Their experiences remain invalidated by the wider community due to it’s lack of education about the existence of extraterrestrial life. This is a result of the various authorities and institutions that our civilization requires to act as its guide, and who indeed have this knowledge, and are withholding it from the general public. The true reason for this remains complex and elusive, and without full disclosure can only be speculated upon at best.

Nevertheless, the results are the same. A group of people within our society remain unrecognized, disrespected, humiliated and invalidated. They’re forced to live with a secret so profound that it drives wedges within their families often leading to family breakdown, estrangement and/or divorce, as well as loss of status among their friends, workmates or peers. The escalating stress caused by this lack of understanding of their experiences by others often leads to the manifestation of illness, behavioural problems or drug abuse in order to cope with experiences that far exceed the range of usual human experience.

They turn to voluntary UFO organisations - which lack manpower, funding and skills - to find answers to the meaning of their experiences. In Australia this situation has been compounded by the fact that in January 1994 the Australian Department of Defence advised they would no longer receive reports of UAS (Unusual Aerial Sightings), and members of the public seeking to report UAS to the RAAF would be referred to civilian UFO organisations.

This policy change, which the DOD claimed was the result of declining reports to the RAAF, came the same year UFO Research Queensland Inc received 512 reports from the public. The following year it received 813 reports, the most reports received in one year since the establishment of the organisation in 1956. Due to the overwhelming amount of these reports UFORQ and other similar organisations around the country continue to struggle to meet the needs of witnesses.

This situation is unsatisfactory. The authorities and institutions responsible for withholding the relevant information that can educate the public about the extraterrestrial situation need to face their responsibility to the people and come forward with the truth. It’s time to validate witness experiences by releasing what it knows to the public. If people like Dr Edgar Mitchell, the 6th man to walk on the Moon, who stated in a public interview last week that ETs exist, then so can others. (listen to interview here

http://www.kerrangradio.co.uk:80/Article.asp?id=804160&spid=)

It’s time these witnesses were allowed to come in from the cold and be part of society once again. The greater public will only accept these people and their experiences in a new context which includes the reality of extraterrestrial existence within the public mind. The eradication of ridicule and rejection can only be achieved through reeducation via a campaign of raising public awareness of the subject. Civilian UFO groups can only do so much given their voluntary status and lack of resources, so the reeducation of the public needs to come from those who can provide these resources.

Many actions are required from governments, the media, the UFO community and the greater public, but many people have to work together.

To date, the global UFO community has been willing to work towards reeducating the public but this has had minimal success. It’s now time for larger groups to become involved and help the hundreds of thousands of witnesses world wide to be accepted within society. Only with the help of this larger group will this be achievable. All aspects of community must be cared for without exception.

Tracking The Unknown

The Satellite News, Brisbane. June 25, 2008

Do you believe in aliens? Jindalee residents study extraterrestrial life.

Do aliens really exist? Jindalee residents Martin and Sheryl Gottschall have no doubts the cosmos is filled with extraterrestrial life attracted to the sunshine state. The local skywatchers are members of UFO Research Queensland, a voluntary, non-profit association established in 1956 to receive, record and research UFO sightings.

They claim the existence of a large body of well-attested sightings so unambiguous, the only reasonable inference is that extraterrestrial vehicles are flying through our atmosphere, landing on the ground and entering our oceans.

The Brisbane-based group also provides support to individuals whose alleged encounters with UFOs have left them distraught, confused and searching for answers.

The married couple believe governments across the world will no longer be able to keep UFOs as an ‘X-file’ from society as the number of alien witnesses continue to increase.

Mr Gottschall, who is the organization’s sighting officer, said he had studied UFOs for the past 40 years after his ex-wife sighted one the size of a bus in front of their Adelaide home in the 1960s. “My wife was about to hop into her car when she saw the UFO in front of her. She yelled out to me but for some reason I ignored her”, he said. “When I finally went out it had disappeared but I believed her because of the look on her face.”

Also a consultant mechanical engineer, Mr Gottschall said he wanted to understand the science behind what made UFOs hover above the ground without making a sound. “About 20 years ago I realized that the craft is able to manipulate both space and time,” he said.

Unlike her husband who has had just one sighting, Mrs Gottschall has had four. “I’ve had sightings at Mt Gravatt, Wivenhoe Dam, Ipswich and above the Gateway Bridge,” she said. “I can’t explain why I have seen so many while others haven’t seen any. I guess some people just have an encounter prone personality type.”

