Data Centers -- Swallow Hard and Say. . . Yes?

As a species, perhaps not all that special where the universe is concerned, I suspect we're doomed nonetheless as the natural order of things progresses.  Maybe we could buy a little more time if we were rats or cockroaches with considerably more staying power, but such is our lot as Homo sapiens of the moment.

Nepal experienced a catastrophe right out of a science fiction movie script, yet the terror and its consequences became all too real.  Then, as the search for survivors and the perilous dig-out had barely taken form, the USA's own Grand Canyon was invaded by a deadly flood from which almost nothing in its path could escape -- and didn't.

Most of the humans on our planet glide through life unaffected by extreme weather events, easily making us complacent about the deceptively solid ground upon which we stand.  Wrapped warmly in our fantasy blankets promising personal safety, there's no reason to tremble in fear over what disaster could materialize in mere seconds, a cataclysm of proportions guaranteed to end us forever.

Tick...tick...tick...as away we slip, bit by bit, not simply as individuals, but as a vast collection of hominids whose birth, existence and disappearance mean nothing to the rocks shooting past our planetary neighborhood during endless hours of infinity.

New York, Times Square:  A short plump woman, seemingly hatched at an insane chicken farm, stabs a young female bank executive to death, then begins carving up a nearby man until confronted by police officers forced to shoot her ass dead.  Pundits come out of the shadows to accuse and admonish law enforcement officers for not treating the murderess more gently, despite her expressed desire to kill the cops as she lunged toward them with one knife as she held another in reserve.

We, the people, are slowly checking out, in my opinion.  Will the final nail in the coffin be insanity, ingenuity or the shrugging of a few billion shoulders around the world?  Will we colonize Mars after first claiming significant moon real estate -- and just who would be the "we?"  Did we originate on Mars as specks, jettisoned to Earth by natural forces?  How many people are too many people?  Would legislation help?  If we could save just one. . .

Data centers must come.  Strengthen your resolve to hate them, and then understand that these are a must-have.  Why?  China.  There's a battle going on, and if China wins the data center war first they will be in charge of everything of importance.  If somebody wants to build one in your town, make sure that somebody pays your taxes, your electric bills and every other ongoing expense for many years to come.  Make it clear that data centers recycle water for cooling, and insist upon putting noise abatement in force, as these centers can hum loudly and become annoying to hear 24/7, probably affecting human and animal health in ways yet undiscovered.

As if AI isn't concerning enough, add to it the race to beat China in the war on mass information by way of these overheated, noisy, polluting data centers.  Everything about them speaks trouble, yet build and control them we apparently must.  Should there be another way, a cheaper way to overcome China in this maddening sprint to destinations yet unknown, bring it forward.

Or maybe if science solved the UFO (UAP) puzzle, a more convenient and palatable solution would emerge.  But enough conjecture.  What I really want is. . .

An I.C.E. robot dog.  Paired along with those innovative electric I.C.E. gloves that shock alien criminals into reasonable compliance, there would be no stopping us.  Equip the robot dog with a mouth full of razor-sharp choppers capable of biting everything in its path (except me) and adjust my gloves to semi-electrocution level voltage and I'm ready to fight alien border invaders, crime, dirty politicians and people who try to sell us things over the phone (AI will need to track these folks down, wherever they hide).

Yes, data centers will engulf rural areas of immense beauty and the bodies of water adjoining them,  This is horrible, one more series of ongoing  environmental tragedies -- and we're apparently to be held hostage despite promises of good jobs -- in the short term -- in construction.  

Semi-conductor chips, AI, data centers:  A technological wonder-blend. . . or an inconceivable triple threat in the long run? 

Au, Oh, Ow, Ouch Canada !

