CFZ Bloggers

Over at the Jon Downes CFZ blog site: “CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: Still on the track,” there is now a plethora of blogs. Some are from Jon himself, and others are from guest bloggers. The blog is now being updated daily, and if you haven’t visited it yet, then I suggest that you do. It contains some extremely interesting reading.
http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/

And, talking of all things crypto, here’s a new site: “CRYPTO SQUAD USA,” that lists all the news from the USA regional representatives for CFZ. Not every state is represented yet, but the number is growing almost daily.
http://squadcrypto.blogspot.com/

One further blog worth checking out is that from Dr. Karl Shuker. At last he has been persuaded by the CFZ to write a blog, and his entries are truly fascinating.
http://karlshuker.blogspot.com/

UFO Clarification

Back in the middle of December I promised to try and blog more often, and I still intend to do so. But so far this year I've not been well, however I am really on the mend again now - I hope!

Anyway, having looked back over my last couple of posts there is something that I want to clarify. Each day I've been checking the news to see if there is any more information about what caused the damage to the Wind Farm turbine blades, and so far I've seen no serious news about it at all.

However, what I meant to add when I first started to blog on this story is about the term "UFO." (This note is for those who aren't too familiar with Ufology). For those who don't really follow the subject the acronym UFO is often taken to mean some extraterrestrial craft. What it actually stands for is Unidentified Flying Object - which could quite likely be something man-made; something from our own world.

In this particular case I still don't believe that the damage was done by something "out of this world," but it could still have been due to some type of terrestrial UFO. If, and when, I find any more news I'll keep you posted.

UFO claim over wind farm damage - Update

While I have nothing against the undoubtedly genuine witnesses who reported seeing anomalous lights and objects in the sky around the time that the damage took place, I am surprised to see some well known UK UFO researchers buying into the idea that UFOs did this damage. (No names, no pack drill, as we say here in the British Isles)

Today, the Telegraph newspaper has listed some of the more mundane reasons this could have happened. One that occurred to me yesterday was a bird strike, but if that had been the case then the body of the bird would probably have been found lying below the turbine.

However, each and all of the ideas listed in the Telegraph could equally be true, and I suspect that the answer will eventually be found. As I said yesterday, the wind itself can cause damage, but it’s also been extremely cold here in the UK. The temperatures have been lower than those currently to be found in the Antarctic, so an ice strike is more than feasible.

Now, I’m not a UFO sceptic, and I’m not out to debunk UFO believers. But when these type of unexplained events happen it seems that the first cry to go up is that it’s somehow down to UFOs. This has become far more prevalent over the last year, especially with all the media coverage that local UK events have been getting. Most of them have turned out to be nothing more than Chinese lanterns. Such credulous belief does a disservice to Ufology.

I believe in UFOs, only not in this case. And, anyway, I think the UFO subject is far more than “nuts and bolts” spaceships, and aliens. It’s been going on throughout history, and even before recorded time. And it’s always changing according to society’s beliefs. In the old days it was fairies, now it’s aliens. For me it’s all part of the “Unseen Realm,” and that includes cryptids, ghosts, and other kinds of psychic phenomena.

UFO claim over wind farm damage

This story has gone viral. If you checked out the Google UFO Blogs, and news, today you’d have seen literally thousands of links about it. But as I trust the good old UK’s BBC most I’m just adding their link here. They also have quite a good video at the link.

Now I, for one, don’t like wind farms even though I know we need to generate as much “clean” energy as we can. But I’m not alone in disliking them, and every time there’s a planning application to build a wind farm anywhere there’s also a local outcry against it.

So, while I can understand why some people think the damage to this particular wind farm might have been done by a UFO, I really don’t think that’s the case. I’m quite sure that eventually some terrestrial explanation will be found, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was the wind itself that had caused the damage. After all Lincolnshire is a flat county, that’s one of the reasons the wind farm was built there, and most of us know how damaging the wind can be. But if you want to believe that a UFO caused this, then who am I to try to convince you otherwise?

Twelfth Night superstition

Have you removed all your Christmas decorations? Tradition has it that they should all be gone by Twelfth Night, but when exactly is that date? Most would believe that it’s today, 6th January, but the Church of England maintains that it was yesterday evening because that was the night before the Epiphany. However, in days gone by it was believed that the Christmas season began with the onset of dusk on the evening of 24th December; hence Twelfth Night fell on the 5th January. Tradition also maintains that anyone who leaves their decorations up past this date will suffer bad luck during the coming year – unless they leave the decorations up for the rest of the year!

Personally, I took mine down on the day after Boxing Day as I was so tired of seeing them, even though I don’t put them up until the first Christmas card arrives. This year the first one came around the 7th December, so you can imagine how sick of the sight of them I was, lol. In fact, if it hadn’t been for my grandchildren I wouldn’t bother with such ornaments at all, but if they don’t see any they worry about me. As it is I only hang them in my lounge, and I’m not a Christian in the accepted sense of the word anyway.

On the subject of bad luck: there has long been a tradition in my family that you should never do your laundry, or clean house, on either the 1st January, or on any Sunday. Apparently, if you do then you wash all the luck out of the year, or the week. I was also led to believe, amongst other things, that it brings bad luck to open an umbrella indoors, or to put shoes on a table. In my family we had a very old superstition that it was highly unlucky to eat a dish known as Jugged Hare – although few people would probably even remember that dish in the UK nowadays. Are these family traditions, or old folklore tales? I don’t know, and I don’t really care, but I’ve long been superstitious.