Mrs Gottschall said she had also encountered an unknown life form in 1990. “I saw three small grey beings standing at the end of my bed,” she said. “As soon as I saw them I pulled the sheet over my head and started to pray. The next thing it was morning.”

Mrs Gottschall said she became fascinated with paranormal activity while hosting home bible-study groups about 20 years ago. “I started reading the bible because I questioned what our reason for being was,” she said. “I soon noticed a strong parallel between experiences of those who believed to see aliens and those who believed to see angels.”

UFO Research Queensland holds one meeting open to the public each month. The next meeting is on this Friday from 7.30pm at the Australian College of Natural Medicine, corner of Brunswick and Water Streets, Spring Hill.

ET Eyes Natural Wonders of Queensland

Source: The Courier Mail. June 17, 2008

http://tinyurl.com/6z2bsb

ALIENS are visiting Queensland, attracted by its natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef, according to a local UFO watchers' association.

Scientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars, and US space agency NASA has spent years and many billions of dollars in the search. But a group of dedicated Queenslanders believe extraterrestrial life can be found much closer to home. Queensland is a hotbed of UFO activity, according to local experts who have dedicated their lives to studying the phenomenon.

UFO Research Queensland is a voluntary, non-profit association established in 1956 to receive, record and research UFO sightings. They claim the existence of a large body of well-attested sightings that proves extraterrestrial vehicles are flying through our atmosphere, landing on the ground and entering our oceans. The Brisbane-based group also provides support to individuals whose alleged encounters with UFOs have left them distraught, confused, and searching for answers.

Sightings officer Dr Martin Gottschall has been studying UFOs for more than 30 years after an encounter in Adelaide in the late 1960s.The consultant mechanical engineer, whose wife Sheryl is chairwoman of the UFO group, said they received hundreds of reports each year. "We have collected thousands of sighting reports in Queensland," he said. "I remember years when I had over 40 calls a day. Plus, there are several groups collecting information. Ours is not the only one."

Dr Gottschall says Queensland's natural wonders could be the drawcard. "The occupants of these craft appear to be interested in the vegetation and one of the objects of study is the Great Barrier Reef," he said. "There are other areas in Queensland that seem to be so-called hotspots. One that has lasted for a long time is up around Tully. I think there's reason to suspect there might be one or more alien bases in that locality, probably underground or underwater. "

Kay McCullock, who says she has had encounters with extraterrestrials, is an independent UFO researcher and co-ordinator for UFORQ's Warwick, Southern Downs and Granite Belt regions. The ex-private investigator has begun a program aimed at making contact with alien life forms." A group of us go out into the field and do real-time research," she said. "We're out there measuring frequencies, looking at the landscape and detailing everything. We're specifically using frequency, colour and sound and also very advanced meditation and thought processes."

But, for every believer, there is a sceptic. Associate Professor Michael Drinkwater, Head of Physics at UQ, firmly believes there is no credible evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial craft. "There are a lot of crazy things in the sky which we don't understand, but I personally think anything we've seen so far we'll eventually find natural explanations for," he said. "The eye and brain do incredibly complex analysis when you see something, particularly at night. "When you see something that is unusual, the brain interprets it as something more physical and more real than it actually is. I've seen something called a fireball which is a very large meteorite, so large it lights up the whole landscape at night time. "My eyes told me it was something so low, it crashed over the next hill, but I know from science that it's more than 20km up in the atmosphere and my eyes are giving me the wrong message."

Vatican or Vatican't?

The Vatican’s latest public proclamation on extraterrestrial life that says ‘Oh yes, there just might be ET’s out there, and they just might be closer to God than we are’ causes one to wonder what might be gained from making such a comment. Not merely agreeing to the existence of ET life, but elevating them to a higher standard in God’s eye than mankind, these comments made by the Pope’s chief astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, would surely have raised the eyebrows of the Catholic faith.

A notion that would once have resulted in a burning at the stake is now imparted to all asunder to read in the Vatican newspaper. Though this statement invites more of our ‘what do you know that we don’t know’ rigmarole, it does seem as though the Vatican may be on to something that the rest of us aren’t. Furthermore, they seem open to the idea that life on other worlds could be more spiritually advanced, and hence closer to the Lord, than we will ever be. However, as one of our previous posters commented, would that then make ET angelic?