Canucks, I beg of you -- please don't hate Americans and please don't dismiss Trump.  While I can say little good about your Mr. Mark Carney, who apparently is cozying up uncomfortably with China (and in a way wiping Chinese communist butt with your cherished maple leaf) while emulating the very worst of the elitists' World Economic Forum, intent upon sweeping away significant individual rights, Donald Trump strives at the peril of his own administration's survival to right the world's ills.  I'm hoping against the terrible winds of change that our USA mid-term elections will keep enough Republicans in Congress to allow our President's efforts to continue, though, yes, we all suffer in the short term.  Canada deserves a far better leader than Carney, obviously a self-important person looking out for himself and his elite international buddies.  May your future elections offer you something more than a Trudeau shadow person.  However, should any of you in Canada be journeying across the border this or next week to visit the New York State Fair. . .

. . .you may be disappointed to discover that the calf-birthing display is missing this year (in fact, the Fair is approaching suck level this year for exclusions and impediments in general).  My suggestion would be that Fair officials go to area hospitals, find pregnant women and offer them money to dress up in cow costumes and deliver their offspring on a floor covered with straw. I mean, straw was good enough for Mary, Jesus and Joseph, right?  Considering the ignorance among so many in the modern population, I believe the cow costume thing could work and onlookers would be predominantly unaware that cows were replaced with women.

Now, who's ready for a nice swim in Lake Ontari. . .oh, um. . .Lake Ameri. . .that sounds weird. . .so -- who's ready for a nice swim in Lake Usedtobe?

Reno in flames:  "Human" involvement in the fires is acknowledged, though whether accidental or not is the question.  The basic question as America burns is whether terrorist arsonists are involved.  What could be easier than to fan out and anonymously set fires among the infidels?

Iran's psycho determination:  If Americans would step back and remember how Iran has been responsible for the deaths of so many of us, maybe we could be a little more understanding of Trump's efforts to crush Islam's murderous crazies.

Dearborn's Dearest:  Wow, good for the black Christian pastor in Dearborn MI who called out Sharia Law's growing influence.  He's loud, outspoken and correct.  As Dearborn goes, so could the rest of the country, and he is warning us all.

The Lindsay Clancy triple child murder case:  Well, I don't know, but it kind of looks like mom is a serial killer who kept it all in the family.  As you may have noticed, people seem to be going nuts in general, so whether this tragedy was a surprise is up for debate.  All I know is that professional folk in the head-shrinker business appear sometimes to rely the living hell on medications, pumping them into patients like gamblers feeding slot machines. hoping for a payoff.  What more can be said?  Men, beware!  If your lady's not killing your kids, she might be plotting to mix you an antifreeze cocktail and she'll bury your carcass in the garden without putting you under with so much as clean underwear.

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania an 18 year old nothing stabbed his girlfriend to death, claiming a demon in his head told him to accomplish the task.  Too late the exorcist, no doubt.  Sometimes I envy people whose heads become inhabited by voices, at least they have somebody to talk to in the late evening hours when even the cat wants nothing to do with you.  Bonus:  Voices usually seem to guide the listeners along to accomplish something, sort of like a project for a high school shop class from Hell.

Data center roulette:  As we wait for startled American data center investors to jump out of high buildings, we do wonder what can be done about the constant hum associated with running a bevy of computer equipment in these massive structures, said to be quite noticeable for area residents. True enough, in China we doubt anybody complains about the noise.

Plexaderm:  I watch their TV commercials, somehow reminded of at least two motion picture productions of "The Picture of Dorian Gray."

Dolly Parton dies:  The eternal "Miss America."  As established country music stars pass away one by one, pretty much leaving in their wake wannabe imposters singing about "country" that hardly exists anymore, horses they've never ridden and hats that look ridiculous upon their heads, Parton's superior heartfelt involvement in arts, entertainment and generosity will endure in America's entertainment history for years to come.

META gets robbed by several states:  Again, I should mention that I've no real love for actually being social on the social network.  Nevertheless, I firmly believe META was just robbed of 18 billion dollars by greedy states drooling over the prospect of watching money flow into their coffers, presumably intended to treat mental illness caused by evil social network entities dedicated to hypnotizing children into doing their bidding.

Bull crap.

