Netflix Docuseries Encounters: The Stephenville Lights.

Angelia Joined, staff reporter for the Stephenville Empire-Tribune, who broke the story about the Stephenville Lights UFO sightings. She would later lose her job.

On 8 Jan. 2008, one of the most famous UFO sightings happened in a central Texas town called Stephenville. It was the largest UFO incident since the 13 March 1997 Phoenix Lights event. From the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)—one of the largest private UFO investigation organizations—May 2008 reports:

On January 10, 2008, the MUFON Case Management System (CMS) began to receive more than its normal number of sighting reports. In less than seven days the system had received over 100 new sightings in central Texas. The Texas Chapter of MUFON was now faced with a large logistical problem of interviewing over 100 witnesses. After a discussion with Ken Cherry, the Texas State Director, it was decided that an email be sent out to the MUFON Field Investigators located in the cities surrounding the Dublin/ Stephenville area requesting assistance. Texas has over 40 Field Investigators.

An email request was sent to the FIs in Dallas, Ft Worth, Abilene, Waco and Austin, and eight investigators committed themselves to a project that has never been attempted in the history of MUFON—to interview a large number of witnesses at one time.

I contacted Angelia Joiner of the Stephenville Tribune; she was the first reporter to break the story on January 10. Among other matters, we told her of our need for a meeting location. A short time later, a meeting room was donated for our use by the Dublin Dr Pepper Co and the Dublin Rotary Club. MUFON Texas held a meeting on January 19 for witnesses to come forward and make reports. A second meeting was held February 23.

To give you some perspective as to the number of sighting reports received, we need to go to the MUFON online Case Management System (CMS). Since MUFON began computerized record keeping in 1995, 568 sightings have been reported online for the state of Texas, with sightings reported which date back to 1947. (Figure 1.) In contrast, during the short period from November 2007 to March 1, 2008, an estimated 300 new reports were recorded via CMS and in-person reports.

The months of January and February produced 259 sighting reports. On January 8 alone—the day of the most publicized sightings—CMS received a total of 19 sighting reports from across Texas, of which 10 were reports of sightings from the Stephenville-Dublin area. (Figures 2 and 3.) Many of the sighting reports described large lights in the sky coming on and going off in sequence. Descriptions were varied. There were two “official” daylight sightings of large objects. The object was described as gray in color, emitting no sound, and moving at a high rate of speed.

Click this link for the report.

On the same night, nearly 1900 miles to the northwest in Yreka, Calif.—and the surrounding Northern California and Southern Oregon region, there were a number of UFO sightings. I got the assignment and spoke with witnesses, California MUFON investigators and even called Angelia at her newsroom.

That’s how we met.

I wrote the story and kept in touch with Angelia. Friended one another on Facebook. Then, she told me that she had been fired; she alluded that the Empire-Tribune was getting pressure from either the government or military. Angelia said she’d walked into the newsroom and her computer was missing from her desk.

Someone took her work laptop. Remember that.

When editor Sara Vanden Berge informed Angelia that she’d been fired, Berge demanded that all reporter’s field notebooks had to be handed over too.

Berge, Angelia told me, was very insistent.

In the Netflix docuseries Encounters, the first episode is about the Stephenville UFO incidents and Berge is interviewed. Angelia died from Covid on 7 Jan. 2021, a day after Covid had taken her husband, Randell.

Sara Vanden Berge.

Berge was never thrilled with the UFO articles and was unhappy about the coverage; she was embarrassed and worried that these articles would make her look bad. There were rumors Berge was jealous of the attention Angelia received—from TV and radio interviews, talking to Art Bell and Larry King and so on. In fact, it was rumored that Berge was very bitter and all too eager to fire Angelia.

So, I watched that first episode. It brought back a lot of memories, stories, things Angelia had written and told me. It was well done and I’m glad my friend got the credit she deserved.

Watching Berge, however, was sickening. In my opinion, Sara Vanden Berge is a vile, lying manipulative wench. Her final scene was very passable acting, as she reflected on “firing” Angelia.