There are many people who would insist that ET visitations are indeed similar to, or in fact are, angelic. There are many overlaps in both milieus, not least of which being that ET is here to guide us, to help us, and to make sure we don’t screw up the planet. There are also just as manycases for the opposite to be true, those that believe that ET is a demonic force in the universe. In fact both positions may be true - if the Pope’s astronomers think there are ETs out there closer to God than we are, it also holds that there are ETs out there who are closer to Satan. A race so evil and so far fallen from grace that they must make humanity look good – if such a thing were possible!

So what does it mean when the Vatican comes out with statements advocating the existence of ET life and slotting said life into religious hierarchies? Like all large organisations the Vatican doesn’t issue press releases for no good reason. It also vets said releases carefully, and its representatives do not loosen their tongues lightly. So the question left begging is why did they say anything at all?

Is the existence of ET life to now become a respectable teaching of the Catholic church? How will that affect it’s followers? Will it create yet another breakaway group, one which believes Christ died for the Klingons too? Stay tuned….

Close Encounters of the Hamburger Kind

Cattle mutilations have long been one of those weird mysteries of Ufology. They are kind of like a dirty secret – they’re in your face, but like great uncle Harry’s peculiar toilet habits, we don’t like to talk about them.

There’s long been debate over whether they’re related to the UFO phenomenon at all, or are a phenomenon in their own right. And if they are indeed related to, are a byproduct of, or in fact are the raison d'être of our ET visitations, they’re damn peculiar.

We’ve long known that cattle are closely related to humans. It’s probably why whole corporations are built upon them, and why we spend so much time, money and effort grinding them up into uniform little patties that we sell wholesale. Just like humans (according to the cannibals we’ve interviewed), cows taste mighty fine. It has been posited that perhaps the reason for ET’s interest in cattle could be this close genetic relationship – rather than experiment on people (because people might notice a sudden decrease in population), that some of the more invasive or deleterious experimental work could be done on our bovine relatives.

Well, scoff at that idea at your peril. According to a report at the ABC Science site, http://tinyurl.com/5s4crs, UK researchers have created embryos using human cells and the eggs of a cow. For what purpose is hard to define, since the researchers assure us that they are neither going to use the resultant hybrid embryos for any useful purpose, nor are they allowing any of the mutants to live past 14 days, ensuring that no horror-movie abominations survive to rampage through downtown London.

However it does throw another slant on the entire cattle mutilation scenario. What if it was genetic material (in bulk) that ET was needing all this time? What if cattle tissue, cells, eggs, sperm and blood is useful in the Human-ET cloning process? Are cattle the ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Butter’ component in the (supposed) ET-Human clone initiative? Or are cattle the ‘Hamburger Helper’ that ET requires to beef up (no pun intended) their human burgers? Oh dear. We’ll never be able to look at a cheeseburger in quite the same way again….

The UFO Why Questions – Oz Style

Why? Why? Why? Over the years we’ve been asked so many why questions about UFOs that it’s left our heads spinning. The types of questions people ask are intelligent and logical, yet when it comes to giving good answers not many can come up with them. One person who does address the why questions is Stanton Friedman but it’s a short list and there’s oh so much more to ask. Maybe it’s because we live on the underbelly of the globe who knows, but here in Australia we are a fairly simple people who just need to know a few basics. Things like:

1. Why don't people know more about the UFO phenomenon?
2. Why are only a few people doing the job of uncovering the truth about UFOs?
3. Why don’t people care that they've been lied to by the authorities about the existence of UFOs and are living under a delusion because of those lies?
4. Why don't researchers get together on a GLOBAL scale to create a true groundswell that will bring about real awareness?

1.Why don't people know more about the UFO phenomenon?
More people know about the existence of UFOs these days than they ever did and there are two main reasons for this. Television and the changing scientific acceptance of the subject. Science fiction shows like Star Trek and The X Files have been able to explore the more fantastical aspects of the phenomenon and have done a lot to awaken the public to the UFO subject. Mostly it's been a shallow, abstract version of the extraterrestrial reality, but for some it’s created a springboard into the subject that may not ordinarily have occurred.

As for a changing scientific acceptance of the subject, some may not see this so clearly. However, in the last 20 years scientists have not been so fixed in their common mantra “we are alone in the universe”. Instead we’ve seen a more pronounced study of panspermia and exobiology, the discovery of new planets, the exploration by quantum physics into other dimensions, cosmological discoveries via the Hubble telescope, the Mars missions, MIR and the International Space Station, all colliding to change the direction of modern scientific enquiry into humanity’s place in the universe and other life we might share it with.

