Month: November 1997
Pontifications On Pabulum
Although it may appear, to all external analysis, that Blather is lapsing into some dank murkiness of ufology (or, as we prefer to call it around here, 'ufologyology' - the study of ufologists) on a permanent basis, we trip ourselves up in our haste to reassure The Readers that this is not in fact the case. Our excuse for such intense attention is merely due to the current flurry (slurry?) of Irish UFO interest - first two 'conferences' on consecutive weekends, and then UFO-related news made it to the front page of the 'The Examiner ' newspaper. Assuming that nothing utterly bizarre takes place in the next week with regard to Irish ufology(ology), next week's Blather will do its downmost to spew out bile of a different tangent. The front page of the Friday, November 21st issue of 'The Examiner' (Cork) had a piece headlined with 'Yes, the aliens landed....
All Gone PEIR Shaped
On Saturday 15th, Mark Pilkington and I trotted along to Wynn's Hotel, Dublin, to hear what the Irish Centre for UFO Studies had to say for themselves. I gathered that they were centralising some of their efforts on Boyle, Co. Roscommon, in light of the alleged 'crash' there in May 1996. In light of this, and their previous exploits, I expected more of the same wackiness that they had already been indulging in (see *several* earlier Blathers concerning Bantry, Co. Cork), but I have to admit, what they came out with on Saturday afternoon was even more surprising. We arrived, late, to join an audience of less than thirty people, including members of the mainstream press, children and elderly ladies, in a small over-furnished function room. When we arrived, Eamon Ansbro, of PEIR (Programme for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence Research) was using his highly dangerous laser pointer to skim through hand-written acetates...
Watching the Skywatchers
Last week's episode finished on a note of tongue-in-cheek anticipation of my possible demise by the hands of rabid ufologists. Although the conspiracy theorists among the readership may ponder whether or not this Blather was penned, so to speak, by an impostor, I would like to make it a clear that I emerged from the IUFOPRA (The Irish UFO and Paranormal Research Association) UFO Conference reasonably unscathed, despite the Irish coffees consumed during the latter part of the afternoon. Just before 10a.m., as the proceedings were kicking off, I bumped into two of Blather's old friends, Alan Sewell of the Irish Centre for UFO Studies, and his cohort, Eamonn Ansbro. Luckily enough, they don't seem to have read 'Blather' at all, and as the new issue of Fortean Times hadn't quite hit the shelves, they obviously hadn't read my article (FT105:43) about their, er, exploits. These days, the boys are...
Missing Link – Gone AWOL
We're breaking out the rum ration this week, as we are in a celebratory frame of mind. The reason? Your visual organs are currently consuming the 26th issue of 'Blather' - half a year old today. Now, on with the entertainment... In 'Baltic, Missing Links, Globs', Blather discussed news reports concerning the elusive Sumatran orang pendek, a primate which is alleged to have the ability to walk upright, a 'talent' previously only attributed to humans. What was especially curious about this spate of journalism was there seemed to be no good reason for the orang pendek to be in the news at this point in time - the report of Debbie Martyr's 1994 sighting seemed to be be a little late. . . which led Blather to wonder what all the fuss was about - and what sparked it all off. Author and cryptozoologist Loren Coleman was making similar enquiries,...