An Earthlike Planet

Found: An Earthlike Planet at Last

The planet is only about three or four times as massive as our home world, meaning it probably has a solid surface just like Earth. Much more important, it sits smack in the middle of the so-called habitable zone, orbiting at just the right distance from the star to let water remain liquid rather than freezing solid or boiling away. As far as we know, that's a minimum requirement for the presence of life. For thousands of years, philosophers and scientists have wondered whether other Earths existed out in the cosmos. And since the first, very un-Eearthlike extrasolar planet was discovered in 1995, astronomers have been inching closer to answering that question. Now, they've evidently succeeded (although to be clear, there's no way at this point to determine whether there actually is life on the new planet).

Remember the day, and the name: 29 September, 2010 - Gliese 581g.

Does this mean aliens from Gliese 581g are visiting Earth? Of course not. But it does point out, yet again, why the extraterrestrial hypothesis for the UFO phenomenon, of all the "paranormal" hypotheses on offer, makes the most sense - by far.

Paul Kimball

Kevin Randle - Animal Mutilations (and some other things)

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Part II of my interview earlier this month with Kevin Randle, wherein we discuss animal mutilations, a few more points about the "abduction" phenomenon... and some miscellaneous subjects, including a certain Colonel of the Israeli-founded S3!

"Maggots, mutilations and myth: Patterns of postmortem scavenging of the bovine carcass", the Canadian Veterinary Journal article that I reference in this episode, can be read in its entirety here.

Paul Kimball

P.S. Here is a picture of yours truly in June, 2009, inside the secret S3 HQ in Prague!

While on hiatus...

Yours truly with actress Christina Cuffari at the 2010 Atlantic Film Festival screening of Eternal Kiss on Wednesday, September 22, 2010.

Paul Kimball

On hiatus

From time to time, the real world, and in my case the "reel" world, intrudes on my interest in the paranormal, and demands most of my attention. With my first feature film, Eternal Kiss, premiering at the 2010 Atlantic Film Festival next week, this is one of those times.



Accordingly, I'm on hiatus until late September.

Paul Kimball

Thought du jour - 13.09.10

"The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold." - Aristotle

Thought du jour - 12.09.10

"I've encountered a lot of people who sound like critics but very few who have substantive criticisms. There is a lot of skepticism, but it seems to be more a matter of inertia than it is of people having some real reason for thinking something else." - K. Eric Drexler

Thought du jour - 11.09.10

"The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos." - Stephen Jay Gould

Kevin Randle - The Abduction Enigma and the Will to Believe

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On September 8, 2010, I recorded an interview with veteran UFO researcher Kevin D. Randle, most famous for his work on the Roswell case, wherein we discussed two particular topics that he has conducted extensive research in, but has rarely been interviewed about - animal mutilations, and the “alien abduction” phenomenon.

In this segment, Kevin and I discuss “alien abductions” - how it’s not caused by aliens from Zeta Reticuli (or anywhere else), what some of the non-paranormal explanations are, and why the truth has been overlooked by the vast majority of the UFO research community for the past 25 years, to the benefit of “researchers” like David Jacobs and Budd Hopkins, and to the detriment of the people they claim they have been trying to help.

For more information about Kevin’s research into the “alien abduction” phenomenon, you should get a copy of his excellent book The Abduction Enigma, co-authored by Dr. William Cone and Russ Estes.

Paul Kimball

Thought du jour - 10.09.10

"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies." - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Thought du jour - 09.09.10

"Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination." - Bertrand Russell

The Case of the Cursed Painting

In another of our investigations from the United Kingdom in 2009 while shooting Ghost Cases, Holly Stevens and I joined our friends in the UPIA, Dave Sadler, Steve Mera and Paul Reeves to investigate the Lion and Swan Hotel in Congelton, England.

As you watch this episode, it might seem to you like nothing much is really going on, which is in a sense true, and which is also what happens most of the time with ghost investigation (frankly, it's what happens with any kind of research or investigation). I think this is quite useful to watch in and of itself, which is why I structured the episode the way that I did - so that folks could see what really goes on during these investigations. However, it also leads up to a surpising conclusion that still has me thinking about what might really have happened, over a year later.


Ghost Cases - The Case of the Cursed Painting (Part I)
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Ghost Cases - The Case of the Cursed Painting (Part II)
Uploaded by redstarfilms. - Check out other Film & TV videos.

