Sci-Fi album cover art...Kansas, 1979

Earlier in the week I was commenting on a couple of post made by Rich Reynolds that covered AI as a possible UFO component.  This lead to pre-historic cave art and a smattering of Native American mythology.  

A few days ago while driving to work, I was listening to my "Best of Kansas" CD.  I started to recall that Kansas had an earlier album whose cover art depicted an American Indian with a space helmet in the setting of an "alien" location.  I pulled up the wiki thread for Kansas' Monolith album.

Regarding the concept behind the cover art, here is the wikipedia write-up:

The album cover by artist Bruce Wolfe features an Indian in a space helmet with horns on it standing in front of what appears to be the World Trade Center twin towers rendered in stone behind which is a lunar scene featuring what appears to be construction ruins of some sort. The key to the cover art is the juxtaposition of the stones (monoliths, two of them) with the moon and the Indian/spaceman. These symbols go together to form a particular picture that will be more familiar to 21st century fans than to original fans.

Due to the particular juxtaposition of elements, the album title therefore refers to the black monolith from the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. This connection implies the album cover is telling us there is something on the moon and it has to do with human history/spirituality and our present period. That the band is known to have esoteric influences underscores this interpretation. The song "On The Other Side" therefore refers to the "other side" of the astral veil, or the state of in-between lives.^{[citation needed]} It is unclear whether the band was aware of the esoteric references in the painting. Drummer Phil Ehart was the point man on album art, and he had personal approval of all aspects of it. Ehart has made no public statements about the cover, and no music journalist ever asked about any deep or esoteric aspects of it. 

I guess that I'm old school because I miss the cover art that adorned record albums.  We always tried to interpret what hidden message or deeper meaning was being conveyed.  A lot of times there were none...Freud's "...some times a cigar is just a cigar."

Oddly, I saw many a band in high school and college, but never had the opportunity to see Kansas...much to my regret.

New edition out...Tim Printy's SUNlite.

Tim Printy has put out a new edition of his SUNlite webzine.  Interesting article on the current efforts to decipher the blurred text of the Ramey memo.

Tim provides an in-depth analysis of the memo.  As most should know, one of the key areas of interest is the verbiage "victims of the wreck," or what is perceived to be so which is highly dependent on one's point of view concerning the interpretation of the 1947 Roswell story.

Tim provides this interesting tidbit:

"Over a decade ago, Kevin Randle and James Houran published a study about the Ramey memo where they concluded that people would not be able to read the word “victims” unless they were prompted to do so. David Rudiak felt the subjects, who were allowed to view the image, were not given enough context or information about the memo, to give it a proper reading/ interpretation. He felt the wording was clear enough to him and to his fellow crashologists. To prove this, he came up with what he calls “consensus” readings. However, this “consensus” readings were among many pro-UFO crash authors who have been publishing and sharing their readings with each other for years. They are not independent and most are influenced by a shared belief in a crashed spaceship. It is not a surprise that they are going to agree on certain key phrases and the document’s meaning."

I recall looking at David Rudiak's survey results, available on his website, which he provides "context" to the verbiage in question.  To me it appeared that he was leading people in the direction that would provide favorable results for his interpretation.  What was lacking was a control group mechanism.  But that is my own personal opinion.

Tim provides other articles of interests for both the skeptics and UFO proponents.  As usual a good read which I highly recommend taking to the time to read!

A Christmas present to my old 490th SMS comrades...

A Little Christmas present for my old comrades of the 490th Strategic Missile Squadron, Malmstrom AFB, MT.  This was Robert Salas squadron back in the late 1960s for those who are interested...

I kept my crew blues hanging in the closet. I last wore the uniform for an IG ORI EWO check ride back in Feb 1985 two days later after pulling my final alert out at Kilo. Then I quietly stowed it away after fulfilling 296 alerts, 4 shy of that mythical 300 mark.

Notice the 100 mission patch, I had a 200 mission patch, but never had it placed on the uniform...why, I don't recall. I have it lying around somewhere.

Remember the squadron patch? Greg Ogletree(SIC?) was championing to have it change to a circular patch prior to my leaving to Grand Forks AFB...sadly, he was successful and we lost a very important unit history identity.