If a  child or young adult seems to have developed mental issues as a result of exploring the Internet and all of its circus tents, the problem isn't META or its fellow providers:  Anybody notice those often invisible things called parents?  Where were they during this crisis-building period?  Whom better to recognize mental issues in their little darling or significant other than a parent or close friend?  Remember parental responsibility?  As one might expect, the reason why META is now on the hook for 18 billion smackers over the next 10 years is simply because they have the money -- a lot of money -- and parents mostly don't.  These days, nothing seems to scream louder in the courtroom than money, and of course this bundle of poop didn't even make it to the courtroom because META settled out of court.  If "addiction" to scrolling makes you crazy as hell, suicidal or (catch-all) merely disturbed, then my sofa cushion can probably give me the week's weather forecast whenever I ask for it.  The thing about government money grabs is the traditional option that no mask, gun or ransom note are required -- just bureaucracy, "expert" opinions, tears of sympathy and the will to take from one to give to another.  And what exactly does it mean when government promises it's taking an action "for the children," when such efforts increasingly appear to chip away at adult freedoms bit by bit?

A Flock of See-Alls

Flock seems to be the word of the day as Americans flee in horror at the mere thought of their license plates being reconnoitered.  We appreciate laws against unreasonable search and seizure, but then we think of folks alarmed by what they believe to be unreasonable searches of known illegal aliens. With I.C.E. and law enforcement in general on the prowl for bad guys under circumstances rarely encountered in recent years, customary standards of conduct in the domestic spy-and-apprehend game have undergone some enhancement with the result nevertheless pointing to success in achieving a lower crime rate.  How much of this will Americans continue to accept?  Politically, that depends on who is in charge, and how they tip the balance of power to keep or drastically alter the United States as we currently know it.

Back to Skool:  Parents everywhere will soon rejoice in sending their ill-prepared children back to class so they can, especially in the big cities, continue to learn nothing of value, fail in reading and spelling skills, and look upon even basic math as something alien.  More than one teacher has often remarked that some schools serve only as holding cells for the prisons.  As child populations decline dramatically, one should expect that smaller class sizes will result in smarter, more focused students -- but considering the apparent lowball intellectual abilities among even freshmen college students who supposedly exited the public school system with actual skills, don't expect miracles.

Horses and Forests:  I've supported nearly every step President Trump has taken to right the wrongs imposed upon the country primarily by disastrous political decisions.  However, his Executive pen just gave permission to build roads and conduct logging in the peoples' national forests.  This is a tragic mistake in a society willing to take and take and take more as national resources and historic beauty are trashed for decades or forever.  And now the New York Times has reported how our wild horses of the West are apparently being rounded up, sold for a few dollars each and probably sent of to slaughterhouses under a government-sanctioned code of secrecy.  A country which can neither respect its natural resources nor the beauty of spectacular animals such as the horse is a nation of shame.  What the hell is the Trump administration doing here?

Iran:  And so it goes.  Really, from the start maybe we could have just dropped in "ghost guns" good for a few shots only and ammo and let the freshly armed Iranians slug it out with the evil military.  Ghost guns falling into enemy hands wouldn't be useful after minimal use.

Trump to North Korea?  Well, remember to take along Dennis Rodman to help celebrate whatever the occasion turns out to be.  Maybe the North Korean army will shoot off a missile or two in honor of all the people tortured (remember our American teenage boy?) and dead under the hands of the Kim family, truly escapees from a cockroach ranch.

Floods, drought, fire, tornadoes and mental illness:  Oh yes, let's continue paving over the fields and forests, screw with sources of fresh water and by all means strive to increase the human population so everything can be made even worse and increase suffering exponentially.  We just don't get it.

