Thank Grog It’s Firday!
I can’t believe I’m saying this…but maybe my post a couple of weeks back, asking for an Alien Invasion is for real, and may be closer to the truth than we want to admit!
In that post, I made the point that humans only really seem to come together in times of great global conflict. And that maybe it would take an alien invasion to bring us all together (hence the relevancy of this TSTO event!).
But, I thought I was mostly joking…until I read some of the headlines this week.
Aliens. They are real…and they are messing with our military!!
In a couple of amazing articles from the NYTimes, and tons of other news outlets including an interview on 60 Minutes, the Pentagon has admitted that it spent upwards of $22 Million a year, researching military reports of encounters with UFOs. This was followed by an interview with a Navy pilot who spoke of such an encounter, as well as VIDEO FOOTAGE of a snippet of this encounter.
So…Oh My Gosh! doesn’t really do justice to this video.
As I said in the first post, or in comments, only we earthlings seem to be full of so much hubris as to believe that we are the only intelligent beings in an almost endless universe. So, the thought of aliens visiting, hanging out, and perhaps even shaping the evolution of mankind, is at least a possibility.
And let’s be honest…some of the world’s greatest “humans,” seem to possess “other-wordly” traits, that would make their lives on earth seem pointed in their effort to educate mankind in a way that would keep us from destroying ourselves, that could even include alien intention.
I’m not going to go so far as to say that Buddha, Christ, and any number of more recent spiritual leaders all preached very similar messages (before mankind convoluted the messages with huge, rambling, self-serving texts), and perhaps were imbued with a bit of “Alien common sense.” But, the fact is, at the root of almost every major religion (Scientology excepted), is a message of unconditional love, and doing the right thing, simply because it is the right thing to do.
So that brings us to another question… If Jesus and Buddha and Shiva all came back to warn us about our danger of self-annihilation, would we believe them…or would it bring more turmoil to the planet, as we all took sides, hoping that “our guy” won the debate over who had the better message for “hope?”
For that matter…would we even recognize them?
As it turns out, there are a TON of Buddhas (29 so far). So, I’m going to say that the programmers and writers probably got it right by going with Gautama. He is more a more modern version (hence the motorbike and tattoos), and will probably end up hanging out with Jesus over pizza, as they lament the current human condition. They would have invited Shiva, but let’s be honest…with six hands, the guy can be kind of a pizza hog.
It is always interesting to me to think that at the time that they roamed the earth, these guys were just “average folks” (if you set aside the miracles and other-worldly stuff). They may have pretty much blended right in. I have certainly seen my fair share of guys that look like Jesus, wandering around at the Oregon Country Fair and Gratful Dead shows.
So…the writers are clearly NOT USC fans! Count me in on that one…
But I love the concept that Frink offers…and that Jesus is here to check us out!
And when it comes to Buddha, as I said there are a ton to choose from, which is why the programmers and animators kinda got Gautama and Hotei or Pu-Tai (AKA laughing Buddha), mixed up. Thankfully, they didn’t get him mixed up with “Smiling Buddha” which was the code name for the first Nuclear Bomb test by India, or we could have all ended up with all of our towns being nuked! But, I digress…
The real reason this update rocks, is that it does personify the deities, while reminding us that we don’t need to limit our view of how we approach spirituality.
The fact is, whether it is Aliens, or the second coming of a bunch of deities that are here to try and get us to shape up, or we are finally going to find out that these guys were in fact aliens of some sort from the get go…we are blessed to have them as a reminder that we humans are basically silly, superstitious, and mindfully ignorant, when it comes to doing the right things for the betterment of ALL mankind.
Is it any wonder that they seem to be throwing up their hands (in the case of Shiva, many hands), when it comes to getting us to care about one another enough to make sure everyone has a place to live, and enough to eat? Or, have we reached the “tipping point” where more and more, at this time of year when we used to be “kinder and gentler” to one another, we have become more divided into tribal warfare both figuratively and literally?
Whether we believe in an afterlife, or retribution for bad actions, it’s simply worth living a good life, because it has its own reward here… OR, you can worry about Jesus messing with our day-to-day from his laptop in heaven.