And least I forget, notice the faded look which gave everyone the perception that you had been around the block for SAC...I hated that original darker blue look...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all that served pulling SAC alerts, both missile and bomber/tanker crews.  The same wishes to those that are currently serving...I am with you in my thoughts and prayers.

Merry Christmas...Wishing all a Happy New Year

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all a Merry Christmas...or if you wish, Happy Holidays.  The above photo taken from my living room.

I wish all a prosperous New Year as well.

Apologies for the lack of postings on the site.  I have plans to get back at it after the holidays.  There are interesting topics to write and discuss.

Rich Reynolds, UFO Conjecture(s), is exploring the UFO phenomena as a possible artificial intelligence source...as proposed by Nick Bostrom.  Interesting theory despite any hard evidence to support this possibility.

Kevin Randle and others have been making an attempt to finally decipher the Ramey memo, ala Roswell.  Tim Printy and others have been doing likewise. We'll see if those efforts bare fruit.

I need to finish the Minot 1968 case that was side tracked due to the "Roswell Slides" fiasco.  Unfortunately, I got sucked into that vortex...my own doing.   I've plenty of time to think about the Minot case and time is at hand to transposed my thoughts in a written format.

There are other topics that I want to explore, but I'll have to see what transpires.

So with that said, enjoy the holidays with your family!

Did It Really Happen?: 5 years old...

Exactly five years ago, this blog site came into being.  I posted my first article as a counter argument to the Echo Flight story.  This article still remains as having the most page views.

http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2010/11/did-ufos-disable-minuteman-missiles-at.html

Notice I said story rather than incident.  For that is what it truly was, an interesting story that remains as pure folklore.

Since that day five years ago, this blog has seen a steady growth in readership.  A few regulars check in every now and then, but I get a lot of first time page views which contributes to the health and viability of this blog.

I look forward to continuing the blog for the next 5 years.  The subject matter may change, but in the end I'll still ask the question:  "Did it really happen?"

Feedback from my Halloween Story

My previous post described a memory when I was 6 years of age.  I recall seeing the image or shape of a woman dressed in black standing at or near the doorway of my bedroom. This all coming from my peripheral vision.

Despite my memory of the event being "vivid", I did state that there were logical explanations that could account for the image.  As strange as the image was, I hold that there were plenty of external influences that could have shaped a young boy's imagination.

Back in the early 1960s, television content and programming was rife with such mental vehicles:  Twilight Zone, the Outer Limits and Thriller, just to name a few.  Of course the culture (Cajun) that I grew up in was inundated with supernatural themes, superstitions and folklore so this could have been a catalyst.    

I had originally posted the story on my Facebook page and received some interesting comments.  Especially from my wife:

"Glad you never told me that story....or anyone else....especially in the neuro field you work in. Sorry, I bet wild and vivid imagination, watching TV too much."

And that's why I never told her the story.  Nothing like having your better half weighing in.

A Halloween Story...

Well it's Halloween and what better time to tell a real story involving me...

Back around 1963 or 1964, the family was living in a fairly new constructed two bed room house in Abilene, Tx on Glendale Street. The home was part of a new tract of homes being built up in the north side of town. Jim and I shared one of the bedrooms. I would have been around 6 years old, yet I remember this episode vividly, or so I think.

As I recall, I was playing with a set of toys in the bedroom. I don't recall if Jim was in the room with me or not. I was sitting on the room's floor when out of the corner of my eye, at the doorway entry, I saw a woman dressed in a black dress which appeared to flow down and cover her feet/shoes. Her hair was black and worn with a bun. I could not make out any facial features, yet the image was most definitely that of a woman.

I quickly glanced towards the open doorway and the image was gone. I recall getting up and going to the doorway to look and see if anyone was in the hallway...there was nobody. I don't recall being scared, but only curious as to who this could have been.

I want to say that I saw this figure on numerous occasions when I was playing in the bedroom...always out of the corner of my eye and standing in the doorway only to vanish when I would look directly towards the doorway. But with the passage of time, I not sure that the image did reoccur on numerous occasions, but only that one time.

So what did or who did I see? Since I only saw this image out of the corner of my eye, I could have mistaken any subtle movement as that of the image. But why the image of a woman in a definitely black long dress with her hair tied up in a bun?

There are certainly logical answers from a neurological standpoint. Yet at the age of 58, I remember this image vividly. Active imagination from the mind of a 6 year old?....Or, was it something else?