Bits, Pieces -- and Shards -- for August 2026

I.C.E. Warms Up:  Around 20 million dollars will be spent to acquire electric shock gloves which agents can use to quell disturbances or attacks when performing their duties.  Natch', the ACLU and other crybabies are bitching about this technology, but wouldn't they have been happier had such gloves been available when rioters were instead shot dead (due to their own stupid actions, by the way)?  Possibly crime-loving NY attorney general Letitia James, whom I really think would be more at ease if doing her kind of job in some communist country, is already threatening the feds over this technology, promising state action if anyone is harmed by the gloves.  Harmed?  I think the proper words would be, oh, maybe. . .arrested or subdued by these low voltage tools.  Maybe Ms. James would offer to be a test case for a bit of electric glove grabbing by I.C.E. just so she can get the feel of it?  If she's going to be Debbie Downer even before the first volt flies, she should be willing to let I.C.E. give her a demonstration.  Go I.C.E. go!

A fictionalized serial killer currently making the rounds on a cable TV show can't come close to the constitutional serial killers known politically as DSA -- Democratic Socialists of America.  As this renegade whirlwind aberration associated with and seemingly conquering the Democratic Party marches forward, American government appears as seldom before under attack from within.

However, though the DSA's relatively insane platform has made the rounds, unfortunately impressing teens and other young people who vote but lack thinking abilities, it must not be overlooked that a major force behind all of this is the practice of Islam.  The Western civilization-hating Islamists (thanks Joe Biden, for bringing them to the USA by the cattle car load) have an agenda, a never altered need to eliminate Western lifestyles and Israel from the planet.

Just as Hitler murderously eliminated subgroups faithful to the Nazis as soon they were no longer needed to help him achieve his goals, Islam, too, currently appears to act arm in arm and shoulder to shoulder with the socialists to gain acceptance and power -- and in the end the socialists will die and disappear, having served a purpose having nothing to do with government and everything to do with the unwitting promotion of Islam and Sharia Law.  Why are mosques rising up like poison toadstools all over the USA and allied nations as traditional religions depart?

There is little choice but to heed the warnings of refugees from Islamic countries who know firsthand of the brutality, enslavement of women, child rape,  killing of gay people and an irrevocable obligation to serve the tenets of Islam or suffer the consequences of body part dismemberment, torture or death, and no matter how sweetly or casually Islam's practitioners attempt to make their case, everybody needs to know there is no possible relationship between Islam and the U.S. Constitution.  Islam remains both a religion and a government unto itself, unwilling to share power in any way, and its believers are allowed and commanded to lie in order to succeed among the masses.  If one wishes to define evil, look to traditional ancient Islam.  If any religion on Earth demands a reformation, it is Islam, the sooner the better -- and unlikely to happen.

While Democrats persist in causing trouble and chaos with the main intention of blaming Republicans for the result as elections approach, the organization C.A.I.R. is attempting to be removed from terrorist lists in the USA, primarily put into effect in Florida and Texas.  As an American offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood -- banned in Egypt as terrorists -- C.A.I.R. is an entity worth watching by intelligence agencies.

Cereal killers:  Kellogg is the latest cereal company to promise removal of questionably hazardous dyes from its products.  My advice to all cereal companies is to remove the cereal as well, because for the most part grains are run through intensive processing, ending up with a substance unlike the original food.  Some researchers suggest that skipping altogether "the most important meal (breakfast) of the day" may be more beneficial than swallowing a few gulps of things which may not be beneficial, but it's a personal choice of course.

How many wildfires start as wild?  It's difficult to believe that the explosive fire disasters currently engulfing some areas are acts of nature.  Arsonists aside, unwelcome segments of society surely have the will and resources to start destructive fires.  That we are told daily of heat-related combustion may be relevant in some instances, but how can one be certain of other "natural" causes?

Meanwhile, a severe drought grips parts of the continental U.S.and Puerto Rico.  Are we experiencing a normal long-term planetary cycle or is the sun or some galactic phenomenon at work?  When one considers severe weather conditions, vanishing insects and other life forms, an increase in tick-borne diseases and a proliferation of viruses, one might almost believe the Earth or some force is attempting to rid itself of us all. Maybe it's time to go -- go away as a species which perhaps has no reason to hang about anymore.  Everybody knows that time will eventually emerge, minus the how and when.

