There has been a lot of media attention for the news reports of a UFO over China causing authorities to shut down an airport. Many photographs and some video footage are circulating and being ascribed to the sighting reports. Here are two examples of said video footage:

Click here to view the embedded video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnszlJC8iGs

Russian version without the cool music:

However it, along with nearly every photograph allegedly of the sighted objects, is probably not what was actually sighted in China.

While I certainly don’t know this for sure myself most of the examinations of the photographs and video seem to indicate that they are not of the alleged China ufo – though the media continue to mislabel them as such.

It appears that the footage is from a “sighting of a Russian Soyuz-U launching a Progress M-06M vehicle to the ISS on June 30, 2010.” And most of the photos presented as those of the Chinese ufo appear to be long exposure photos of aircraft – specifically helicopters.

Things similar to this have been happening a lot lately, where the media mis-attribute previously existing footage to a new sighting:

• Another ?Dublin UFO? Hoax Underway Against the Media?

• Triangular UFO Footage Mystery Solved

So while there may have been a true UFO sighting it appears that no actual visual evidence of the sightings has been released, yet.

So, CNN decided they need to refute this story about the Taliban training attack monkeys. Because this is the kind of thing that needs clarification.

I mean, seriously CNN? Is it really that slow of a news day? Or do you really think that little of your audience’s intelligence?

I guess it is in keeping with the high journalistic standards we’ve seen from Jeanne Moos when reporting on pieces like the recent North Carolina Bigfoot reports (below) and from Larry King’s various UFO stories. One thing is for sure, I always know when I see a story of Fortean significance on CNN, they are going to make light and ignore any thoughtful witnesses or experts. Call it the trailer park tornado syndrome. If 20 people see something, no matter what it is, CNN is going to pick the one witness with three teeth, one eye, no previous knowledge of events, and a speech impediment.

By contrast, the local news story (video below) contained a much better report, and places the most recent sightings in a historical context of previous sightings. Does the most recent witness still seem somewhat dubious? Sure. But at least we now have a historical context within which to either substantiate his claims, or to look for a source to his delusions.

When we then look at a related opinion pieces asking “Why do we need to look for Bigfoot?” we find the commentator taking a grain of something worthwhile, potential psychological explanations for strange phenomenon, and twisting it all out of context and reason.

Monkey soldiers? Bigfoot? Anomalous animal carcasses? All the same to CNN.

Even at the most basic level, they seem to have a problem getting their facts straight when it comes to Fortean phenomenon. Take the chupacabras for instance (cabras, with an “s”… these aren’t monogamous goat suckers). First they spell it wrong, then they place its roots in Mexico instead of Puerto Rico. Then, after failing to do that basic bit of research about where the term and initial sightings originated, the author proceeds to confuse the quasi-mythic chupacabras (a creature who has now lent his name, as Jon Downes notes, to various boogie men across Latin America) with the hairless canines reported across the southwest. This does a disservice to the rich chupacabras lore of Puerto Rico and the rest of Latin America, as well as diverting serious scientific inquiry from the mystery canines that have been photographed, filmed, and even shot and killed.

If mange ridden coyotes or domestic dogs, they seem to be otherwise healthy and active (see video below). But if they are healthy and hair-free for some other reason, what is that reason? And just what kind of canine are they? These are questions that could be answered relatively easily with a little attention. Even if it turns out they are just mangy coyote. We would know, we could push the data out there, and we could move on to other topics.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But as long as organizations like CNN and others cast a jaundiced eye at the realm of Cryptozoology and other odd Fortean phenomenon — painting us in the same broad swathes as monkey soldiers and ignoring solid data and serious researchers while trotting out drunken witnesses for silly-season filler — legitimate investigators, and science itself, will continue to suffer by association. News organizations don’t trot out alchemists in lieu of chemists, astrologers instead of astronomers. Yet anytime Tom Biscardi or the local trailer park prophet trot out a magic monkey hand, the cameras are rolling.

It’s enough to make a former newsman sigh.

John Etgen speaks with KHOU news on report of FAA rocket incident in Houston.

“There will be another such loud report!”
- Carl Gustav Jung to Sigmund Freud

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”
– Auric Goldfinger

The other day a friend was telling me about a new book by local author James Hynes titled NEXT. My friend described part of the book’s premise, that of the main character Kevin Quinn worrying about being shot-out-of-the-sky by a shoulder mounted rocket while coming in for a landing in Austin, Texas:

In the first paragraph of “Next,” he imagines terrorists “kneeling in the bed of a dinged-up pickup truck with Texas plates, or crouching on the springy backseat of a rented convertible on a dirt track just outside the airport fence.” He envisions a Stinger launching “toward the sleek underbelly of Kevin’s plane, a Pringles can with wings, packed full of defenseless Pringles.”