Meanwhile, western society has become so scientifically "aligned" that when scientists began to change their thinking, the public soon followed. Why? There's a prestige in western society that accompanies scientific understanding. Scientists are portrayed as being highly intelligent individuals and if you understand them and agree with what they say you must be intelligent too. And we ask you….who doesn't want to appear intelligent?

However, the hidden problem this has created in UFO research is that this scientific seduction has blinded UFO researchers from a true exploration of ufological anomalies.

2. Why aren't more people curious or investigating UFOs ?
This is the easiest of all questions to answer. Hidden competing emotional commitments. What’s that you ask? Emotional commitments could be described as supporting our personal internal reward system. In other words, we perform certain behaviours because we’re rewarded for doing so. For example, people work hard and maintain standards of excellence in business practice because the reward is income, customer loyalty and return custom. But where’s the reward in studying UFOs? People who do so often face social ostracism, loss of status, sacrifice of personal time, loss of esteem from family and friends….shall we go on? As you can see there’s very little reward in tripping down the UFO path, so most people don’t.

However, the good news is that buried in the deeply twisted recesses of the psyche of some people (like us) there’s a greater emotional payoff to explore the UFO issue than to leave it alone. For some it’s sparked by our own experiences and the consequent search for answers. For others a more general answer may be that the UFO subject is a deeply profound tool for personal growth. In the long run, expanding personal awareness is of great benefit to our lives and extremely satisfying in ways that can be difficult to articulate.

3. Why don’t people care that they've been lied to by the authorities and have been living under a delusion because of those lies?
Wow! How long are you willing to sit and read this blog? Okay we’ll try to keep it short. In all honesty if you don’t know by now that governments are willing to lie to the people who put them in power then you’ve probably been living under a rock. So what if the government has been lying about something that has the potential to create so much social upheaval that life on this planet will probably never be the same? Well what if the outing of that lie then caused the citizens of this planet to concern themselves with the question of alien motives and Earth’s planetary defense capabilities? (and that’s just one question off the top of our heads!)

We know SETI loves to promote the idea that advanced ET societies will probably have evolved past any malicious intent, but it’s equally possible this is not the case. Then what? Okay, we’re still here and seemingly unharmed, that’s true, but will this always be our situation ? Do we really want to worry ourselves with such things when it’s the role of the defense force to deal with it, even if in reality they can’t defend this planet against technologically advanced malevolent ETs? Better not to think about such things….really. In this case living with a lie is good….right? Wrong actually, but that’s how most people reason, at least subconsciously.

4. Why don't researchers get together on a GLOBAL scale to create a true groundswell that will bring about a real awareness of UFOs and disclosure?

The reasons why people are drawn to become ufo researchers in the first place are quite varied and not every person who does has the temperament to become an activist.

This is a voluntary field of endeavour so the areas people become interested in are decided by their individual interests and not a shared goal. This culminates in researchers working in pockets rather than under the auspices of a large organization that is established with one clear goal in mind. Over the years individual researchers have been working towards disclosure and still do. In recent times the Exopolitics Institute has emerged, establishing itself in various countries around the globe, with the aim to gather credible whistleblower testimony from political, military and private citizens. Although there are those who do not agree with various aspects of their work, the fact is this group has a clear goal and a shared vision which works in their favour.

Currently there is no clear, shared single vision among the general UFO community. In the past various national bodies have arisen in countries but generally they don’t receive long-term support. That’s not to say it cannot be achieved, but the right people have to spearhead such a formation and they must have clearly focused goals. If the ufo community were to ever gather itself together globally, it would truly be a force to be reckoned with. The authorities know this so their best defense against any such groundswell arising has been to create dissent among such formations.

Since disclosure witnesses have spoken out, some have confirmed what researchers always expected: that there are indeed debunkers peppered within the UFO community whose job is not only to throw shadows of doubt over the UFO subject but to discourage the UFO community from pursuing certain paths of inquiry or collaboration and create division where possible. Researchers need to be aware of this and observe those within the UFO community that may be creating the most division. This may just be their goal.