Angelia Joiner was a damn fine reporter. She took the subject seriously and treated the eyewitnesses with respect. Overall, she was a very decent person.

She was a friend too.

She deserved better.

Be seeing you.

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Doggerland.

Ever heard of Doggerland? Well, here’s some information about it. From Wikipedia and cited sources:

Doggerland was an area of land in Northern Europe, now submerged beneath the southern North Sea. This region was repeatedly exposed at various times during the Pleistocene epoch due to the lowering of sea levels during glacial periods, though the term "Doggerland" is generally specifically used for this region during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. During the early Holocene, the exposed land area of Doggerland stretched across the region between what is now the east coast of Great Britain, the Netherlands, the western coast of Germany and the Danish peninsula of Jutland. Between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, Doggerland was inundated by rising sea levels, disintegrating initially into a series of low-lying islands before submerging completely. The impact of the tsunami generated by the Storegga underwater landslide c. 8200 years ago on Doggerland is controversial. The flooded land is known as the Dogger Littoral. Doggerland was named after the Dogger Bank—which in turn was named after 17th-century Dutch fishing boats called doggers—which formed a highland region that became submerged later than the rest of Doggerland.

The archaeological potential of the area was first identified in the early 20th century, and interest intensified in 1931 when a fishing trawler operating east of the Wash dragged up a barbed antler point that was subsequently dated to a time when the area was tundra. Vessels have since dragged up remains of mammoths, lions and other animals, and a few prehistoric tools and weapons. Most archaeological evidence of human habitation dates to the Mesolithic period during the early Holocene.

As of 2020, international teams are continuing a two-year investigation into the submerged landscape of Doggerland using new and traditional archaeogeophysical techniques, computer simulation, and molecular biology. Evidence gathered allows the study of past environments, ecological change, and human transition from hunter-gatherers to farming communities.

As ice melted at the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age, sea levels rose and the land began to tilt in an isostatic adjustment as the huge weight of ice lessened. Doggerland eventually became submerged, cutting off what was previously the British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500 BCE. The Dogger Bank, an upland area of Doggerland, remained an island until at least 5000 BCE. Key stages are now believed to have included the gradual evolution of a large tidal bay between eastern England and Dogger Bank by 9000 BCE and a rapid sea level rise thereafter, leading to Dogger Bank becoming an island and Britain becoming physically disconnected from the continent.

A recent hypothesis suggests that around 6200 BCE much of the remaining coastal land was flooded by a tsunami caused by a submarine landslide off the coast of Norway known as the Storegga Slide. This suggests “that the Storegga Slide tsunami would have had a catastrophic impact on the contemporary coastal Mesolithic population . . . Britain finally became separated from the continent and in cultural terms, the Mesolithic there goes its own way.” It is estimated that up to a quarter of the Mesolithic population of Britain lost their lives.  A study published in 2014 suggested that the only remaining parts of Doggerland at the time of the Storegga Slide were low-lying islands, but supported the view that the area had been abandoned at about the same time as the tsunamis.

Another view speculates that the Storegga tsunami devastated Doggerland, but then ebbed back into the sea, and that later Lake Agassiz (in North America) burst, releasing so much fresh water that sea levels rose over about two years to flood much of Doggerland and making Great Britain an island. The difference in the distribution of broken shells between lower-lying and high-lying parts of the area also suggests the survival of land after the Storegga tsunami.

Here’s an idea:

What if a highly advanced civilization—I mean highly advanced, hundreds of years ahead of us—existed in the Doggerland region?

What if that civilization was the basis for the Atlantis legend?

In the Zedverse, Earth/Tehrani/Terra has a co-orbital twin, another Earth or Counter-Earth called Tellus. Tellus is in a similar Ice Age that gripped our Earth thousands of years ago.

Yes, the Doggerland region exists on Tellus . . . along with other mysteries.

Oh.

One more thing: Tellus has three moons.

For more information:

National Geographic Doggerland

Smithsonian Magazine Doggerland Article

Be seeing you.

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Don't Let It Happen Here . . . Again.

I’d first heard of this book while reading about mainstream writers who wrote—not on purpose, some would say—science fiction. I was 13 at the time. I was blown away by it.