I joked with my friend that, since the character was flying into the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and not the Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, he had nothing to worry about. I then proceeded to explain that there have been two very similar near-miss aviation events, almost exactly one year apart, where the unidentified flying object was described as like a missile or rocket, reported by commercial pilots and corroborated by witnesses on the ground. I suddenly realized we were now within the same time-frame as those two past events.

“It was the same situation, almost identical,” DeFoor said. “The FBI are pulling their records on that one. It was roughly in the same area almost a year ago.”

Both events involved “Continental Airlines,” though the second incident was actually with an ExpressJet plane that “flies regional routes for Continental Airlines as Continental Express.”

In the case of the 2008 event:

Continental Flight 1544 was flying at 5,000 feet about 11 miles east of Bush Intercontinental Airport after takeoff Monday morning when the pilot called the tower to report an object headed toward the plane. The pilot described seeing a fast moving object with a thick smoke trail nearing his airspace.

The 2009 incident also occurred shortly after take-off from Bush Intercontinental Airport, over the southern edge of Liberty County but with the plane at 13,000 feet on its way to Greenville, South Carolina. The 2008 event involved a commercial flight headed to Cleveland, Ohio.

While the first incident was at a relatively low altitude, compared to the second event a year later, the second closer-call was witnessed by two Hardin High School students who were interviewed by the local Sheriff’s department.

Besides local law-enforcement, the incidents have been investigated by the FAA, FBI and the Houston Area Joint Terrorism Task Force. Investigations have centered on the assumption that the rocket was launched by a model rocket hobbyist / enthusiast.

Model rockets can reach as high as 40,000 feet, although enthusiasts are supposed to notify the FAA if a rocket is entering controlled airspace, said Robert Morehead of the Amateur Spaceflight Association in Houston.

Investigators combed huge swaths of land (a 24 x 12 mile area in the case of the 2009 incident) where the mystery objects were presumed to have originated, however, nothing has ever been found. It can be difficult to locate such a potentially small object when there is so much ground to cover. In the case of the errant 6 and a half foot model AIM-120 AMRAAM pictured spiraling over the moon several paragraphs above, the rocket was out of control and quickly flew out of sight and “was not to be found until exactly one year later about a mile away from the launch site.”

So what does this all mean? Are there reckless hobbyist rocketeers in Liberty County trying to test their aim with high-flying civilian aircraft? Are there terrorists lurking in the Texas scrub-brush, salivating at the chance to take down an American airliner? With the approach of the same time-frame as the first two events, I have to wonder… will there be another near miss this year? Or have the perpetrators perfected their aim?

Coincidentally, in 2008 the Department of Homeland Security changed its mind and decided that shoulder fired missiles represented a threat so significant that they began outfitting jets ”with anti-missile systems as part of a new government test aimed at thwarting terrorists armed with shoulder-fired projectiles.”

If you have any information that could help resolve these mysterious near-miss events, please contact the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office at (936) 336-4500.

Boeing 737 Aircraft similar to the plane in the 2008 incident

Click here to view the embedded video.

Continental Airlines Pilot Reports UFO – FBI Investigates
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI23UaVEp9o

Flight 1544 - May 26th (Monday), Boeing 737 Event in 2008 at @ 10:20 am CST

• FBI: Pilot saw flaming object near Cleveland-bound jet – USATODAY.com
• Continental jet has near miss with ‘rocket’ - Texas Cable News KHOU
• Continental jet has near miss with ‘rocket’ – Rocketry Planet - KHOU (Video)
• Feds mum on “missile” incident involving passenger airliner – The NEIN Blog

Embraer 145 Aircraft similar to the plane in the 2009 incident

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pilots leaving Houston near miss with rocket / UFO – ABCnews www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFqM3tmBmkE

Flight 2822 – May 29th (Friday), Embraer 145 Event in 2009 at @ 8:20 pm CST

• FAA looks into what pilot saw over Liberty – Mystery at 13,000 feet / What jet pilot saw over Liberty - Houston Chronicle
• Pilots leaving Houston spot strange object – ABC local
• Authorities investigate strange object in sky – ABC local (Video)
• Texas UFO Was Missile or Rocket: Pilot – NBC Dallas-Fort Worth
• FBI: Pilot saw flaming object near Cleveland-bound jet – (Video)
• Missile Possibly Launched in Liberty County – MyFoxHouston (Video)
• Pilots Leaving Houston Report Near Miss With Mystery Object - National Terror Alert
• Continental Pilot Reports Missile Flying Near His Plane Over Texas … - Above Top Secret forums
• Near miss with Ufo says Pilots leaving Houston Bush … - RealUFOs.net
• Model rocket buzzes Continental jet claims authorities - Rocketry Planet - KIAH-TV39 (Video)
• Continental planes’ rocket scares have rumor mill flying - Rocketry Planet - Houston Chronicle

