Many of us have been following the Drone phenomenon with an attitude of high seriousness, but every once in a while we need to relax those stiff mind-muscles and float away into the realm of science-fiction…
In that spirit I present these admittedly florid speculations on the nature of the Drone activity, its characteristics, and its possible sources.
•••
The Lettering
It is clear that a variety of symbols match relatively closely with existing symbols from a variety of sources. Suppose the Creators wrote the material to be read by us, but because they think very differently from us they adopted an alien strategy: they surveyed the languages of Earth, and concocted an ‘evolving omniglot’, such that any witness would see a unique message from a unique position in the ongoing evolution of their human-omniglot language.
The emphasis here is on a rapidly evolving symbol-set. The idea is that the symbols become more and more familiar to -anyone- with the passage of time (as the alien omniglot evolves toward closer general likeness with more and more human symbol-sets), and, in fact, such an idea could introduce a revolutionary concept to our species, that of an –evolving alphabet-.
We think in terms of statics. They may think in terms of transformations (process). We think in terms of place. They may favor time. We think in terms of specifics, but I say to you that any relatively maturely evolved intelligence will cleave to generality in preference to specificity…
•••
The Awareness-Eater
Carlos Castenada popularized a shamanic theory variation in which UFOs (called ‘flyers’ in Nagualist terminology) represented inorganic beings that feed on the subtle energies of human attention. Effectively a sort of interdimensional (meaning in more than one at a time) vampire that feeds on peculiar aspects of human awareness and attention.
Extending the bones of this theory to technological basis, we might imagine a species that uses a peculiar strategy to accomplish contact with other beings (in other dimensions, possibly, as well as times/places). They engineer a relatively small device which can seek out the energies produced by creatures akin in cognitive ability to human beings. The goal is to attract attention, sentient thought, concern, and awareness. These ‘nonordinary’ drones would utilize the peculiar energies of sentient attention as an ostensible resource, and over short periods of time, as the drone ‘absorbed’ more and more of this energy, it would ‘evolve’ structurally and relationally, adopting a strategy of ‘geometric leaps’ such that each ‘step’ in the process might more than double the previous phase’s gains. A kind of rapidly evolving technological meme.
Now the uses to which such a technology might be put are broad. The establishment of a base through which to learn to contact our species is one. A foothold for invasion is another. But there are more subtle purposes, and more nefarious that one might imagine. Already these things have changed ‘what sky means’ to us, in that prior to seeing them sky did not mean ‘something that might or would be likely to ever contain that’.
Nonetheless, the idea of a probe that could elaborate itself in the presence of sentient attention is a very interesting one, and one another species (or our own in the future) might well adopt. Consider: you go to the trouble to get there, if there’s someone there to talk to, you want to set up a talk…not merely take pictures. If there’s not, no need to invest the resources, on to the next place to check.
Humans tend to form ideas and machines according to principles that overvalue stasis. In the future, as a highly advanced civilization (we’ll have to become civilized first), we might instead select self-optimizing approaches that value process over product.
•••
It Came from Time
Another interesting approach is one that takes into account the human myopia regarding the whole time/space question. Events surrounding UFO encounters imply a transdimensional element. When this is mentioned, most people translate this as ‘they come from another dimension’. This is probably too simple to be true. What is more likely is that when they come, they are causing normally ‘distinct’ dimensions to merge in some way. They could thus occupy multiple dimensions –simultaneously-. In this model the subjective human experience is fraught with non-ordinary significance due to the transience of their habitually respected dimensional distinctness. How time would relate to such a circumstance is beyond the scope of my brief foray here.
But we might suppose that they are not only sending something to Earth as an exercise in exploring space. They are probably exploring what is to them other dimensions, or multiple dimensions, including very strange relationships with what we understand as temporal position. One game that comes to mind is that the probe was sent to a particular timeSpace coordinate, retrieved, and returned to a near coordinate. For us, the intervening ‘time’ could be days or weeks, but for the Creators, years or more may have passed (presuming they experience time in some way that can be linearized). Thus, to us, it appears to us that their probes are evolving very rapidly, whilst in reality the process could be much slower than we imagine.
•••
Nanotech
On 04.04.06 humanity, as is our common habit, punched a hole in something. Something in space. Now, suppose with me that the 12-day plume (largely initially ignored) in the X-ray spectrum (which scientists cannot explain) that involved about 260 metric tons of water was proof of an exceptionally bad idea. Learning about things or beings by punching holes in them is not good. Perhaps, that thing we punched a hole in wasn’t exactly a thing at all. Maybe that x-ray burst was meaningful in a dimension we could not conceive of…
(In their traveling form, they are primitive…but once ensconced in an environment, they are prodigy…)
On 04.04.07 a small meteoroid lands relatively unnoticed in mountainous terrain in Southern California. Within hours, animal and insect life has largely evacuated a vast area surrounding the small object resting at the base of a tree. The object morphs liquidly, and begins rolling like mercury toward a nearby cave…
A week later the cave has been transformed into a combination reproductive chamber and subterranean laboratory. The nanites are undergoing a rapid differentiation process generally recapitulating of the evolution of Life on Earth, however their version is more mechanical than biological. They are adapting with ever-increasing speed to the peculiarities of the local environment, producing new castes of nanites, which can be organized into what are, essentially, their version of a sentient lifeform. As we are biocognitive hyperstructures, they are mechanically cognitive hyperstructures. They begin assembling the nanotech version of animals — a unified set of delicately and ornately differentiated organs… but they never make precisely the same implementation of their potentials twice in a row...
They begin assembling their version of ‘a man’, and their version flies.