The novel was called It Can’t Happen Here. From Wikipedia:

Sinclair Lewis’s It Can't Happen Here is an alarming, eerily timeless work. The Chicago Tribune described the book as “written at white heat,” for Lewis was outraged as he created it, tormented by Hitler's aggression, the murderous events in Franco’s Spain, and nationalism rising in America. This book remains a warning about the fragility of democracy, juxtaposing hilarious satire with a blow-by-blow description of a president “saving” the country from welfare cheaters, sex, crime and the liberal press by becoming a dictator.

In 1936, American Senator Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip enters the presidential election campaign on a populist platform, promising to restore the country to prosperity and greatness, and promising each citizen $5,000 per year. Portraying himself as a champion of “the forgotten man” and “traditional” American values, Windrip defeats incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the Democratic nomination, and then beats his Republican opponent, Senator Walt Trowbridge, in the November election.

Having previously foreshadowed some authoritarian measures to reorganize the government, Windrip outlaws dissent, incarcerates political enemies in concentration camps then trains and arms a paramilitary force called the Minute Men—named after the Revolutionary War militias—who terrorize citizens and enforce the policies of a corporatist regime. One of Windrip’s first acts as president is to eliminate the influence of Congress, which draws the ire of many citizens and the legislators themselves. The Minute Men respond to protests harshly, attacking demonstrators with bayonets. In addition to these actions, Windrip's administration, known as the Corpo government, curtails women's and minority rights then eliminates individual states by subdividing the country into administrative sectors.

The government of these sectors is managed by Corpo authorities, usually prominent businessmen or Minute Men officers. Those accused of crimes against the government appear before kangaroo courts presided over by military judges.

Most Americans approve of these dictatorial measures, seeing them as painful but necessary steps to restore American power.

Sound familiar?

It happened here in 2016. We cannot let it happen again.

Get a copy of the novel. A man ahead of his time, Lewis profoundly understood the American character and ripped away smug platitudes to give readers the truth. In 1935, the Springfield Republican called It Can’t Happen Here “a message to thinking Americans.” Thinking Americans still need to hear it.

Be seeing you.

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. . 

HEO: Hyper Enabled Operator

Say goodbye to the Ironman battlesuit concept: The United States military wants more James Bond than Tony Stark.

More brains, less brawn. Enjoy the read

The Hyper-Enabled Operator.

Be seeing you.

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Readers: Tell Me Something . . . .

 Hello there.

Welcome to the page. Thanks so much for the likes and follows.

Oh.

This is a character of mine from the Fallout 4 roleplaying game. More or less, this is a good visual of what Zed looks like in Night Zero and other future stories.

I need some input from all of you.

As readers, what do you like or want from the main character?

And, well, what do you dislike or don't want?

I'm looking forward to your responses.

Circa 2095 CE: Orbital Habs & Sunjammers

Here are some visual inspirations for the orbital habs and a sunjammer-class vessel that will appear in Night Zero.

Enjoy.

 

Flat Earther Astronaut: #FAFO.

Pictured above is Mike Hughes, a staunch believer in the idiotic Flat Earth theory, who constructed a steam-powered rocket to prove his belief.

Sadly, on his final launch attempt on 22 Feb. 2020, Hughes died in a crash near Barstow, Calif. The rocket was built by both Hughes and his collaborator Waldo Stakes. Witnesses at the launch reported that the parachute, meant for landing, seemed to deploy too early and detach from the craft.

Freelance journalist Justin Chapman stated that the rocket may have scraped against the launch apparatus and ladder, causing damage to the parachutes.

The entire event was being filmed for a Science Channel television series called Homemade Astronauts, which featured Hughes as the main star.

Personally, I don't have problems when Flat Earthers remove themselves from the gene pool.

UFO: Keep Watching The Skies!

On 8 July 1947, everything changed.

Continued below.

 

 

The intelligence office of the 509th Bombardment group at Roswell Army Air Field announced at noon today, that the field has come into possession of a flying saucer.