UFOs: 50 Years of Denial….and then some

Recently we watched the documentary UFOs: 50 Years of Denial which explored the consistent, official UFO debunking process. We’re sure we watched it when it was first released in 1997 but sometimes it takes some years of hindsight before one can actually “get the point”. Part 1 starts here http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=pbaEGiftX6A

(There are 5 parts in total)

Some comments stood out in our mind, one being that the authorities did not want the public to "get excited" by UFO reports. An interesting choice of words, don't you think? To achieve this goal and to overcome leaks from official sources about the reality of the subject, a vast network of ridicule and debunking had to be set in place - and it was, well and truly as this documentary so clearly pointed out. The last thing officials wanted was for public opinion to be mobilised into asking all the right questions of the authorities who weren't yet willing to answer, if ever. They didn't want to be herded down a path they were unwilling to travel which might allow vast opportunities provided by alien contact (one can only begin to imagine what they might be), slip through their fingers. Instead, they had to quickly curb that interest so they could retain control of their chosen direction, and one of the ways this was done was by sidelining all contactee accounts through the consistent installation of the debunking process.

Remember this a time when the UFO phenomenon was brimming with contactee reports that ignited public imagination, causing a deep questioning of the social issues of the time. From reports we've received over the years we know that alien abductions were taking place back then, but it was the contactees who fired public interest. They were the instigators of social unrest among the UFO interested public, not the nightmarish and deeply disturbing alien abductee reports which came with an in-built aversion process called fear. Frightening accounts of this type of ET contact weren’t going to get the public probing too deeply into the subject, naturally enough. That aspect of the UFO phenomenon, at least at that time, would not be the undoing of the cover-up.

To this day even the mere mention of the word contactee in UFO circles triggers this process whose tentacles have become so insidiously entrenched in the psyche of many in the field that it causes an immediate knee-jerk reaction switching off any further discussion. It has become too much of a time consuming effort for researchers to even bother raising contactee cases any more. The final result is the debunking process remains in tact, unchallenged, and the ultimate goal achieved - end of discussion.

Yet it could possibly be the accounts by people such as Ludwig Pallman, Dan Fry, Orfeo Angelucci and Elizabeth Klarer, among hundreds of others, that give us the greatest insights into those with whom we share the universe. To do so we must remain alert to the debunking process that exists within the UFO community and continue our investigation into the truth.

Alien Worlds Magazine

Stuart Miller, editor and publisher of Alien Worlds Magazine, kindly sent us a copy of the first issue of his latest project, a reincarnation of his previous eNewsletter UFO Review, now in hard copy under it’s new title Alien Worlds. Thanks Stuart. It contains an unorthodox content mix emerging from the convergence of three disciplines involved in the search for alien life; UFOs, astrobiology and SETI, the latter posing as the high priest of space exploration so we can understand why Stuart included SETI (well almost).

Initially you might wonder what these three have in common. Astrobiology searches for intelligent life holding that if it exists it is far, far away or only microbial in form; SETI which holds that if ET life does exist it is also far, far away, so far in fact that it’s not much use worrying about it; while Ufology claims alien life exists as sentient life forms that visit Earth for a variety of reasons right under our nose even though very few take any notice of it.

The quest then for the editor of Alien Worlds will be to weave this combination into something that will be of value for UFO research given that any ufologist worth their weight already remains abreast of SETI and astrobiology “discoveries”. He’ll also be charged with unearthing if this mix will appeal to anyone in the UFO field besides those that take the “scientific approach only” to Ufology, or miracles of miracles, if it will help birth what anxiously paces outside the UFO delivery room - a wholistic approach to the UFO subject. A challenging quest indeed.

If it is to be the latter then there seems that some other essential components might need to be added to this brew, that is, information from the behavioural sciences, neuroscience and consciousness research. One could also add a splash of the esoteric, since many ancient esoteric ideas now seem to harmonise with modern day quantum physics, string theory and super position hypothesis, just to name a few. In our opinion this would cover all the bases giving a true eclectic approach to the subject, if that were to be the ultimate goal.

Stuart has taken on a great challenge which causes us to wonder whether 2 years down the track he will remain true to the direction Alien Worlds set out to steer. After all, when one rubs shoulders with scientific conditioning for a while it is bound to rub off eventually leaving one akin to the subject in the boiled frog experiment. So the questions remain…. will Stuart remain wide-eyed, bushy-tailed and full of objective wonder? Will scientifically oriented UFO veterans find the magazine “dry” enough? More importantly will it be enough to keep the interest of UFO buffs, researchers, experiencers and the interested UFO public piqued, given they appear to be the magazines target market and that scientists probably won’t read this magazine? All good questions that only time will tell.