Related News

• Next: An excerpt – James Hynes
• ‘Next’ by James Hynes crackles with wit as the novel goes inside a Midwestern male’s head – Review by Karen R. Long of The Plain Dealer
• DHS Decides Shoulder Fired Missiles are a Threat – The Aviation Nation
• Passenger jets get anti-missile devices – USATODAY.com

Unrelated News

• Three killed as Bush private jet crashes – PlaneNews.com
• Three Dead in Private Jet Crash Near Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas – EMSresponder.com
• Jet crashes before picking up elder Bush - China Daily

A Few Choice Reactions

• Feds mum on “missile” incident involving passenger airliner

Flashback… It was on November 26, 2005 when the pilot of American Airlines Flight 612 reported a “near-hit” from what was described as a rocket passing nearby as the aircraft was traveling over the Santa Monica Bay at approximately 5,000 feet. Although the incident received scant media attention the Northeast Intelligence Network provided an extensive investigative report on the incident, complete with audio from the pilot and control tower, at this link.

theneinblog.blogspot.com

• UFO Researcher Bruce Maccabee:

Pilot reports of “rockets” go back to the 40′s. One of the first is in a report made to the FBI by a pilot flying over West Virginia. Another in the 90′s was by a pilot flying northward in Maryland not far from Camp David (north of Frederick). I have not tried to collect these reports but I know they are “out there.”

UFO UpDate: Re: What Pilot Saw Over Liberty

If you remember our last post on Dan Aykroyd, you already know about his Crystal Head vodka.
Well, Mr. Aykroyd is in town today, promoting the same!

You can meet Aykroyd, and pick up a bottle or two of Crystal Head vodka if you are so inclined, at the Hancock Center Twin Liquors, from 4 to 6 PM today only.

Details here.

Crystal Head Vodka website.

Playing at violence and war is nothing new. So why does Ron Jeremy, of all people, feel the need to call out violent video games while promoting porn? (photo from blackandwtf.tumblr.com)

I’ve been away from the blog for a while. Needless to say, lots going on. One of those things, I’m sad to admit, has been video games. When there is a lot going on in your personal life that you don’t want to deal with might need a break from dealing with, it’s not uncommon to seek some escapism in a fantasy world. It’s why entertainment still does well in a recession. It’s why millions of angst ridden teenagers get involved in epic fantasy series. It’s why I like video games.

After a week of working 9 hour days under the hum of fluorescent lights in an inconsistently heated office, it’s fun to get lost in the life of a wood elf. Or a 12th century assassin. Or the commander of a space ship. I still love to read. I play my drums. But there isn’t much on TV that interests me. Same with movies. My only real interest in the TV is, “can I hook my PS3 up to it?”. I built my last computer so it would run World of Warcraft better. (In fact, I might not even be writing this if C weren’t using the PlayStation to stream Lost.)

But while I’ve been away, working and trying to decide which from an incredible slate of winter games to focus on first, some crazy things have been happening in the world that remind us that, man, people are just plain weird!

Exhibit A:

Ron Jeremy writing on Kotaku about why porn is more natural and healthy than violent video games.

What he fails to address, in all of this, are the underlying reasons for violence. Why do people commit violent acts? Why is it (seemingly) more common in some regions than others? Is violence really any more common in the US? Is it more common today than it was in days of yore? And, most importantly, do video games cause violence, or are violent games merely a reflection of a cultural obsession with, and glorification of, violence that is already in place?

I’d say, to me anyway, it’s pretty obviously the latter. We, as a society, fetishize and celebrate violence. Perhaps because it really is one of those things that most will never actually engage in, unlike sex, and that is why it is so fascinating. Blaming violence in society, especially American society which has always celebrated violence in pulp novels, movies, etc., on products that are simply a reflection of that obsession, is putting the cart before the horse.

Likewise, claiming that porn doesn’t cause sexual deviancy misses the point. Of course porn doesn’t cause sexual deviancy, but it does most definitely enable it. People look at pornography for many reasons, but a healthy sexual appetite isn’t the only reason. Many undeniably turn to pornography precisely because they can’t accept those things they are attracted to, but they can watch or look at pornographic images of it. And I’m not even saying this is necessarily a bad thing. I’m attaching no moral judgment to it. I’m simply acknowledging that it isn’t so black and white.