According to information released by the department, over authority of Maj. J. A. Marcel, intelligence officer, the disk was recovered on a ranch in the Roswell vicinity, after an unidentified rancher had notified Sheriff Geo. Wilcox, here, that he had found the instrument on his premises.

Major Marcel and a detail from his department went to the ranch and recovered the disk, it was stated.

After the intelligence office here had inspected the instrument it was flown to "higher headquarters."

The intelligence office stated that no details of the saucer's construction or its appearance had been revealed.

Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot apparently were the only persons in Roswell who have seen what they thought was a flying disk.

They were sitting on their porch at 105 South Penn. last Wednesday night at about ten minutes before ten o'clock when a large glowing object zoomed out of the sky from the southeast, going in a northwesterly direction at a high rate of speed.

Wilmot called Mrs. Wilmot's attention to it and both ran down into the yard to watch. It was in sight less then a minute, perhaps 40 or 50 seconds, Wilmot estimated.

Wilmot said that it appeared to him to be about 1,500 feet high and going fast. He estimated between 400 and 500 miles per hour.

In appearance it looked oval in shape like two inverted saucers, faced mouth to mouth, or like two old type washbowls placed together in the same fashion. The entire body glowed as though light were showing through from inside, though not like it would be if a light were merely underneath.

From where he stood Wilmot said that the object looked to be about 5 feet in size, and making allowance for the distance it was from town he figured that it must have been 15 or 20 feet in diameter, though this was just a guess.

Wilmot said that he heard no sound but that Mrs. Wilmot said she heard a swishing sound for a very short time.

The object came into view from the southeast and disappeared over the treetops in the general vicinity of six-mile hill.

Wilmot, who is one of the most respected and reliable citizens in town, kept the story to himself hoping that someone else would come out and tell about having seen one, but finally today decided that he would go ahead and tell about seeing it. The announcement that the RAAF was in possession of one came only a few minutes after he decided to release the details of what he had seen.

That was the Army Air Force press release The Roswell Daily Record published on 8 July. Days earlier, people in the American Southwest reported UFO sightings—in fact, since Kenneth Arnold’s report of unknown aircraft near Mt. Rainier, thousands had seen UFO all across the country.

Then, suddenly, the USAAF retracted the story. Called it a weather balloon.

Ever since then, ufology has been debating about what or what didn’t happen. I have my own views but that’s another story.

Like the Arnold sighting, the Roswell incident has become a part of our popular culture; books, comics, movies and TV shows featuring UFOs and aliens—especially the Roswell event—have been around for decades and there’s no chance of slowing down.

Will we ever know what happened?

I don’t know.

Time, as always, will tell.

Happy Roswell Day.

Be seeing you.

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A Planet Called Vulcan.

According to some sources, in the 18th Century, astronomers hypothesized that there was a planet located between the Sun and Mercury, some calling it Vulcan.

Eventually, the scientific community came to the realization that Vulcan never existed.

But, well, what if it did?

From Night Zero:

Gustav Holst’s The Planets' nine movement suite started playing as I laid in bed, reading the dataflexi; I’d arranged each movement to follow each planet’s orbital path around Sol: “Vulcan, Bringer of Fire,” “Mercury, the Winged Messenger,” “Venus, the Bringer of Peace,” “Mars, the Bringer of War,” “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity,” “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age,” “Uranus, the Magician,” “Neptune, the Mystic” and “Pluto, the Bringer of Wealth.” Holst had lived long enough to see Pluto discovered and eventually added the new movement; however, Eris wasn’t known until its discovery in 1981. Mars was my favorite; the Pluto movement, with its eerily haunting choral arrangement, was also outstanding and ranked second among my favorites.

Of course, nothing was ever composed for Tellus, Earth’s co-orbital twin.

SI (Synthetic Intelligence) Nightmare Fuel.

I have to say this about AI art.

It does create some rather disturbing nightmare fuel.

Take Teletubbies, evil lawn gnomes, Monster, Inc. rejects, some really bad Eurotrash Star Trek ripoff and David Lynch taking enough drugs to scare the shite out of Dennis Hopper--well, this is what happens.