Look. We know the Aliens are going to lose. All of the movies turn out that way. What we don’t know, is if it is all part of one big plan to get us to stop being so myopically self-centered and narcissistic, and to actually start reaching out to people of every creed, nationality and social construct.
I bought Jesus…and Shiva…and love having Buddha (even if it is the wrong one) tooling around town on his Harley. They are a daily reminder that there are is a higher plateau of common sense, that likely starts with doing something for someone, without benefit to yourself.
But in the end…every act of kindness benefits the giver, as well as the recipient, while working toward global solutions that sustain and grow from a base of equity and parity. That’s the message I want to remember every time I see these guys in my TSTO town.
So, if aliens are real…they are either taking their time to plot our demise, or they are here to do their best to make sure that we don’t pull the trigger on the last event that takes us all out. If they are here (and the US Military seems to be saying “something” is here), then I say the sooner we make contact, and stop thinking that we are the “supreme beings” of our existence, the better!
Bring it on. Like every great religious figure, they come in peace. How do I know? Because if they can get Navy pilots to say, “Oh My Gosh” as they realize that whoever was dancing with them at Mach 2 could have destroyed them in an instant, but chose NOT to…well, that bodes well for how this plays out.
Otherwise…it’s good to remember the phrase I told my grandsons last week when they were asking about political and religious affiliations in the family…“Republican, Democrat, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim or Atheist…in the end, we all taste the same!”
May you all enjoy the holidays, no matter how you celebrate! Do something nice for someone else. In the end, kindness is what will save us from ourselves.
OK… Now for a little Christmas Bonus…
It was 30 years ago on Thursday, that the “Claymation Christmas Celebration” debuted on CBS. It went on to win an Emmy award, and there was an album on Atlantic Records the following year. I did all of the music, and a ton of the sound for this…and it was my connection to Matt Groening and the world of animation (three two degrees of separation).
If you want to hear some of the music, and read about the journey,
CLICK HERE…
Every year I get a rash of emails, asking where they can buy the record. Unfortunately, it is mired in the malaise that is Atlantic Records. I am working on getting it on iTunes for next year, as it will be the 30th anniversary of the album.
Meanwhile… Here’s a couple of samples. Fun stuff…still holds up pretty well.
Joy to the World
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Angels We Have Heard on High
A blast from the LONG past! A lifetime ago…
Me, circa 1987…surrounded by a ton of “high tech antiques.”
OMG! You worked on Claymation Christmas?!?! I was looking for that ! I loved that show!
Here we come a-waffling….
I seen that video on the news and when it rotates it looks like a bird of prey .
🎬🎥🐒 . See ya bye . 👽
Except it is traveling at Mach 3… which would tear off it’s feathers.
I believe there was life before us on earth. The pyramids all over the earth were used by an intelligent civilization. I don’t believe what I was taught in school that they chiseled those stones etc to build pyramids. The stones of the pyramids are geometrically precise and they align with a constellation( can’t recall name). I believe that the Vatican knows the truth about our past but is covering it up. I believe Christ, Shiva, Buddha came to remind us to love one another because spiritually we are one. Christ said God is within you, those who seek shall find him. Hes not a man in the sky. God is in us, and we choose good vs bad. But yes there is other life out there. We are but one tiny universe, and there are many more. There has to be other life. They used to frequent earth. Its in all ancient writings.
I love your direction on this. Why not?
The Great Pyramids at Giza line up precisely with Orion’s Belt. Which is where ancient Egypt believe life originated.
Thanks! I couldn’t remember
Amen Patric. I believe “something” is and has been here for quite some time and benevolent. I saw something unexpected as a child one day while flying a kite. Unidentifiable, airborne,physical object. Unforgettable 👽
Cool! I think the odds are in favor of “something.”
From the It Really Only Matters to Me Dept.: Been playing since Day 2, and I only recently made it a goal, but I’m now a TSTO Billionaire! It’s a Christmas miracle! Virtual presents for everyone!
More on topic, if aliens are visiting us, why not break their Prime Directive and give us some help on how to get along?
Who knows? There are so many dynamics to “getting along,” that I fear the the tipping point for humanity is long past.
