"The single most important thing to understand is that in most cases of startling coincidences it is impossible to make even a rough estimate of their probability. They are what mathematicians call problems that are not 'well formed.'" --Martin Gardner, The Wreck of the Titanic Foretold? How … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2014
J. Allen Hynek and Halley’s Comet
This is a PS to last week's post on astronomer and UFOlogist J. Allen Hynek, which I was working on when a story about Hynek's last days came to mind. I looked the story up in Keith Thompson's book Angels and Aliens (Fawcett Columbine, 1991), and found it to be fully as powerful and moving as I'd … [Read more...]
Truth with Meaning – The Quest of J. Allen Hynek
Last week's post, on Jeff Kripal's Mutants & Mystics, has called forth thoughtful responses from a long-time reader named Ross, and from Jeff himself. Both took issue with my (very qualified) endorsement of the view expressed by Lester del Rey, that materialist science's transformation of our … [Read more...]
From Superman to Whitley Strieber – Reflections on a “Super-Story”
"I am not denying the obvious. I am simply suggesting that there is also a 'secret life' to Superman that extends far, far beyond his latest incarnation and 'descent' (or crash landing) into American pop culture." --Jeffrey J. Kripal It takes a big book to encompass between the same two covers … [Read more...]