Mr. Jeremy, I respect your work (such as it is). You give hope to the dreams of fat, hairy-backed men around the world that they, too, may someday have a threesome with two gorgeous strangers who will seduce them on an airplane. But you gotta realize you’re reaching here.

Exhibit B:

My new favorite photoblog, and source of the images used in this post, Black and WTF? Proof positive that people are not only weird now, but always have been weird.

Exhibit C:

Saudi Arabia is still sentencing people to death for witchcraft and sorcery. This is one of the many stories I meant to post about during my absence; but Saudi Arabia, late last year, sentenced a Lebanese television personality and “psychic” to death for sorcery. Ali Hussain Sibat was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2008 after making a pilgrimage to Mecca when religious police recognized him from his television show. This isn’t the first time the nation has sentenced people to death for sorcery. You may recall that in 2008 Saudi authorities were under fire from human rights groups for the scheduled execution of an illiterate woman accused of cursing a man with impotence. Sibat was still alive at last report, while accused witch Fawza Falih remains on death row.

So yeah. People are weird. And violent. We always have been. We’re violent in nations with loose controls on how violence is portrayed in the media. And we are no less cruel in nations where violent and objectionable material is highly censored.

We always have been weird and violent, and we will be until we kill each other off.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who’s Pranking Whom? Why Ireland and Why Triangular UFOs?

AUSTIN - It’s like déjà vu all over again … remember back in October 2008 when we broke the story of how someone in Ireland’s media had been convinced that a then recent UFO sighting flap (which featured an apparent triangle ufo with a red laser caught with cellphone video footage) was connected to this amazing footage of a triangle ufo with red laser darting about but which turned out to be reused footage of an award winning model from a UFO hoax contest? Well it appears that someone has yet again pulled the wool over the media’s eyes.

I was just made aware of some “dramatic new triangular ufo footage” and as soon as I saw it I recognized it as something I’d seen just a few months ago in October 2009 when I was researching the ufo videos of Ed Grimsley who claims to witness ufo battles complete with lasers and explosions using only a pair of expensive nightvision goggles. Yet none of his footage is anywhere near as interesting as this “new” triangular footage which happens to apparently use this same type of green-tinting night vision tech

The video I saw in October of last year was allegedly “filmed 12/5/08 in fremont, ca.” and uploaded to YouTube the same day by someone who appears to own a pair of the goggles and/or collects footage of nightvision anomalies. Yet the online news reports and bits of information offerred so far contradict that stating…

A triangular formation of lights was filmed flying at night at “incredible speed”.
Sighting near the River Liffey in Dublin.

One has to wonder, who got this misrepresentation of the footage started? Was it deliberate or could it just be a simple case of a news editor / web manager posting an interesting accompanying video that looks like what was described but which apparently has absolutely nothing to do with the “new” alleged Dublin sighting?

So far a handful of newsites has been taken in by this “hoax” or misidentification / miscommunication. But the list is growing everytime I check:

• Liffey on Mars
  The Sun – Vince Soodin – Jan 21, 2010
  EXPERT Nick Pope says it’s vital for our security to log sightings – and he will review yours. Among the most mysterious include a UFO over Parliament in …
  www.thesun.co.uk
• UFO spotted above Ireland (video)
  Daily Contributor - 11 hours ago
  A strange triangular formation of lights moving at an “incredible speed” has been filmed flying near the River Liffey in Dublin. …
  ailycontributor.com
• Triangular light formation UFO seen in Dublin
  NewsLite – 17 hours ago
  Witnesses say the lights moves at an “incredible speed” as they sped over the River Liffey. In the footage – which seems to have been taken via a night …
  newslite.tv
• Footage of ‘UFO’ taken in Ireland
  Oneindia – 21 hours ago
  news.oneindia.in
• UFO spotted above Dublin as Ireland turns X-Files
  Metro – 13 hours ago
  www.metro.co.uk
• Footage of ‘UFO’ taken in Ireland
  Newstrack India (blog) – 22 hours ago
  London, Jan 22 (ANI): The footage of a UFO flying near the River Liffey in Dublin has left experts thinking it could either be a secret aircraft or …
  www.newstrackindia.com
• Footage of UFO taken in Ireland
  Little About (blog) – Jan 21, 2010
  London, Jan 22 : The footage of a UFO flying near the River Liffey in Dublin has left experts thinking it could either be a secret aircraft or spacecraft. …
  www.littleabout.com

We’ll keep you posted with updates as we receive them.