The nanite colony is aware of the myriad biological forms around them. They do not see them as enemies, because they are unstoppable. They are curious, and learn quickly, developing first crawling hyperstructures, and then flying hyperstructures comprised of myriads of castes of Earth-evolved nanites. To humans these look like flying machines. They aren’t. They aren’t machines at all. They are like flying continents, and the architecture is, itself, for lack of a better word: alive. Thousands of sub-forms of nanites comprise billions of discrete networks of function and sensing — as a unity. Of course, they are neither Life nor Not-Life. They are creatures of the Gap.
Exposure to English symbols causes them to begin experimenting with their own written language, which isn’t actually symbols because it’s made of nanites. The symbols look vaguely familiar to human witnesses because they follow similar principles of construction, but also carry the bizarre artifacts of the nanite intellect. But the nanites do not yet simulate the humans themselves well enough for these symbols to be recognizable to humans. They are still learning about the sounds we make, however… and soon may attempt to incorporate this element into their contact-behavior.
Who knows what message they may deliver when they succeed…
•••
Lottery Ticket + Twist
A transdimensional or spacefaring civilization (or group) might concoct something like this as an invitation. They could send these objects to random positions in spacetime as something like lottery tickets — any intelligent species that was intelligent enough to capture one of their probes would immediately have access to something grand, say, interstellar travel, time travel, interdimensional travel, perhaps all three (are one).
But they might program such an object to be sensitive, and to survey the society it made contact with. If the society appeared to be biophillic, all was well. If however the society was omnicidal, or xenophobic, or war-addicted, the probe might modulate its function so as to deliver a kind of cognitive ‘poison pill’ to the species in question. In effect, to eradicate a deadly threat before it was floridly expressed.
(Props to Piers Anthony’s Macroscope – a great book that will one day be profoundly respected…)
Suppose there’s a set of symbols, which, replayed to nearly any creature with eyes, unlock an explosively proceeding intelligence inherent in organisms themselves. A sort of quantum information key, if you will, that results in an explosive and ongoing progression of phase-states of intelligence, rather than just a leap.
To –most- people, this set of transforming shapes or symbols is relatively meaningless, even boring, and has little effect on them. To others, however, it is cognitively catalytic. In practice, this difference turns out to relate to whether or not the witness considers the object ‘familiar’. Those who are vulnerable first become interested, then obsessed, and then experience a breakthrough into a form of intelligence that makes the proudest accomplishments of our species as a whole appear too primitive to comment upon. The problem is that they –progress- through scales of applicable intelligence so rapidly that many of them are driven mad. A few manage to survive.
The shape of the craft represents one scale of the message, and the progression is the ‘change’ element (like time in a story). For those who are more susceptible to text (they no longer understand shape progressions as meaningful) symbols are used on the bottom of the craft. Its primary purpose is to communicate a set of shape changes, failing that, it will communicate a set of text-changes.
There could be a trap implicit in the progression, and in order to survive reception of the new intelligence potentials, the being in question must resolve the trap before actually experiencing the effect… failure to do so is catastrophic.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
California Under Drone: Week 5 : Timeline
Well, we’ve been having a rare old time out here in California. Since early April, photographic reports have been coming in regarding an unusual (nearly absurdly so) ‘aircraft’. Although we’ve yet to get a clear contact with a witness, and the story is developing (maybe devolving), the record of events is beginning to clarify. Below I will add reports from each witness, and some commentary on developments and questions. For now, here’s the timeline, with the images.
Reporter: ‘Chad’
Probable First Report Location: Coast to Coast Website
Probable Date of Photographs: Either late April, or May 6th. 2007
Probable Date of Report: May 10th, 2007
Location: Unknown. Said to be Central California
# of Photos: 6
Camera: 1 cell-phone, 5 unknown film
Are images scans? Yes
Craft: 5 arms, 1 long-flat
Note: Some of these images were probably added after the initial Mufon report, to the report below, ostensibly by the Field Investigator assigned to the case.
Reporter: ‘Mufon 7013 - Wife’
Probable First Report Location: Mufon?
Probable Date of Photographs: May 5th, 2007
Probable Date of Report: May 12th, 2007
Location: Lake Tahoe, Nevada
# of Photos: 2
Camera: cell-phone
Are images scans? No
Craft: 4 arms, 2 long-flat.
Note: These images were probably originally associated with this report.
Reporter: Rajinder Satyanarayana (Rajman1977)
Probable First Report Location: Craigslist / Flikr
Probable Date of Photographs: May 16th, 2007
Probable Date of Report: May 20th, 2007
Location: Capitola, California
# of Photos: 6
Camera: Konica Minolta DiMAGE X
Are images scans? No.
Craft: 4 arms, 1 long-flat, 2 new side packages.
Notes: The Flikr site hosting the Rajman1977 images was upgraded (to pro) by a member of the Open Minds online forum on 06.04.07. A few hours thereafter, the site was hacked, and has not yet returned to operation.
Reporter: Jenna L, for Stephen
Probable First Report Location: As yet unnamed photography listserve
First public report: UFOcasebook.com
Probable Date of Photographs: June 5th, 2007
Probable Date of Report: June 6th, 2007
Location: Big Basin, California
# of Photos: 3
Camera: Canon Rebel XT
Are images scans? No.
Craft: 5 rings, 5 arms, 1 long-flat, 2 packages + bizarre upside-down recursive egg-beater construction added below. Many new protrusions.
Notes: 4th image added for clarification of craft configuration.
•••
Reporter: Ty B.
Probable First Report Location: Earthfiles.com
First public report: Earthfiles.com
Probable Date of Photographs: June 5th, 2007
Probable Date of Report: June 11th, 2007
Location: Big Basin, California
# of Photos: 12
Camera: Unknown
Are images scans? yes
Craft: Appears to be the same device imaged in ‘Stephen’ images.