Good luck with the magazine Stuart, it’s going to be a fine balance indeed, but if anyone can do it we know you can.

Dr Carl Jung…a mere mortal after all?

If you haven’t read Carl Jung’s book by now then you should because, ‘Flying Saucers – A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies’ is a classic. Jung’s primary question throughout this book was whether UFOs are real or if they are mere products of fantasy psychically projected? Although he claimed to explore the question with an open mind, it becomes obvious to the reader that the dear doctor pushes his view that UFOs are a projection of the subconscious human mind only, and do not exist in our reality. One can only wonder if he would have the same view today given the Disclosure Project complete with it’s whistleblower testimony.

However, Dr Jung was only a mere mortal after all, and like many scientists and researchers today found the UFO phenomenon challenged him at his deepest level to go beyond his training and conditioning. One question stood out for Jung, baffling him to understand, how UFOs as psychic projections could throw back radar echo, confounding him immensely no doubt.

Based on the works of Ruppelt, Keyhoe and Menzel at the time, Jung eventually decided that even if UFOs are physically real they are so bizarre that they tax our understanding and credulity to the limit. This is very reminiscent of T.S. Eliots’ words, “human kind cannot bear very much reality” and reveals that even great minds, like Carl Jung, can only tolerate so much.

It also reminds readers of the rift that exists between science and the mystical and that as Jung himself stated, “the interest of many scientists is too easily restricted to the common, the probable, the average, for that is after all the basis of every empirical science.” Fortunately, and eventually, the good doctor became willing to go where few had been before, especially in his lifetime, and was willing to admit that any scientific basis “has little meaning unless something can be erected upon it that also leaves room for the exceptional and the extraordinary.”

We can only wonder what Dr Jung might think of the modern research of Dr Rick Strassman with his subjects using DMT (N-dimethyltryptamine) or the investigations of Graham Hancock into shamanic experiences using ahyuasca, to further our current understanding of alternate realities as well as the possibility of them being stomping grounds for some extraterrestrials. Would Jung approve of psychedelic use and ancient ritual to make contact with ETs? Maybe…maybe not.

However looking back on Jung’s thoughts 44 years later, his work acts as a beacon as well as a warning for researchers, revealing the lack of psychological research into the UFO subject which remains undone but by now should have far surpassed his initial work. Jung himself admits that he found no clear answers to an ET reality and had to be content with having sketched out a few lines for future research. He also stated that the “psychic aspects of the UFO subject play so great a role that it cannot be omitted from any future studies”. He considered that “if military authorities felt compelled to set up bureaus for collecting and evaluating UFO reports, then psychology too, had not only the right but also the duty to do what it could to shed light on this dark problem.” Yes good doctor, we couldn’t agree more.

Don’t drive over .05

A recent image of a UFO careening drunkenly across the London skies has got us thinking. Do UFOnauts have a licensing bureau? And do they have blood alcohol limit restrictions?

The photo in question at http://tinyurl.com/2sl79k touted as ‘genuine’, seems to us to be not quite so. There are reasons why we think it may be a fake, but there are also a number of reasons why we need to doubt our own reasoning whenever we look at an image of a UFO. In fact why all of us on this planet need to rethink and reconsider our thought patterns whenever we are confronted by things ‘alien’ to our dull Earthly milieu.

Why we think it’s a fake:

Well, just look at it. The pilot is flying too low to the ground, he’s too close to large ground-based structures for safety. Like, doesn’t the pilot care that he might knock over that great big Ferris wheel thingy and kill hundreds of terranian holiday makers? No, no respectable pilot (no matter which planet he trained on) would fly that low or that close to a building, would he? Unless he’s drunk. And from the angle of that spaceship, he just might be.

Also, the UFO in question looks too nice, too clean, too ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’… too good to be true in fact. It looks too human to be extraterrestrial, so it just couldn’t be. Could it?

Further, and more realistically, there is too much rain – it causes pixel interference so nobody can judge accurately if the UFO has been pasted into the image at a later date. You just gotta be suspicious of that, right? Nice big shiny UFO flying too close to an internationally-known landmark on a busy evening. In the rain. It screams hoax. It really does.

However!

Reasons not to judge too quickly and too harshly:

What do we, puny little Earthlings with our puny little Earthling educations and our puny little Earthling imaginations, know of extraterrestrial vehicles? Are we adequately equipped to know one when we see one? Are we adequately equipped to look a photograph of a UFO and judge?