- SMiles Lewis

]]> http://www.anomalymagazine.com/2010/01/23/exclusive-another-dublin-ufo-hoax-underway-against-the-media/feed/ 0 http://www.anomalymagazine.com/2010/01/20/quote-of-the-day/ http://www.anomalymagazine.com/2010/01/20/quote-of-the-day/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:57:48 +0000 Jeremy D Wells http://www.anomalymagazine.com/?p=1779 (The National Counter Terrorism Center has) “access to all the databases of all the agencies. There is total sharing. But I’m concerned that they don’t have the easy ability to draw linkages between the various databases…

It’s not clear to me that at the National Counter Terrorism Center today… (the computer system) will automatically cross search all the intelligence and law enforcement databases it has. I want to find out whether that exist and I’m afraid that it doesn’t.”

– Senator Joe Lieberman on NPR Morning Edition with Renee Montagne this morning, doing a heck of a job beating the dead scare-monger horse before he’s bothered to gather the facts. (Italicized emphasis is Senator Lieberman’s emphasis, bold is mine.)

Photo from: http://www.joystiq.com

Of course CNN talks about the applications suggested in big budget sci-fi movies like Avatar and the Matrix, and the perfunctory various medical applications.

But to be honest, if it follows the course of other technologies, I see the first practical commercial applications of the technology being applied to porn or games (or porn games, like these, because I’m betting the Japanese will be the first to make it work anyway). In fact,the manufacturers of the Emotiv Epoc claim to already have a device that allows the user to control games with their mind. How well this device actually works though hasn’t quite been established yet, with those viewing demos of the tech often less than impressed. But this is how the technology will end up being developed; by selling high-priced, low value toys and gimmicks to those eager early adopters.

Then, after enough people have telepathically pawed their digital harem of anime girls or bought the expensive peripheral with the Men Who Stare at Goats video game and want to do something else with it, it will filter down to other games, the controls will be refined, and then the technology will finally be cheap and reliable enough for it to be viable for giving the average amputee without unlimited funds the ability to scratch his or her own ass make their own pot of coffee in the morning.

On the eve of Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance visit, a mesmerizing white spiral vortex, accompanied by a beautiful blue plume, has been recorded and reported by numerous sources across Norway. Amazing pictures are pouring in as well as several videos that are going viral as we type this message.

The aerial occurrences are getting lots of discussion across the internet. Could this stargate-like display be connected to the Large Hadron Collider? Is it a dimensional doorway into other realms? Is it a publicity stunt presaging the arrival of President Obama?

So far the consensus seems to be it is the result of a failed Russian missle test - which Russia has now confirmed.

The pictures which show the most distinct spiral form, at first seem to be the most likely to have been photoshopped. Yet there are already scientifically modelled cgi videos that would seem to vindicate the spirals plausible rocket science origins.

In fact the photos and video footage seem very familiar and after doing a little scroogling yesterday afternoon I found the footage which was causing my pseudo-Déjà vu:

Click here to view the embedded video.

UFO – Spiral Slips out of Wormhole in Tomsk Russia

It seems that a very similar phenomenon was recorded and similarly swept the net by storm just a few years ago. The footage was allegedly from Tomsk in Russia circa either 2006 or 2007. Speculation then as now was that this was a Russian missile test. That appears to be the most sound explanation so far with the Norway Spiral.

Here is another video which seems somewhat suggestive of rocket test and is apparently from Toe’s Beach in Playa del Rey, California (the earliest upload date I’ve found is 2006):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Russian rocket / missile tests have a long history of connection to modern UFO reports. UFO researcher Jacques Vallee and UFO skeptic James Oberg have both written about this subject, showing that the Kremlin (like its American counterparts) has often utilized UFO reports as cover for covert weapons testing and deployment – sometimes even in violation of international treaties.

It all kind of reminds me of the Babylon 5 Jumpgate graphics…

 - SMiles Lewis

Western media coverage:

• Norway spiral: Space aliens welcoming Obama?
• Awesomely bizarre light show freaks out Norway
• Strange spiral phenomenon appearing on the sky in Northern Norway

Norwegian media coverage:

• Background on Bulava Missile Tests
• VG Nett
• Altaposten.no
• NRK.no
• Framtidinord.no
• Nordlis.no

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

That’s what some homeless folks are saying they saw, and the cops they talked to said they were scared, but sober.

Hmmmmm. That’s how far from SFBR (the think tank that Tom Slick founded and home of the Southwest Primate Research Center)?

.

UPDATE: Loren Coleman has posted more details about the events in San Antonio, including photos of possible hand/foot prints,  over at Cryptomundo.com

For an excellent Slick biography, check out Loren Coleman’s Tom Slick and the Search for the Yeti.