•••
Link to 'Isaac' site
Reporter: 'Isaac'
Probable First Report Location: Coast to Coast
First public report: Earthfiles.com
Probable Date of Photographs: 1984
Probable Date of Report: June 24th, 2007
Location: Unknown, probably California
# of Photos: 19 pages/charts/photos of Research Material from PAKL (CARET)
Camera: Unknown
Are images scans? yes
Craft: Parts bearing symbols used in the craft, discussions of AG and RSR technology
•••
Reporter: ‘Chad’
Probable First Report Location: Coast to Coast Website
Probable Date of Photographs: Either late April, or May 6th. 2007
Probable Date of Report: May 10th, 2007
Location: Unknown. Said to be Central California
# of Photos: 6
Camera: 1 cell-phone, 5 unknown film
Are images scans? Yes
Craft: 5 arms, 1 long-flat
Note: Some of these images were probably added after the initial Mufon report, to the report below, ostensibly by the Field Investigator assigned to the case.
•••
Reporter: ‘Mufon 7013 - Wife’
Probable First Report Location: Mufon?
Probable Date of Photographs: May 5th, 2007
Probable Date of Report: May 12th, 2007
Location: Lake Tahoe, Nevada
# of Photos: 2
Camera: cell-phone
Are images scans? No
Craft: 4 arms, 2 long-flat.
Note: These images were probably originally associated with this report.
•••
Reporter: Rajinder Satyanarayana (Rajman1977)
Probable First Report Location: Craigslist / Flikr
Probable Date of Photographs: May 16th, 2007
Probable Date of Report: May 20th, 2007
Location: Capitola, California
# of Photos: 6
Camera: Konica Minolta DiMAGE X
Are images scans? No.
Craft: 4 arms, 1 long-flat, 2 new side packages.
Notes: The Flikr site hosting the Rajman1977 images was upgraded (to pro) by a member of the Open Minds online forum on 06.04.07. A few hours thereafter, the site was hacked, and has not yet returned to operation.
•••
Reporter: Jenna L, for Stephen
Probable First Report Location: As yet unnamed photography listserve
First public report: UFOcasebook.com
Probable Date of Photographs: June 5th, 2007
Probable Date of Report: June 6th, 2007
Location: Big Basin, California
# of Photos: 3
Camera: Canon Rebel XT
Are images scans? No.
Craft: 5 rings, 5 arms, 1 long-flat, 2 packages + bizarre upside-down recursive egg-beater construction added below. Many new protrusions.
Notes: 4th image added for clarification of craft configuration.
•••
Reporter: Ty B.
Probable First Report Location: Earthfiles.com
First public report: Earthfiles.com
Probable Date of Photographs: June 5th, 2007
Probable Date of Report: June 11th, 2007
Location: Big Basin, California
# of Photos: 12
Camera: Unknown
Are images scans? yes
Craft: Appears to be the same device imaged in ‘Stephen’ images.
•••
Link to 'Isaac' site
Reporter: 'Isaac'
Probable First Report Location: Coast to Coast
First public report: Earthfiles.com
Probable Date of Photographs: 1984
Probable Date of Report: June 24th, 2007
Location: Unknown, probably California
# of Photos: 19 pages/charts/photos of Research Material from PAKL (CARET)
Camera: Unknown
Are images scans? yes
Craft: Parts bearing symbols used in the craft, discussions of AG and RSR technology
Monday, May 21, 2007
Drone Craft over California/Nevada: April/May 2007
In this post I explore the images currently posted at the following links:
1. Mufon: (search 05.01.07-05.18.07)
(5 images).
Reported 05-12-07: This appears to be the ‘Wife’ images and some of the ‘Chad’ images.
(Note: The original report probably only included the 2 dark images. Other images were most likely added later by the Mufon Field Investigator)
2. Earthfiles
3. Flikr: This showed up in an ad posted on Craigslist.org, San Francisco, 05.20.07.
(Note: You can download large hi-res images here)
(Note: 06.04.07: Very high-res images were available here briefly, then the site was hacked.)
4. Ufo Casebook:
Wife
Chad
5. Coast-to-coast AM reports first email contact around May 11, 2007.
Acknowledgment: I have had no contact with any of the witnesses, and it is not my intention to question their reports, or their honesty, but merely to explore the material in a relatively impartial way.
I am willing to believe in the witnesses, or at least to suspend disbelief. I think we’ll learn a lot more about these images in the days and weeks to come.
The possibilities are relatively simple:
1. All images are concoctions.
2. One or more of the first image sets are real, and one or more of the later sets is a concoction based upon earlier images.
3. All the images are real.
In terms of the craft being real, the possibilities are also relatively simple:
1. It’s human-engineered.
2. It’s not.
I have been interested in anomalous and UFO-related phenomenon since early childhood. Having seen thousands of photographs throughout my life, I find these photographs interesting for a number of reasons. However, I reserve some doubt that they represent something non-ordinary (i.e. nonhuman technology), and certainly the most likely explanation is that they are a misrepresentation or hoax of some sort. It’s useful to remember that likelihood isn’t always as good guide to reality as we are taught to suppose. Case in point: a friend recently said “I’m sure glad they didn’t apply Occam’s Razor to the Flat Earth idea.”
In any case, there are some intriguing features to the images that I feel merit at least a cursory exploration.
Before I begin, I should say that my first reaction is that the object appears concocted due to its overly-sophisticated articulation. The object looks (to me) a bit too much like something a human being would imagine an ‘alien probe’ to look like. On the other hand, I’m not used to seeing detailed images of potentially nonhuman aircraft except in fiction or advertisements.
Many of the people who are writing to comment about this ‘object’ are floating theories or making claims that amount to it being human-engineered, but I consider this unlikely (at best) if the object actually flies. There is little if any standardly recognizable equipment. Stealth fighters might not evince recognizable equipment, however their form (shape) is extremely simple and on a large craft equipment can be hidden.
