Vintage UFO on Contactees

• The Vintage UFO blog has an absolutely brilliant entry on the Contactees of yesteryear. The section 'I believe them, I just don't take them literally' seems especially on the mark. (And by that I mean, I suppose, that it agrees with my own thoughts on the subject.) The Contactees were not charlatans (not wholly so, anyway), but neither are they to be taken on face value:
  We need to take them seriously, not just reject them for being quaint kooks... their reports of what it was like on these planets were clearly fantastical, not meshing in any way with what we know. I don’t take them literally, but I believe them. I don’t believe them in this sense: I don’t believe they literally went to Venus, or Mars, or any other planet. In fact, I don't think they ever left the desert. However, I believe they thought they left the desert.
  ...If one remains stuck in the opinion the UFO phenomena is pretty much just nuts and bolts -- literal ETs from a literal planet -- we’re not going to get anywhere. And that goes for understanding the Contactees as well.
  Quite so. And, apart from anything else, the Contactees are such an fascinating crowd. It's a pity that our alien brothers seemed to give up on the messages of hope and light and started in on the anal probes.
  

Every part of my body without exception

• One of my favourite phrases ever published is found in Albert Bender's 1962 description of his experiences with the Men in Black, Flying Saucers and the Three Men. At one point, Bender is brought aboard a space ship. There he meets three comely alien ladies, who proceed to apply oil to his body. "They massaged every part of my body without exception..." wrote Bender. Lovely phrase.
  A recent blog entry in 'Inexplicata - The Journal of Hispanic Ufology' covers another case in which this rubbing down of all by aliens has occurred. For instance, one hapless lad has this done to him:
  They then covered him in a dark, amber-colored oil and placed the repulsive-looking female on top of him. The sexual act was rapidly consummated and the aliens fussed over him again, bathing him in the strange oil once more.
  Sounds like his alien ladies weren't as nice looking as Bender's, but he went a bit further with them. Unless Bender left out details for the sake out decorum.
  The fine Inexplicata article goes on to detail other instances of young Brazilian chaps having alien women forced upon them. It's a good read.
  

Figureheads and UFOs

• Curious Expeditions blog has a fine little entry on the history of figureheads. One of the interesting tidbits that he brings up is
  The bared breasts of the female figurehead wasn't just for sailor's enjoyment. "An adage dating at least to the time of Pliny the Elder maintained that the waters could be calmed by a woman uncovering her body at sea, and many sailors no doubt hoped that the representation of a bare-breasted woman would stave off foul weather."
• So the validity of UFO sightings is difficult to prove one way or the other. "Who cares?" says Greg at UFO Mystic, "they're fun."
  

Coffee, Adamski and prohibition

• More good reasons to drink coffee: apart from weight loss, it is mentally stimulating, reduces risk of Parkinson's, cardiovascular disease, gallstones. Good stuff.
• Adam Gorightly has a rather nice and thoughtful kooky piece on the various strands of the New Gnosis. It includes the following neat piece of George Adamski trivia:
  In the 1930's — prior to his "Space Brother" encounters — Adamski operated a monastery dubbed "The Royal-Order of Tibet," which afforded him a permit to make sacrificial wine during the Prohibition. After the Prohibition ended, Adamski's monastery suddenly closed its doors, and he afterwards opened a burger stand near the Mount Polomar Observatory. While there, Adamski claimed to have helped astronomers photograph several UFO's — a claim that afterwards was never verified by anyone at the observatory.
  

Brief: Greys and linux command line shutdown

• The blog Damn Data takes a look at that most well-known aspect of the Greys: their big bonces. I rather feel sorry for the female Greys, as getting those big noggins through their birth canals must be quite an arduous business.
• This thread in the official Ubuntu forums gives some usual command line shutdown options.
  

Greg's Top 10

• In the Fortean Times, Greg Bishop and others give their Top 10 UFO stories. I particularly like his no. 7:
  7. Herbert Schirmer – Ashland, NB, USA, 1967.
  Patrolman encountered a landed craft-like object on a lonely stretch of highway and saw it take off. Regressive hypnosis by Dr Leo Sprinkle elicited an encounter with apparently friendly beings who showed him around the craft and left him with this piece of wisdom: “We want you to believe in us, but not too much.”
  I think that's the best advice for any UFOlogist. Or magician for that matter.
  
  
  

Library in Mogadishu, UFO music

• The Washington Post has a short article on the Mogadishu City library entitled 'In the Heat of War, a literary refuge' After reading it I found myself wondering if there was a way to get donations to them. A little googling found that indeed there is, via the Zaylai Foundation.
• Take me to your leader! Over at UFOmystic, Greg has been bringing us UFO-related music from his personal collection (which is pretty impressive, and I bet it has even grown apace since I last saw it.) They're available for download.