Congratulations fellow billionaire. Quite a grind but I am 3/4ths of the way to being a multi-billionaire. Enjoy and keep it up. Hint- only work on furniture, latte’s and devices. Try not to let your yoga mats get too far below 299.
Sorry to go off topic but I had an update yesterday that seems to have reset a few things in my game, anyone else had this? What do I do? – I’ve tried uninstall/reinstall the game, been to KL and back and it’s still the same.
Things changed include: money mountain and big tree are back to Lv1, tap radius has decreased, I can’t use the top left person button, the ‘pie mania’ questline has restarted, my rail yard has stopped letting me play continually and my tire yard is producing ‘participation ribbons’
Thank you!
Excuse me, what USC stand for? There are too many answers when I ask Google…
It’s a college in California
Thanks 🙂
University of Southern California…they are part of the Pac 12 Conference in the NCAA. They are huge cross-town rivals of UCLA (University of California Los Angeles. So…the joke is a football slam…
Great Friday filler, but for me its usually Saturday morning, reading this and listening to BBC radio 2, tony Blackburns sound of the sixties, aliens, asteroid’s, comets and the end of the world stories always seem to show up around this time of year but another year ending and we all hope to do something different next year for the better good of human kind, here’s hoping, got the film Arrivals on my list, don’t think I have seen this, also on my list is a steam locomotives for my monorail heres hoping, merry Christmas to all and peace in our time no matter who brings it 🚆🎤🎵🎸😎😁🎅👼🎅👼🎅
I am with you Keith! My hope is that somehow people find a way to stop devolving back to the Cold War era, and a time when racism, xenophobia, and sexism were the order of the day. Raising the less fortunate up to a level of sustainability would be a great start…
I instantly fell in love with the Claymation Christmas Celebration when it first aired because of the music. I played the DVD for my kids the first time this year and they also loved it for the same reason.
Very happy to hear that! Glad you enjoy it!
My thoughts has always been that if we are alone, it would be a tremendous waste of space. And if E.T.’s have visited our planet, then they are an extremely more advanced civilization than we are. Coming here means they’ve harnessed space travel at extreme distances for possibly short amounts of time. But would the world come together if ET popped on our doorstep? I sincerely doubt it. Somebody was once sent down from the heavens to do that very thing, and we all know how that turned out. Mankind, the good part, is outweighed by greed and the insatiable quest for power. Aliens landing here exposing us to their technology, I think, would send us into a war for the blue prints to their ship. Plus we would now have a new territory to fight over, their planet.
Nicely stated!
I don’t know what to think because we’re constantly being lied to. So here are the possibilities
1. Aliens are already here, and we’re already trading technology (hence the big leap in computers and other advanced tech in the last century). Could it be the government is slowly revealing that they’re here already, but getting us used to the idea so we don’t freak out?
2. It’s a distraction from something bigger.
3. This is the government’s way of hiding our advanced aircraft by pretending it’s from another world.
Now put on your tin foil hats for the next two possibilities…
4. Project Blue Beam (Google that one if you don’t know)
or
5. A made up enemy to unite the world to fight this fake threat and usher in the NWO.
Man- You’ve got it covered! Except you forgot that Jesus, Buddha, Allah and Shiva are all just bombing around in “extra-dimensional craft,” waiting for the right time to lower the BOOM!
Have you seen the movie Arrival? Among others it illustrates your point of having to come together as one race ( human). However it’s the best one imo.
I LOVED that movie. Sooooo good. Such a nice twist from the traditional “Independence Day” Us-vs-Them routine. If they have been lurking around for decades, as many believe, they clearly aren’t here to do us harm…unless they messed with our elections. LOL! KIDDING!
I saw several headlines, but none of them said aliens are real, only that one expert couldn’t readily discount them. Big difference. Cool video though.
Yep…but FOX NEWS reported that they are ALL real…so it must be true, right? LOL!
Wow! Patrick! Thanks For a beautiful message that concurs with my own beliefs! Amen brother!
Just one thing unrelated. The calendar does not correspond with the prizes. Kwanza Hibbert is given at 9400. Not at 8 something thousands. There is some discrepancies?
The calendar was updated yesterday to reflect the changes…refresh your browser.
And thanks for the kind words, Joco!