This craft differs dramatically in that it is clearly not hiding anything. One would expect a military or surveillance craft to sport something familiar — particularly when the object is so physically sophisticated. At the very least one would expect mount-points for familiar equipment. The most obvious equipment lacking here is important: fuel tanks. This object is not visibly consuming fuel, and is involved in powered flight. It’s not such a big deal to create a relatively small ground-based device that can rove around using solar panels, but a flying device of this kind and configuration is currently unthinkable.
Others have claimed it might be experimental, however it is noticeably lacking in details that any human craft (particularly a government craft) would sport: logos, flags, etc. Additionally, no research or design project in their right mind would pilot this craft where ‘regular folks’ could see, attempt to capture, or take pot shots at it. Seriously — this would not happen. If it was a U.S. project, it would definitely not sport nonsense writing all over the spines — which would, in fact, make it more likely that people would attempt to ‘shoot it down’.
For the sake of argument, let’s speculate that this is in fact a viral marketing strategy. This might justify the effort required to generate either a physical model, a virtual (photo-renderable) model, or both. The renderable model is more likely. In this case the goal would be to generate underground publicity for something, someone, or some product. Or, it could be promulgated in an effort to expose the ‘gross naieveté’ of the U.F.O communities (ala James Randi).
I just wish to suggest this before proceeding, because the object appears to me to strongly resemble a modern human model of an alien technology — to the degree that my suspicions are aroused. Additionally, with each new sighting, more is revealed — this is precisely the sort of strategy that a viral marketing scheme (say, for an upcoming film) might well employ. There are of course many other possibilities not involving this actually being an object that flies through the air under power — it looks a bit like a model from a Japanese science-fiction film.
If it is in fact flying, and under power, then it is a very startling thing indeed. Let’s explore the photos a bit:
1. Tahoe, April 05, 2007
The first photos from Tahoe (wife) were made with a cell phone, and are quite blurry. They show a flying horizontal ring with 4 horizontal appendages, 2 of which appear to be ‘long-wide’. A crown of vertical wires in a vase-like shape is arranged atop the ring(body).
I will use the long segmented arm as a standard point of reference, calling this ‘12 o-clock’ (looking up at the device from the ground). The first image has a second long arm at 3 and what I presume are short arms at 6 and 9. I cannot discern if the secondary long arm is segmented. The craft appears to have swiveled in the second image — the long arms which had previously pointed generally toward the viewer now point away.
2. ‘Chad’ - Central California (April 07, or May 6th 07)
Then we have the ‘second’ sighting, by Chad and his wife. It apparantly either began sometime in late April or May 6th — it is hard to tell since there is conflict in the record. According to the story, she first gets a shot with her cell phone, and ‘a few days later’ he chases it with a friend and gets a few (6) clear shots. This is certainly the same kind of object, and may be the same object (reconfigured), since it bears the signature vase-like crown of vertical wires. I count 16 by counting the small wire loops inside the ring, arranged at 22.5 degrees relative to each other.
In these images we see clear detail. Struts (2) appear to support the medium-length arms from the top of the ring, and we get good images of the text on the underside of the segmented leg. But the configuration of the arms has changed.
The arm configuration from the first image was: (L= long m = medium - others are ‘short’)
12L 3L 6 9 (last two could be medium, there's nothing to compare them to)
This craft’s configuration is:
12L 3m 6m 7:30 9
(Note: It’s possible that all the arms other than 12 are the same length, and also have struts — the photo perspective may result in the foreshortening I am seeing as ‘short’ arms, however, now that higher-resolution images are available I think there are, in fact, 3 arm sizes. Small arms may have a single support strut. Medium arms have two.)
This one has an additional arm, and displays two or three distinct arm ‘types’. It appears that both the small and medium arms have struts — 1 for the small, 2 for the medium — which connect somehow to the top of the ring. Both the short and medium arms appear to display a slightly stair-stepped set of surfaces that descend outward along the arms. Perhaps 4 steps for the small arms and 6 for the medium. Each ‘step’ appears to be packed with writing, at least on the arm visible in the close-up. Although it’s not entirely clear in other images, it does look like all the arms have writing on the bottom, and in no small quantity...
It is surprising to discover that the small arm at 9 appears to be almost totally covered in writing. This isn't the sort of thing humans do, in general. Writing is for people to read — and who would be standing underneath this object reading it? For what purpose? Writing also supposes that the device would be still enough to read and will be seen by readers, which is extremely unlikely for a flying object. This looks like a book-length epic, which really doesn't belong on the bottom of a arm. I find this particularly intriguing - each of the smaller arms appears to be completely written over. The longer arm appears to instead contain some sort of identifying information, possibly related to name/function (of the arm, or the craft).
Whatever it is on the underside of the arms, it certainly doesn’t appear to be English. It reminds me of a sort of ‘futuristic Hebrew’ script. Some of the symbols are very simple, and a few appear to be crosses, or +-like characters. It also reminds me of stylized Asian symbols.
Although it is difficult to clearly see most of the symbols, there are 5 large symbols on the longest element of the segmented arm, the innermost is +. On the middle element there are 7 symbols(the first and last are +-like symbols, one appears to be a ‘spacer’ symbol (perhaps the equivalent of an m-dash), possibly a diamond-like shape). It is harder to see the distinctions between the symbols on the element closest to the ring, could be 4, 5, 6 or more (the ‘spacer symbol’ is here again, reading from R-L it is second). Four symbols are repeated: The + the ‘spacer’, something like a stylized X, and a symbol akin to an L with it’s vertical bar bent to the right.
