|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2.12.7 I finally had a chance to listen to Tim’s interview with John Greenwald
Jr. of the Black Vault site, and was once again reminded of the
fantastic work John does. That got me thinking of other dedicated UFO
researchers who share their data and knowledge with the rest of us. For
free.
Absolutely free.
It’s no news that UFOlogy has its share of lone “crazies,” (not a
polite word to describe these types, I know) but to constantly drag out
their cases and hold them up as representative of UFOlogy in any way is
dishonest. This is, of course, what the chronic skeptic does, and one
point they are continually making is that it’s a sad, pathetic waste of
time to waste time writing about, or researching, UFOs.
The truth is, there are many dedicated, intelligent, serious people out
there who willingly share their findings for free. They
don’t get paid, or if they do get some monies for some of what they do,
they don’t make a living from it. Some may ask for donations, or you
have to subscribe for a fee, but they are non-profits, and no one, trust
me, is making any kind of income from this. They spend their own time,
efforts, and money in getting the information out to the rest of us.
This is an astoundingly wonderful thing. It’s too bad these people are
taken for granted, and I take them for granted too. We’re all simply busy
and involved with our stuff, and we’ve become used to getting on the
internet and accessing such sites as Greenwald’s Black Vault, or Peter
Davenport’s NUFORC, UFO Updates, or MUFON without thinking much about how
we got to get these in the first place.
John Greenwald, of the Black Vault. If you haven’t listened to the pod
cast here on BOA with Tim Binnall, try to get the time to listen to it.
And visit John’s site. Make a donation if you can; I know mine will be
pitifully small, just enough to pay for a book or two of stamps (hey,
I don’t have any money!) and put a link up on your blog or site
if you have one. Without John’s incredible efforts, the rest of us
involved in UFO studies wouldn’t have the data we have. Greenwald has spent
literally hundreds of dollars, and hundreds of hours, going through the
convoluted hoops to get FOIA documents to the rest of us.
Peter Davenport’s NUFORC. My personal, minor issues with him aside (I
don’t share his politics, and didn't care for his attitude when I
reported a UFO to him a few years ago) he has given us a place to report
UFOs. He has created a databank of sightings, and made himself available to
the public. All on his own time, with his own resources. No one is
giving him any money; except for donations, he is paying for all of this
with his own money. Without his dedication we wouldn't have the wealth
of information on UFOs in this country (and beyond) that we have. We
wouldn't have a safe place to report our sightings too. Outisde of
UFOlogy, the average citizen often isn't sure where to report a UFO
sighiting.
Not wanting to look foolish, or be accused of being drunk or mentally
ill, many an individual doesn't report their UFO sighting. Davenport
provides a place to report a sighting where you won't be made to feel like
an idiot. You can call his number 24 hours a day. But, like
Greenwald, he gets no support from any official source, and is
marginalized -- as all UFO researchers are -- by the pseudo skeptics.
UFO Updates. A great resource for chat about current UFO news. All
kinds of UFO bigwigs are on the list, but anyone can join. Okay, so some
people have a problem with the list. So what? It gets cranky and silly at
times, (I e-mailed a female writer, asking if I she had a link I could
put up on my Women in UFO studies page; she was offended and it ended
up with her threatening me. Sheesh, some people!) and the list owner
gets irked pretty easily if you don’t use the e-mail function properly,
but it’s free and it offers all of us a great resource. You can
lurk, or get involved, and learn and read and get caught up on the latest
in UFOlogy.
MUFON. Yes, it costs money to be a member and subscribe to the journal,
but no one’s making some huge profit off it and living in a mansion in
Aspen. They have resources to help anyone interested in UFOlogy,
chapters in virtually every state, and do good work.
Then there are the daily lists, like The Anomalist, UFO Review, UFO
Digest, The Book of Thoth, and The Daily Grail. They may make a bit of
money from advertising and the like, but again, it isn’t paying for
anyone’s retirement. These daily informational lists provide the rest of us
with links to Fortean, UFO, and paranormal stories, news, books, blogs,
and websites. It’s all there in one place for us to either explore, or
ignore, depending on our interests. Some of them provide forums or
discussion lists, even book publishing resources, etc.
Another resource: right here on Binnall of America. It may sound like
cheap self promotion, but it isn’t. This website is run by one
individual, Tim Binnall, who each month offers us interviews with known UFO
and anomalous researchers, for free. There is a wealth of freely
available interviews with all kinds of interesting people in the field;
that’s a great resource.
And finally, there are the individual bloggers and website owners, who
are very good and offer us their insights and research. Yes, you have
to slog your way through sometimes because there are also a lot of
silly, mean, creepy and just plain bad blogs and sites as well, but that’s
a given, and that’s true in any field.
Looking at this body of free, or nominal, resources, I realize
that this is all very good. It’s a positive feeling, which is a nice
change, because too often the attacks and ugliness that exists in UFOlogy
seems to be the only thing that exists. There a lot of people out there
who are giving freely of their genuine, sincere interests and
experiences with UFOs and anomalous phenomena.
Whatever way we can help these organizations would be a good turn.
Links, banners, word of mouth, donations; these are some ways we can show
our support. Not to mention a big “thank you!”
Resources
The Anomalist
UFO Review
The Black Vault (John Greenwald, Jr.)
MUFON
The Book of Thoth
UFO Digest
The Daily Grail
The National UFO Reporting Center (Peter Davenport)
|