META gets nailed by a judgmental fool wearing a black robe in New Mexico:  I harbor no particular love for giant tech and I see little but horror-filled times ahead.  Still, this nearly one billion dollar fine thrust upon META (with other judgments sure to follow elsewhere) is ridiculous and should get the appeal it deserves.  

Once again, parents looking for a source to blame for their children's inadequacies, mental health shortcomings, gullibility, self-mutilation, suicides or flagrant lack of cognitive abilities flock to accuse and sue anybody but themselves, and The Expert Class will dive right in to accommodate them.  The mantra which goes something like, well, we had no idea. . .we just didn't know...etc., etc. is as insufficient as when the rest of us are told ignorance of a law is no excuse for not obeying it.  

This blame game is as annoying as legislation pushed by grieving parents in order to get their deceased child's name out in public while inhibiting the rest of us from doing something previously legal.  Grieve for the loss of your kids, parents, but stop  wiping our faces with your personal tragedy for the sole purpose of making you feel better, relieved or less guilt-ridden about whatever occurred to foster a tragedy.  Demanding legislation to memorialize one's personal incident is just sick, especially when nine times out of ten some legislator looking for votes in the next election shows up to be helpful, compassionate and relentless in portraying himself or herself as indispensable.

For example, let's say that little (the news media and angst-mongering bunch always award the involved child this adjective) Penny Popper, age eight, tripped over a sidewalk crack and died instantly from a concussion when her head crashed into pavement.  Her parents, Peter and Penelope Popper go before the TV cameras on an otherwise slow news day to profess their love for Penny and their desire to "do something" in her honor.  Fortunately, a local county legislator happens to be watching the TV and realizes that elections are near and he needs an event to get votes.  He immediately hooks up with the Poppers and, with one mind, they realize that JUSTICE must be served, lest little Penny died for nothing.  While many may have looked upon the fatality as a terrible accident caused, frankly, by a child who wasn't paying attention to where she was placing her feet, the legislator and parents come to know that a crime is involved!  Yes, if sidewalks did not have cracks, this sort of thing would never happen.  But what to do?  You can't eliminate sidewalk cracks, they've always been there.  Obviously, blame must be shifted.  Blame the people!

Thus, after weeks of intense convincing, the legislator goes before the TV cameras and demands a vote on a new law:  After passage, anybody in the county who uses sidewalks must always avoid stepping on the cracks, and if found doing so by widely installed cameras any offender will be arrested, tried, hopefully convicted, fined and imprisoned for one year.  As news cameras roll, the legislator sheds a tear and then brings forth Peter and Penelope Popper, who both break down and profusely thank the legislator for his efforts, all to honor the memory of little Penny Popper.

Intimidated by the TV coverage and a cascade of calls from residents in support of a new law, other legislators give in and vote for "Penny Popper's Law" to take effect.  Elections come at last, and the legislator behind the law is re-elected with votes far exceeding his competitors.

However, as time goes by county residents and visitors increasingly neglect to stay clear of sidewalk cracks as they ambulate down the street and the jails become filled with criminal sidewalk crack invaders.  As arrests, convictions, fines and prison sentences mount, the people look back upon the Penny Popper Law and come to understand that they've become victims of the very law they supported.  Now, just walking outside can be costly and a potential arrest is omnipresent.  It doesn't take long for disgruntled mobs to hit the streets, complaining of their dramatically altered lives, and before long there are signs:  "Down With the Sidewalk Crack Law!"

It gets worse.  The crowds figure out how all of this happened and they demand the arrest and public execution of the legislators who put them in this position.  Soon thereafter, new signs appear, the most anticipated reading, "We Hate Penny Popper's Parents and we Hate Penny Freakin' Popper!"

Enraged and inconsolable beyond reason, the mobs grab garden tools and head to the local cemetery, where they furiously dig up the body of little Penny Popper, remove her bones and feed them to a local pack of coyotes.  What a terrible fate for the memory of a little girl who lacked the grace to avoid a sidewalk crack!