On the close-up of the underside of the segmented arm we can see semicircular bubbles, 3 near the ring and 1 each on the two other segments. (Actually, when I first saw these, without having seen the Capitola images, I saw them as imprints or bas-relief of something like an asterisk-logo. Only after I saw the other images did these appear to represent domes). It seems that these may represent sensory apparatus of of some kind, and that the segmented leg is the sensory arm. They are the only visible feature that stands out as a good candidate for such equipment. This arm has a black stripe around it’s outer edge, and appears to connect to a pad which is connected to the ring. The medium arms (at least one of them) appear to connect through a hole, into the ring.
The ring is clearly seen to have no rotor; if it did, a central hub would be visible. Additionally, the arm configuration makes stabilizing such a craft nearly impossible by standards we’re familiar with. There is no apparent means of lift, or of generating thrust, or of canceling motion. The fact that it can remain level seems quite bizarre given its form. If this object is in fact flying, and does what the claimants say in terms of maneuverability, it is nearly impossible (barring an ingenious inventor living in relative isolation) that it represents a currently available human technology. The object also doesn’t appear to be one of a kind, instead, it looks mass-produced.
3. ‘Raj’: Capitola California, Week of May 20th, 2007:
Now we come to the third set of photos. Here again we have a few clearer photos than the previous two sets provided. And again the configuration has changed, this time in a variety of ways. Firstly, there are 9 ‘flaps’ spaced equidistantly on the underside of the ring, which are bent inward but are essentially vertical. The arm structure has again changed, the symbols differ, and the object now includes what appears to be a new set of equipment.
The new equipment is in two identical packages which link to the ring across 1-4 as if they were segmented elements of a tire linked to a rim. I believe 7 of them would completely encircle the ring. Each has 3 equidistant horizontal spines, and on the bottom, five small teeth protrude inward toward the ring, above each tooth there’s a box-like stamp on the housing.
This craft’s configuration:
12L 1-4n 6 7:30 9
(n = 2 identical new packages)
The writing on the segmented arm is not the same. Although the writing isn’t quite as clear as previously, in terms of what’s relatively legible on the long segment, there appears to be 3-4 symbols, but they’re clearly not the same as those in the Tahoe photography — however, some of the symbols appearing on the Tahoe images also appear here: The X, the ‘spacer’ and at least one other symbol.
The 'Chad' image showed 5 domes on the segmented arm, these images show 4. The middle segment has no dome.
On the middle segment, the text is in a different position than in the Tahoe photos. It appears to be three symbols on the outward portion, leading to perhaps 7 smaller but relatively large symbols as the eye proceeds toward the ring. The next section has what appear to be 3 distinct symbols, and they are not the same as those on the Tahoe photography. I am again reminded of stylized Kanji when looking at the symbols. I am also reminded of an old (probable) hoax which involved an alien in a refrigerator and a golden armlet that had some symbols on it.
Whether or not this is a single craft, the design appears possibly modular, in that components can be added, substituted, etc. So far, as the timeline of images has progressed, more detail and new components are apparent in each new set of images.
Originally I believed that it was possible that the arms might be rotated, or mobile, along the outer ring, however I later noticed that one of the (medium) arms was connected to the ring through a hole in it. Unless the hole moves, that position must be either empty or populated (with an arm).
In an email report by another witness (c.f. Earthfiles.com), a woman describes encountering the object with a ‘ranger’ who apparantly declares the object as familiar and part of a park communications system. This is the most surprising reaction of all, and is abjectly implausible. This is either a very strange ranger, a non-ranger, or a fictional ranger. This object, if capable of flight, is not part of any park communications system. The technology to produce such an object (esoteric patent applications notwithstanding) is not currently available to any known research group. Even the most up-to-date images of drones and stealth craft show no signs of approaching a technology such as that indicated by something like this in actual flight. I have to stifle laughter when people post images of the british police drones as somehow ‘related’ to this thing — I mean, a matchstick is related to a star...
It is rare that witnesses in different places and times collect such incredibly clear and detailed images. We expect anomalous aircraft to be ‘hiding’. Perhaps because this one is so visibly accessible, and happening in broad daylight, people who see it largely presume it to be of relatively ordinary origin. I do not. There’s a very high likelihood (given actual evidence thus far) that this is a hoax, however, if it isn’t, I consider it unlikely that this craft was engineered by modern humans. It is my opinion that the superficial simplicity of the components, coupled with the sophisticated articulation and function (as well as lack of recognizable ‘equipment’) combine to render this position untenable. Additionally, if some human or group had in fact managed to craft such a device, we can be sure their name would be all over it.
There’s certainly some sort of text ‘all over’ this craft, but it doesn’t look like text that would come from defense research labs, unless their goal is obfuscation. In that case, the large text would suffice, and including long passages of text on the small arms makes no accessible sense to me.
I want to mention that if Chad could wander out of his house a day or three later and locate this object successfully, he was either very lucky or the object must have been nearly everpresent in his vicinity. This seems peculiar... because one would imagine that such a craft might be able to cover large areas with relative ease. Why would it be hanging around a relatively limited area so long — long enough for another person to witness it probably almost a month later?
Now I am going to digress in order to examine something very general here, and many may wonder ‘what the connecting thought’ is, i.e. how did I get here… but there’s something else that tugs at my awareness regarding these images, particularly considered in order. Here’s my perspective: they look a bit like clocks. I keep getting the impression that there’s something related to time here. Sure, I decided to treat the ring like a clock for purposes of mapping the arm-changes. But ...