As a society we are unbelievably judgmental, and Ufologists in particular are even more so. Pop a photo of a UFO in front of us and first thing we’ll say will be ‘fake.’ Why, when we are clamouring for evidence, are we the first to discard it when it comes our way? Does the reality confront even we, who are so desperately longing for it?

And who are we to say that an alien vehicle shouldn’t look too clean, or too dirty? Are we allowed to dictate if one is too round or too square, too amorphous or too bright, or not bright enough? What do we know, really know, about how alien civilisations construct their spaceships, their cities, their babies’ bassinets? They’re ALIEN – and that’s the whole point. We wouldn’t know the first thing about an extraterrestrial culture, and we could not ever place our psyches into theirs, so how could we ever predict what their artefacts might look like? They have different psyches, the result of millennia of social and cultural evolution on a different planet. Just as we are the result of millennia of social and cultural evolution on ours.

Too much evidence has been buried beneath good intentions by people who think they know what a UFO should, would or could look like. It behoves us to re-examine all the evidence we have, this time with a non-judgemental eye.

The moral of the story:

Perhaps we need to be less hasty in our urge to dismiss UFO evidence and discourage researchers. Because perhaps the truth has been out there all along, and we’ve just been too self-assuredly smug to see it.

Spielberg to launch UFO and paranormal social network?

http://tinyurl.com/2hyv7t

Hollywood mega-director Steven Spielberg is reportedly setting up a social network for people interested in paranormal and extra-terrestrial activity, inspired by his own personal experiences with the unknown.

The focus of the network will be on people who have an interest in, or have experienced paranormal phenomena, and the network may feature multimedia content of UFO sightings, paranormal activity and user-based content. Stories of Speilberg's own personal experiences with ghosts are widely known; his stay in the Excelsior House led him to become so frightened by alleged ghosts that he fled the room and moved 20 miles away, forming the inspiration for the movie 'Poltergiest'.

The network may have been originally in development with Yahoo, but the project was abandoned before it was launched. But reports suggest that the idea lives on, and a team of developers are aiming for a mid-year launch.

Punyverse not so puny?

http://tinyurl.com/29l3ow

Hot on the heels of our earlier post, ‘Across the Punyverse’, comes the surprising news that SETI has also disagreed with NASA’s choice of song. Hi-ho, on one thing at least SETI and we agree: the Beatles suck.

Actually, it turns out that SETI (who – never let it be forgotten – keep insisting they have yet to discover any signs of intelligent life in the universe), are worried that the nasal honking of the Beatles could result in an alien attack. It seems SETI is a tad concerned that if we advertise we’re here, then, well, we’re asking for trouble.

So, SETI, what do you know that we don’t know? More importantly, what do you know that NASA doesn’t know? And if you know something that NASA needs to know, then, dear SETI, you really should be communicating with them. If there really are angry aliens out there and you are worried that the Beatles might disrupt their quiet evenings, you really should’ve said something before NASA tromped all over their beauty sleep.

If readers happen to peruse the article at the link above, they will discover that SETI is quite a-feared of alerting a potentially unfriendly ET species to our existence, and, more specifically, our location. Pretty strange thinking for a group of people that publicly and ostensibly really don’t think there’s anything out there at all. But now, thanks to NASA’s intergalactic faux pas, it turns out that SETI is plain pants-wetting terrified that there IS something out there, and that we might make it mad.

Mixed messages SETI! What do you know that we don’t know? What have you discovered? What don’t you tell us? Why won’t you tell ANYbody, including all those persons or institutions capable of transmitting crappy songs out into the void? (Yes, it turns out some dude with a great honking satellite dish in his backyard transmitted Bob Marley out there about 10 years ago. Jeez SETI, you coulda said something before that happened.)

If our music, our culture, and our pathetic selves are such a dangerous torment to the easily irritated ET, then hell, SETI, you’d best start popping all our satellites out of orbit right now. Because, as we noted in our earlier post, we beam ourselves and our soap operas out into space every second of every day. This big round blue ball of ours must be the noisiest and most irritating disturbance this side of the Crab Nebula.

But don’t worry SETI, we promise it’s safe for you to sleep at night. If the intergalactic noise police were really going to visit and politely ask us to shut up, they’d surely have done it before now. Probably during the 80s – that wretched and embarrassing hiccup in our cultural development…