So Stop! Stop naming laws after dead children, or this could happen to you!

What's that smell?  A Chicago funeral home was found to have dozens of rotting human corpses piled up. We anticipate that the place will close and the resultant garage sale will be neither well-attended nor successful.

Life insurance commercials: Have you seen the constant barrage of life insurance commercials on TV where generally a woman praises the company because her spouse died unexpectedly and she was grateful for the settlement?  Congratulations on your benefit, ladies, but really now:  How did you do it and make it look like an accident?

Dr. Anthony Fauci:  Just remember, all the inconveniences during Covid, the masks, the space required between shoppers at the store, the inability to visit your dying nursing home family members, the need for Covid shots -- all of this came out of Fauci's head.  Thanks to this egomaniac, next time we have a serious public health issue few will believe "the authorities."

New flu shots:  I can hardly believe this.  With all the horror stories we heard from those who received the Covid "immunization" using the mRNA system, now the pharmaceutical industry is praising the supposedly better and faster acting mRNA shot for the flu season.  Moderna is hard at work marketing their new immunization, particularly targeting older people, and theirs should be available by next month.  When it comes to flu shots -- and I have nothing against standard immunizations, having had numerous ones during my military years -- I plan to stick with the old fashioned needle while this sorts itself out.

Taking several thoughts from above into consideration. . .isn't it weird how, just a couple of years ago the mRNA shots were warned against, even by co-inventor Dr. Robert Malone?  As evidence surfaced about the Covid immunizations, very little of it good, experts zeroed in on the mRNA system's alleged problems, including deaths.  Yet, as if nothing ever happened, now the pharmaceutical industry apparently re-embraces this vaccine delivery system, pleased as can be that flu vaccines will supposedly be many percent more effective than routine shots.

Similarly, just years ago New York City's Twin Towers were taken down primarily by Saudis with radical Islam on their minds, and Americans from coast to coast suddenly had a "crash" course in the evils of Islam.  Yet, almost inexplicably, the Islamic influence is quickly commandeering the City now.  Then again, inexplicably may be the wrong word, because Obama/Biden/and crew were largely responsible for bringing this evil in by the plane, train and desert loads.

The newest "Spiderman" movie exceeds box office expectations, thrilling audiences everywhere:  Grow up America, grow the hell up before it's too late.

Wendy Ann Connors (In Memoriam)

Should you find yourself cruising around the Internet, searching for sites regarding the UFO subject, and suddenly landing upon a page offering a wealth of mp3 audio recordings associated with a project once known as Faded Discs, you have found a treasure chest of golden history.  Precious little of this would have been available without the dedicated efforts of the late Wendy Ann Connors, former school teacher, respected UFO researcher and author.

Wendy, a fellow Air Force veteran whom I was proud to call a friend for too few years, died from a long illness a few years after retiring from UFO research. I had lost contact with her following her retirement, so knowledge of her passing many a moon ago(exact year unknown) did not catch up to me until recently. 

 Without wasting time digging through old files, I will work from memory here and recall that I first met Wendy online somewhere around 2000 after I discovered that she was working on an historic archival project involving primarily old audio regarding UFOs, in which these entries would be converted into a digital format before disappearing forever.  While accumulating old radio and TV programs, sighting witness interviews and all manner of UFO-related audio from veteran researchers and investigators (or their estates) in the form of wire or reel-to-reel recordings, audio cassettes or other media, Wendy often needed to clean, enhance and protect such media using special chemical solutions and great care in order to avoid damaging already sensitive materials destined by nature and age for disintegration.

I wanted her to know that ever since I was a teenager in the early sixties, with access to reel-to-reel and later cassette recorders, I had recorded a number of UFO-related presentations, investigators' guest appearances on TV shows, witness interviews by myself, etc., and wondered if she would like to add these to her expanding collection.  Wendy eagerly agreed and thus began our mutual relationship of appreciation and deep respect for the audio gems I and others donated and for the ones she continued to save and convert to digital format.