Suppose this thing isn't for surveillance at all, and is in fact, something like what we would call ‘a sign’ — meaning, a communications device. The first images show a circle divided 4 times. The next show a similar circle with a ‘new division’ (7:30) ‘between’ 6 and 9. The next images show ‘many new divisions’ between 12 and 4 — 6 to be precise. The object now has 10 spines. This reminds me of a mathematical series which is progressive and potentially recursive. The ‘sign’ theory would explain a lot (if this isn’t merely a hoax), including why the device is clearly visible and accessible to many viewers and, perhaps, photographers. Strangely, the device has characteristics that I would associate more with a timekeeping schema (such as a calendar) than I would with an aircraft. What the sign theory doesn’t explain is why someone would write paragraphs of text on spines orbiting a ring… can you imagine attempting to -read- such text? You'd have to do a lot of neck-twisting to manage it.
Here’s my rendition of the large symbols from the bottom of the ‘Chad’ craft:
And another for the symbols on the bottom of the ‘Rajman’ craft:
Notes: I have not preserved the original spacing, (which is a bit strange, with too little space between the symbols in most cases) but have instead imposed a grid so that each symbol appears with a relatively consistent margin. Some of the renditions are highly speculative (particularly the small symbols like the star and diamond, and the top symbols other than the F-like symbol in the Rajman group). In the Rajman group, the 5th symbol from the left at the the top is very difficult to make out, and may be the symbol from the lower left. Also, it is difficult to ascertain the correct vertical orientation.
The symbols are rendered with the segmented arm to the left, outward to inward, in horizontal lines that correspond to their position on the arm. Top = outer, middle = middle, bottom = near ring.
When I reflect upon such phenomenon, I carry an uncommon compass. I cannot give you this compass, but I will say this: even if this is a hoax, humans live on a world in space. We’re an anciently evolved species. When we start making imaginary models of ‘things in the sky’ our ‘fictional’ product can still include a lot more information about ourselves and the universe than we might at first suppose.
We’re not really inventors, though we tell ourselves otherwise. What we do best is simple: we express our experience and nature... our sources ... in -everything- we do.
1. Mufon: (search 05.01.07-05.18.07)
(5 images).
Reported 05-12-07: This appears to be the ‘Wife’ images and some of the ‘Chad’ images.
(Note: The original report probably only included the 2 dark images. Other images were most likely added later by the Mufon Field Investigator)
2. Earthfiles
3. Flikr: This showed up in an ad posted on Craigslist.org, San Francisco, 05.20.07.
(Note: You can download large hi-res images here)
(Note: 06.04.07: Very high-res images were available here briefly, then the site was hacked.)
4. Ufo Casebook:
Wife
Chad
5. Coast-to-coast AM reports first email contact around May 11, 2007.
Acknowledgment: I have had no contact with any of the witnesses, and it is not my intention to question their reports, or their honesty, but merely to explore the material in a relatively impartial way.
I am willing to believe in the witnesses, or at least to suspend disbelief. I think we’ll learn a lot more about these images in the days and weeks to come.
•••
The possibilities are relatively simple:
1. All images are concoctions.
2. One or more of the first image sets are real, and one or more of the later sets is a concoction based upon earlier images.
3. All the images are real.
In terms of the craft being real, the possibilities are also relatively simple:
1. It’s human-engineered.
2. It’s not.
•••
I have been interested in anomalous and UFO-related phenomenon since early childhood. Having seen thousands of photographs throughout my life, I find these photographs interesting for a number of reasons. However, I reserve some doubt that they represent something non-ordinary (i.e. nonhuman technology), and certainly the most likely explanation is that they are a misrepresentation or hoax of some sort. It’s useful to remember that likelihood isn’t always as good guide to reality as we are taught to suppose. Case in point: a friend recently said “I’m sure glad they didn’t apply Occam’s Razor to the Flat Earth idea.”
In any case, there are some intriguing features to the images that I feel merit at least a cursory exploration.
Before I begin, I should say that my first reaction is that the object appears concocted due to its overly-sophisticated articulation. The object looks (to me) a bit too much like something a human being would imagine an ‘alien probe’ to look like. On the other hand, I’m not used to seeing detailed images of potentially nonhuman aircraft except in fiction or advertisements.
Many of the people who are writing to comment about this ‘object’ are floating theories or making claims that amount to it being human-engineered, but I consider this unlikely (at best) if the object actually flies. There is little if any standardly recognizable equipment. Stealth fighters might not evince recognizable equipment, however their form (shape) is extremely simple and on a large craft equipment can be hidden.
This craft differs dramatically in that it is clearly not hiding anything. One would expect a military or surveillance craft to sport something familiar — particularly when the object is so physically sophisticated. At the very least one would expect mount-points for familiar equipment. The most obvious equipment lacking here is important: fuel tanks. This object is not visibly consuming fuel, and is involved in powered flight. It’s not such a big deal to create a relatively small ground-based device that can rove around using solar panels, but a flying device of this kind and configuration is currently unthinkable.
Others have claimed it might be experimental, however it is noticeably lacking in details that any human craft (particularly a government craft) would sport: logos, flags, etc. Additionally, no research or design project in their right mind would pilot this craft where ‘regular folks’ could see, attempt to capture, or take pot shots at it. Seriously — this would not happen. If it was a U.S. project, it would definitely not sport nonsense writing all over the spines — which would, in fact, make it more likely that people would attempt to ‘shoot it down’.
For the sake of argument, let’s speculate that this is in fact a viral marketing strategy. This might justify the effort required to generate either a physical model, a virtual (photo-renderable) model, or both. The renderable model is more likely. In this case the goal would be to generate underground publicity for something, someone, or some product. Or, it could be promulgated in an effort to expose the ‘gross naieveté’ of the U.F.O communities (ala James Randi).
I just wish to suggest this before proceeding, because the object appears to me to strongly resemble a modern human model of an alien technology — to the degree that my suspicions are aroused. Additionally, with each new sighting, more is revealed — this is precisely the sort of strategy that a viral marketing scheme (say, for an upcoming film) might well employ. There are of course many other possibilities not involving this actually being an object that flies through the air under power — it looks a bit like a model from a Japanese science-fiction film.