Unhappy coincidence? Almost certainly. But, as the Bard said, "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy". When one has been involved in something that they would otherwise have casually dismissed as that "unhappy coincidence" (as I no doubt would have in this case, were I not the one at the center of events), then one gains a greater understanding of Hamlet's caution to Horatio, and the need to leave at least a little room open for doubt.

This is the last episode of Ghost Cases that I'll be posting here, but there are 11 more interesting and thought-provoking stops on the journey of discovery that Holly and I took back in 2008 and 2009. If you want to see the rest of the series, write to your friendly neighbourhood broadcaster and ask that they contact our distributor, Breakthrough Entertainment, to inquire about acquiring the series for broadcast.

Paul Kimball

Thought du jour - 08.09.10

"If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong." - Sir Arthur C. Clarke

CBS Reports - UFO: Friend Foe Or Fantasy? (1966)

Walter Cronkite reports on the UFO phenomenon in 1966 for CBS. The segment features interviews with Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe and Dr. J. Allen Hynek.



A fascinating bit of UFO-related history.

Paul Kimball

Seth Shostak - "Who or What Built the Universe?"

In today's Huffington Post, Seth Shostak takes a look at the debate between science and religion over how the universe was built.

An excerpt:

The split between religion and science is relatively new. Isaac Newton, who first worked out the laws by which gravity held the planets and even the stars in their traces, was sufficiently impressed by the scale and regularity of the universe to ascribe it all to God.

Physicist Stephen Hawking, who has authored a new book on cosmology (The Grand Design), now says that Newton underestimated his own discoveries. The law of gravity is like "love" to the Beatles: it's all you need. With gravity in place, the cosmos-as-we-know-it was just a matter of hanging out for a few billion years.

However, this approach inevitably begs the question, "who designed gravity?" Isn't it remarkable that this gentle force seems so perfectly suited to the job of assembling a grand and habitable universe?

You can read the entire article here.

Paul Kimball

Thought du jour - 07.09.10

"The supernatural is the natural not yet understood." - Elbert Hubbard

Ghost Cases - UK production stills

Here are some photos from my week in England investigating four locations with Holly Stevens and my friends from the UPIA for Ghost Cases.

Dave Sadler and Steve Mera of the UPIA, outside the White Hart Hotel, in Uttoxeter:

Yours truly and Aaron Gowlett, our cameraman, setting up a shot at the Bridestones, near Congleton:

Holly, Aaron and I after the shoot at the Bridestones:

Holly, yours truly, and Dave Sadler at the Bridestones:

The Lion and Swan Hotel in Congleton:

Steve Mera, yours truly and Dave Sadler discuss our plan of action for the investigation at St. Edith's church, Shocklach:

Steve Mera, cameraman Aaron Gowlett, soundman Dale Ryan Leckie, and Holly, at the White Hart:

Holly at the White Hart:

Holly at the Bridestones:

Steve Mera and Dave Sadler at St. Edith's church:

Holly and I at the Bridestones:

I had a great time working with Dave, Steve and the rest of the crew from the UPIA, and of course my former partner-in-crime Holly, at some truly historic and fascinating locations.

Paul Kimball

Phenomena Magazine

My good friends at the Unknown Phenomena Research Association produce Phenomena Magazine every month. It's always an interesting read, with case reports, reviews, and other articles, put together by serious investigators who take a skeptical but open-minded look at various types of allegedly paranormal phenomena. Best of all, they provide the magazine for free!

You can download past issues here (#8 features Ghost Cases on the cover), and subscribe here.

Paul Kimball

Steve Mera and Holly Stevens - the proper use of EMF meters in ghost investigation

In these outtakes from our investigation of the Manchester On-Line radio station in Manchester, England, for an episode of Ghost Cases, UPIA researcher Steve Mera, B.Sc. and my co-host Holly Stevens, B.Sc. demonstrate the proper use of an EMF meter in "ghost hunting" - not as a "ghost detector", as many claim, but as a means for determining possible explanations... and in this case, a public health hazard.

Paul Kimball

Ruppelt and Keyhoe - on-line

If you're interested in the UFO phenomenon, and you've never read Edward Ruppelt's classic book, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, you can do so on-line here.

You can also download Donald Keyhoe's most well-known book, The Flying Saucers are Real, at Project Gutenberg.

Paul Kimball

Thought du jour - 06.09.10

"I don't mind UFO's and ghost stories, it's just that I tend to give value to the storyteller rather than to the story itself." - Robert Stack