Actually, there are Web pages documenting Wendy's life and books, so there's little need to rehash what can easily be found merely by putting her name into a search engine (try Wendy Connors UFOs so you don't end up reading about all the other people with a similar name).

Wendy was a very kind and giving person, though I must admit that I did make some comment early on meant as a joke and she took it seriously, darned nearly ending our relationship immediately!  Beyond that, I learned a few things about her daily life in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  She enjoyed conversing with the locals, and was even caring part-time for a disabled young man whose family she knew.  As I recall, it wasn't uncommon for her to visit a local diner now and then and encounter famous actors such as Burl Ives, and my memory prompts me to suggest Sterling Hayden.

Many years before, she had corresponded a bit with famed radio commentator and UFO author Frank Edwards, but bemoaned the unfortunate fact that his letters to her had met a bitter end in a water damage incident.

One of Wendy's kindest times came when she and others chipped in and, without fanfare, bought a new badly needed computer for the great Richard Hall, former assistant director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and trusted UFO writer when his had either failed or hovered near its end.  Aside from this act of kindness, at some point I had mentioned problems with my own PC and she was "locked and loaded" to procure a replacement for mine, but I declined with a cascade of thank-you's.

Nor did I escape her other good deeds.  Wendy knew I had an old Pekingese at home, my last surviving pet after having a lifetime of dogs, cats, horses, hamsters, white mice, chameleons and all the beasts in the woods.  One day an envelope arrived in the mail and inside were a few dollars ("For the Peke," she wrote).  The peke aside, I know she was trying to reimburse me without saying so for postage costs involved in mailing recordings to her.  Unnecessary, but I was grateful.  I guess it almost goes without saying that, aside from a relationship with her significant male partner, she took in a stray cat which she adored.  Yes, Wendy loved animals (her presence with a horse in the accompanying photo was no accident!).

The most peculiar action Wendy took involved one of the recordings I submitted.  It so happened that I had been a guest on a number of radio and TV shows in my younger years and had audios of all but one, and was close to throwing them out when Wendy suggested I send them along and she would digitalize them for the collection.  Fortunately, save for one, none of them ended up online (I'm sure there is much of her work still not online for various reasons). However, there was a "final test" broadcast I had performed in 1967 after taking a college TV-radio course, a brief entry called "Mysterious World," and as was obvious in my other recordings I had a somewhat high-pitched voice.  I complained to Wendy that this was the bane of my existence when speaking publicly (as a kid, some called me "Squeaky").

When she returned a digitized copy of my old college broadcast program I immediately noticed that Wendy had slowed my voice a bit to make it sound a little deeper in bass -- and of course this is the one now available online, mixed in with all the other audios from her collection.  To me it sounds weird, but I appreciated the effort!

Wendy's original and driving intention was for her entire Faded Discs collection to be donated to the National Archives, but while still working busily on the conversion of old recordings she became quite ill, soon discovering that she had pancreatic cancer.  This is one of the few malignancies from which there generally is no long-term reprieve, and ultimately after maintaining as normal a life as she could, she passed away.  Her work and library were reportedly transferred to one of her supporters and project benefactors and, as mentioned here, a significant amount of historic recorded material is now available for free online.

In fact, after completing her work Wendy released a statement online, asserting that she was donating all of her recordings to the public domain, with the expressed wish that they may be used, but not be sold for profit.

A substantial portion of UFO audio history from around the world is now rescued and digitized for posterity thanks to Wendy's foresight and determination, and it was one of my few pleasures in life to know and work with this remarkable woman.  I trust that a few of the photos she sent to me will paint her picture a little better than I have here, showing her at work on the Faded Discs project with the tools of her trade.

The preservation of a significant portion of UFO history will endure for the ages, thanks in large part to the wise and wonderful lady from Albuquerque.  Thanks Wendy.  -- Robert Barrow