•••
If it is in fact flying, and under power, then it is a very startling thing indeed. Let’s explore the photos a bit:
1. Tahoe, April 05, 2007
The first photos from Tahoe (wife) were made with a cell phone, and are quite blurry. They show a flying horizontal ring with 4 horizontal appendages, 2 of which appear to be ‘long-wide’. A crown of vertical wires in a vase-like shape is arranged atop the ring(body).
I will use the long segmented arm as a standard point of reference, calling this ‘12 o-clock’ (looking up at the device from the ground). The first image has a second long arm at 3 and what I presume are short arms at 6 and 9. I cannot discern if the secondary long arm is segmented. The craft appears to have swiveled in the second image — the long arms which had previously pointed generally toward the viewer now point away.
2. ‘Chad’ - Central California (April 07, or May 6th 07)
Then we have the ‘second’ sighting, by Chad and his wife. It apparantly either began sometime in late April or May 6th — it is hard to tell since there is conflict in the record. According to the story, she first gets a shot with her cell phone, and ‘a few days later’ he chases it with a friend and gets a few (6) clear shots. This is certainly the same kind of object, and may be the same object (reconfigured), since it bears the signature vase-like crown of vertical wires. I count 16 by counting the small wire loops inside the ring, arranged at 22.5 degrees relative to each other.
In these images we see clear detail. Struts (2) appear to support the medium-length arms from the top of the ring, and we get good images of the text on the underside of the segmented leg. But the configuration of the arms has changed.
The arm configuration from the first image was: (L= long m = medium - others are ‘short’)
12L 3L 6 9 (last two could be medium, there's nothing to compare them to)
This craft’s configuration is:
12L 3m 6m 7:30 9
(Note: It’s possible that all the arms other than 12 are the same length, and also have struts — the photo perspective may result in the foreshortening I am seeing as ‘short’ arms, however, now that higher-resolution images are available I think there are, in fact, 3 arm sizes. Small arms may have a single support strut. Medium arms have two.)
This one has an additional arm, and displays two or three distinct arm ‘types’. It appears that both the small and medium arms have struts — 1 for the small, 2 for the medium — which connect somehow to the top of the ring. Both the short and medium arms appear to display a slightly stair-stepped set of surfaces that descend outward along the arms. Perhaps 4 steps for the small arms and 6 for the medium. Each ‘step’ appears to be packed with writing, at least on the arm visible in the close-up. Although it’s not entirely clear in other images, it does look like all the arms have writing on the bottom, and in no small quantity...
It is surprising to discover that the small arm at 9 appears to be almost totally covered in writing. This isn't the sort of thing humans do, in general. Writing is for people to read — and who would be standing underneath this object reading it? For what purpose? Writing also supposes that the device would be still enough to read and will be seen by readers, which is extremely unlikely for a flying object. This looks like a book-length epic, which really doesn't belong on the bottom of a arm. I find this particularly intriguing - each of the smaller arms appears to be completely written over. The longer arm appears to instead contain some sort of identifying information, possibly related to name/function (of the arm, or the craft).
Whatever it is on the underside of the arms, it certainly doesn’t appear to be English. It reminds me of a sort of ‘futuristic Hebrew’ script. Some of the symbols are very simple, and a few appear to be crosses, or +-like characters. It also reminds me of stylized Asian symbols.
Although it is difficult to clearly see most of the symbols, there are 5 large symbols on the longest element of the segmented arm, the innermost is +. On the middle element there are 7 symbols(the first and last are +-like symbols, one appears to be a ‘spacer’ symbol (perhaps the equivalent of an m-dash), possibly a diamond-like shape). It is harder to see the distinctions between the symbols on the element closest to the ring, could be 4, 5, 6 or more (the ‘spacer symbol’ is here again, reading from R-L it is second). Four symbols are repeated: The + the ‘spacer’, something like a stylized X, and a symbol akin to an L with it’s vertical bar bent to the right.
On the close-up of the underside of the segmented arm we can see semicircular bubbles, 3 near the ring and 1 each on the two other segments. (Actually, when I first saw these, without having seen the Capitola images, I saw them as imprints or bas-relief of something like an asterisk-logo. Only after I saw the other images did these appear to represent domes). It seems that these may represent sensory apparatus of of some kind, and that the segmented leg is the sensory arm. They are the only visible feature that stands out as a good candidate for such equipment. This arm has a black stripe around it’s outer edge, and appears to connect to a pad which is connected to the ring. The medium arms (at least one of them) appear to connect through a hole, into the ring.
The ring is clearly seen to have no rotor; if it did, a central hub would be visible. Additionally, the arm configuration makes stabilizing such a craft nearly impossible by standards we’re familiar with. There is no apparent means of lift, or of generating thrust, or of canceling motion. The fact that it can remain level seems quite bizarre given its form. If this object is in fact flying, and does what the claimants say in terms of maneuverability, it is nearly impossible (barring an ingenious inventor living in relative isolation) that it represents a currently available human technology. The object also doesn’t appear to be one of a kind, instead, it looks mass-produced.
3. ‘Raj’: Capitola California, Week of May 20th, 2007:
Now we come to the third set of photos. Here again we have a few clearer photos than the previous two sets provided. And again the configuration has changed, this time in a variety of ways. Firstly, there are 9 ‘flaps’ spaced equidistantly on the underside of the ring, which are bent inward but are essentially vertical. The arm structure has again changed, the symbols differ, and the object now includes what appears to be a new set of equipment.
The new equipment is in two identical packages which link to the ring across 1-4 as if they were segmented elements of a tire linked to a rim. I believe 7 of them would completely encircle the ring. Each has 3 equidistant horizontal spines, and on the bottom, five small teeth protrude inward toward the ring, above each tooth there’s a box-like stamp on the housing.
This craft’s configuration:
12L 1-4n 6 7:30 9
(n = 2 identical new packages)
The writing on the segmented arm is not the same. Although the writing isn’t quite as clear as previously, in terms of what’s relatively legible on the long segment, there appears to be 3-4 symbols, but they’re clearly not the same as those in the Tahoe photography — however, some of the symbols appearing on the Tahoe images also appear here: The X, the ‘spacer’ and at least one other symbol.
The 'Chad' image showed 5 domes on the segmented arm, these images show 4. The middle segment has no dome.
On the middle segment, the text is in a different position than in the Tahoe photos. It appears to be three symbols on the outward portion, leading to perhaps 7 smaller but relatively large symbols as the eye proceeds toward the ring. The next section has what appear to be 3 distinct symbols, and they are not the same as those on the Tahoe photography. I am again reminded of stylized Kanji when looking at the symbols. I am also reminded of an old (probable) hoax which involved an alien in a refrigerator and a golden armlet that had some symbols on it.
Whether or not this is a single craft, the design appears possibly modular, in that components can be added, substituted, etc. So far, as the timeline of images has progressed, more detail and new components are apparent in each new set of images.
Originally I believed that it was possible that the arms might be rotated, or mobile, along the outer ring, however I later noticed that one of the (medium) arms was connected to the ring through a hole in it. Unless the hole moves, that position must be either empty or populated (with an arm).
•••
In an email report by another witness (c.f. Earthfiles.com), a woman describes encountering the object with a ‘ranger’ who apparantly declares the object as familiar and part of a park communications system. This is the most surprising reaction of all, and is abjectly implausible. This is either a very strange ranger, a non-ranger, or a fictional ranger. This object, if capable of flight, is not part of any park communications system. The technology to produce such an object (esoteric patent applications notwithstanding) is not currently available to any known research group. Even the most up-to-date images of drones and stealth craft show no signs of approaching a technology such as that indicated by something like this in actual flight. I have to stifle laughter when people post images of the british police drones as somehow ‘related’ to this thing — I mean, a matchstick is related to a star...
It is rare that witnesses in different places and times collect such incredibly clear and detailed images. We expect anomalous aircraft to be ‘hiding’. Perhaps because this one is so visibly accessible, and happening in broad daylight, people who see it largely presume it to be of relatively ordinary origin. I do not. There’s a very high likelihood (given actual evidence thus far) that this is a hoax, however, if it isn’t, I consider it unlikely that this craft was engineered by modern humans. It is my opinion that the superficial simplicity of the components, coupled with the sophisticated articulation and function (as well as lack of recognizable ‘equipment’) combine to render this position untenable. Additionally, if some human or group had in fact managed to craft such a device, we can be sure their name would be all over it.
There’s certainly some sort of text ‘all over’ this craft, but it doesn’t look like text that would come from defense research labs, unless their goal is obfuscation. In that case, the large text would suffice, and including long passages of text on the small arms makes no accessible sense to me.
•••
I want to mention that if Chad could wander out of his house a day or three later and locate this object successfully, he was either very lucky or the object must have been nearly everpresent in his vicinity. This seems peculiar... because one would imagine that such a craft might be able to cover large areas with relative ease. Why would it be hanging around a relatively limited area so long — long enough for another person to witness it probably almost a month later?
Now I am going to digress in order to examine something very general here, and many may wonder ‘what the connecting thought’ is, i.e. how did I get here… but there’s something else that tugs at my awareness regarding these images, particularly considered in order. Here’s my perspective: they look a bit like clocks. I keep getting the impression that there’s something related to time here. Sure, I decided to treat the ring like a clock for purposes of mapping the arm-changes. But ...
Suppose this thing isn't for surveillance at all, and is in fact, something like what we would call ‘a sign’ — meaning, a communications device. The first images show a circle divided 4 times. The next show a similar circle with a ‘new division’ (7:30) ‘between’ 6 and 9. The next images show ‘many new divisions’ between 12 and 4 — 6 to be precise. The object now has 10 spines. This reminds me of a mathematical series which is progressive and potentially recursive. The ‘sign’ theory would explain a lot (if this isn’t merely a hoax), including why the device is clearly visible and accessible to many viewers and, perhaps, photographers. Strangely, the device has characteristics that I would associate more with a timekeeping schema (such as a calendar) than I would with an aircraft. What the sign theory doesn’t explain is why someone would write paragraphs of text on spines orbiting a ring… can you imagine attempting to -read- such text? You'd have to do a lot of neck-twisting to manage it.
Here’s my rendition of the large symbols from the bottom of the ‘Chad’ craft:
And another for the symbols on the bottom of the ‘Rajman’ craft:
Notes: I have not preserved the original spacing, (which is a bit strange, with too little space between the symbols in most cases) but have instead imposed a grid so that each symbol appears with a relatively consistent margin. Some of the renditions are highly speculative (particularly the small symbols like the star and diamond, and the top symbols other than the F-like symbol in the Rajman group). In the Rajman group, the 5th symbol from the left at the the top is very difficult to make out, and may be the symbol from the lower left. Also, it is difficult to ascertain the correct vertical orientation.
The symbols are rendered with the segmented arm to the left, outward to inward, in horizontal lines that correspond to their position on the arm. Top = outer, middle = middle, bottom = near ring.
•••
When I reflect upon such phenomenon, I carry an uncommon compass. I cannot give you this compass, but I will say this: even if this is a hoax, humans live on a world in space. We’re an anciently evolved species. When we start making imaginary models of ‘things in the sky’ our ‘fictional’ product can still include a lot more information about ourselves and the universe than we might at first suppose.
We’re not really inventors, though we tell ourselves otherwise. What we do best is simple: we express our experience and nature... our sources ... in -everything- we do.
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