tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post5211709395221714872..comments2024-03-20T06:35:39.421-07:00Comments on hidden experience: My Pal Mac TonniesMike Clelland!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11369575898695154728noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-14060728826468781552010-11-17T13:46:04.415-08:002010-11-17T13:46:04.415-08:00hello there thanks for your grat post, as usual (...hello there thanks for your grat post, as usual ((o:Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-46310257919570841052010-02-26T08:51:53.537-08:002010-02-26T08:51:53.537-08:00Mike, this was a lovely post. I had a strange expe...Mike, this was a lovely post. I had a strange experience with my iPod and the George Noory interview as well. It was only days after the news that we'd lost Mac had surfaced, and I was on a road trip to my home town to get over the blow. I had forgotten that I had the recording on my iPod and on he came. I had to pull over because I was crying, but I was so proud of how wonderfully the interview had gone. I sat in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming and listened.<br /><br />It was about an hour later, the home stretch of my trip. I turned off the interstate and onto the little two-lane highway that takes me to my old home town. My iPod had just punked me again with David Byrne/Brian Eno's "Everything That Happens," famous among us now as the last song Mac ever blipped. Tears pricked in my eyes again, but cleared up quickly -- there was a huge Mack truck (!) coming at me in my lane. I swerved into the other lane to miss, and it followed me; the same happened again. I remember thinking "Well, I guess I'm going to meet Mac after all". At the last possible minute, the driver looked up from his cell phone -- I think he had been texting -- and got back into his own lane.<br /><br />It felt as though Mac himself had maybe yelled at the guy. I could just hear it in my mind's ear -- "hey, you jerk, you're about to kill my friend."<br /><br />Maybe that's what happened, maybe it wasn't, but it's an experience I will take to my own grave.<br /><br />I'm sipping espresso right now as I make this comment. I cannot look at a machine now without thinking of him and how much I, too, wanted to visit with him in a coffee shop someday and talk our strange sort of shop in person.Kate Sherrodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08706419613939420574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-57969864898559122322010-02-23T15:08:38.946-08:002010-02-23T15:08:38.946-08:00I never had any personal affinities to Mac. Howeve...I never had any personal affinities to Mac. However your dreamesque travel notes I feel closer to him and you. What fun knowing the dude and his speil. Thank you for your effort. DennisDennis/87https://www.blogger.com/profile/03703473570098929681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-65122513487003687782010-02-14T02:10:23.343-08:002010-02-14T02:10:23.343-08:00This was a great article, Mike. I'm really lo...This was a great article, Mike. I'm really looking forward to seeing Cryptoterrestrials.<br /><br /> I had a few really bizarre synchronicities regarding Mac, too. Once, Mac had tweeted a funny pic of a display in Barnes & Noble of a shelf full of 2012 doomsday books. He was pointing to one in particular: Marie Jones'2 2013. When I saw that picture, I had that particular in my hands at that moment, boning up for an interview with Jones on our podcast. It was also the night that we had decided to finally end the podcast, and I was particularly disappointed because Mac was going to be our next guest and because our format was conversational, I think he seemed pretty psyched. <br /><br /> I still miss the conversations alot, and I don't think twitter, in particular, ever recovered. <br /><br /> Like you said, it seemed inevitable that at some point, we'd sit down at a table in meatspace and drink coffee. It was a kick in the stomach to learn the news. Mac is the only real transhumanist I've ever known.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16198526629636593822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-34289312292783299372010-02-13T11:58:47.296-08:002010-02-13T11:58:47.296-08:00I noticed the window behind Mac (drinking espresso...I noticed the window behind Mac (drinking espresso) says "Red Rock." Kinda coincides with the pictures of Utah etc. <br /><br />It also reminded me of Eliot's The Wasteland (Come in under the shadow of this red rock) and then to Eliot's intense love of cats. And then Eliot was from St Louis just like William Burroughs... who also loved cats and once spent the night at Whitley Strieber's house. St. Louis also reminds me of Kansas City.<br /><br />We shall not cease from exploration<br />And the end of all our exploring<br />Will be to arrive where we started<br />And know the place for the first time.<br />~ The Four Quartets ~<br /><br />http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._S._EliotAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-44930176369339674102010-02-12T16:04:07.004-08:002010-02-12T16:04:07.004-08:00“UFO’s as Agents of Deconstruction” is one of the ...“UFO’s as Agents of Deconstruction” is one of the best UFO-related texts I read last year. Greg Bishop is IMO a rock star in the UFOlogy field —and as such, he's such a procrastinating bastard :-PRed Pill Junkiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14738203580562140501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-9819858342357092772010-02-11T12:29:49.636-08:002010-02-11T12:29:49.636-08:00!!!!!!!! Well... I hadnt gotten to reading all t...!!!!!!!! Well... I hadnt gotten to reading all the comments to this piece... It may have been a link from his site that led me there in the first place. Listening to his Binnall interview and his comments about Mars took me back to his site. <br /><br />Still its a little weird. The post was fascinating. I have to admit the whole thing reminds me of that Sufi 'teaching story' about someone losing their keys. <br /><br />They were looking hard for them under a streetlight and ran into somebody who of course asked them what they were doing. "I'm looking for my keys." The stranger asked the obvious, "You lost them near here?" The response was a bit ludicrous: "Well no... I lost them at home." "Why are you looking here?" "The light is so much better out here. I may never find them at home..." Well its my translation...<br /><br />Later.Jamesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-72064653170652679092010-02-11T11:34:43.344-08:002010-02-11T11:34:43.344-08:00James:
Note the UFOMystic link. GO to it and scro...James:<br /><br />Note the UFOMystic link. GO to it and scroll down. Mac left a comment.<br /><br />Mac Tonnies Says: <br />October 7th, 2009 at 2:08 pm<br /><br />"I’d been contemplating writing a similar piece, but you beat me to the punch. Great job, Greg."Mike Clelland!https://www.blogger.com/profile/11369575898695154728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-30378132946222670062010-02-11T11:13:33.146-08:002010-02-11T11:13:33.146-08:00First let me apologize for the length of this comm...First let me apologize for the length of this comment. You may decide not to include... I came across an interesting post re the meaning of the UFO enigma that I think is useful to put alongside this ‘laser pointer’ idea of projection etc.<br /><br />The article is from UFOMystic and is “UFO’s as Agents of Deconstruction” (http://www.ufomystic.com/2009/10/07/ufos-as-agents-of-deconstruction/).<br /><br />I think I found this article by following links that originated on your site but I don’t think you have a direct link to this article.<br /><br />A quote from the article:<br /><br />“If there is an intelligence or intelligences behind the phenomenon, what it has been doing (probably for millenia) either looks like nonsense or some inscrutable attempt to change human thinking and perception. The very exposure to a UFO or occupant sighting is enough to rearrange one’s concepts of what is real, or even acceptable to our minds and senses. The issue of lasting physical or psychological changes was addressed by Jacques Vallee in his anomalies classification matrix (http://www.plim.org/2vallee.jpg) published in his 1990 Book Confrontations.<br /><br />Interestingly he quotes a study involving the reading of Kafka to underline the idea he is making:<br /><br />“An article by Benedict Carey ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/health/06mind.html?_r=4&8dpc)from the New York Times reports on research into seemingly nonsensical events and how they are useful in deconstructing our endless search for structure and meaning, injecting helpful doses of depatterning. Participants in a study were asked to read an absurdist short story by Franz Kafka and then given a test that analyzed their ability to find hidden patterns in strings of letters:<br /><br />The test is a standard measure of what researchers call implicit learning: knowledge gained without awareness. The students had no idea what patterns their brain was sensing or how well they were performing.<br /><br />But perform they did. They chose about 30 percent more of the letter strings, and were almost twice as accurate in their choices, than a comparison group of 20 students who had read a different short story, a coherent one.”<br /><br />One of his last observations:<br /><br />“Ostensibly, the UFO question is whether a non-human source is causing sightings, abductions, radar returns and flying saucer religions, but the intricacies of the problem impinge on so many other areas that we redefine them as well. Examples include reported physics of UFO movement, the question of cultural antecedents and perhaps how our society decides what is acceptable as serious study. That last one may be the most deconstructive effect of all. Changes in our mindset, and not any so-called “answers” may be the real reason behind the whole thing, or at least the most meaningful. There may indeed be “knowledge gained without awareness.””<br /><br />If I can boil this down into a nutshell its that our focus has little or nothing to do with what is really going on. Rather the process it engenders is the real meaning of the phenomenon. The light in the sky, the dot from a laser pointer, an anomalous memory, are all triggers, catalysts, and the real measure and meaning of the phenomenon lies somewhere else, in the changes in our perceptions and expectations of what is real, what is meaningful, and what is possible. I know Mac, just from reading his site, would have been very sympathetic to this idea.<br /><br />This game of ‘cat and mouse’ with the laser pointer has a mesmerizing quality for us as well as the cats. I have played the game with our cats too. There is something ‘strangely’ compelling in the game.<br /><br />Last but not least... ToothyGrinMatt’s comment re the CD player and laser etc. seems to me, at first glance, to be one of those stretching the idea of ‘synchronicity’ beyond its breaking point. Still it caused me to wonder for a moment about the idea of projections, how music has that mesmerizing quality of the ‘cat and mouse’ game, what do I make of that?Jameshttp://tormance.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-86615579530905607532010-02-11T07:33:35.663-08:002010-02-11T07:33:35.663-08:00Waitaminute, I just reread that. It ejected the cd...Waitaminute, I just reread that. It ejected the cd not a cassette?<br /><br />Well, that's even better.<br /><br />A greater technological jump, an even more humorous wink.<br /><br />What were you talking about recently? Mac's laser pointer.<br /><br />How cd's work : "The fundamental job of the CD player is to FOCUS THE LASER on the track of bumps"....<br /><br />LOL!<br /><br />Perfect.ToothyGrinMatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15986081295286583354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-78043741132905054662010-02-11T07:07:21.962-08:002010-02-11T07:07:21.962-08:00Mike : You go through a formal process(ritual?) an...Mike : You go through a formal process(ritual?) and sit down to read Macs work and the very moment you begin to read the words, the cassette pops open.<br /><br />If Mac was more technological than you, maybe the cassette represented a step up from a book. A humorous wink of sorts.<br /><br />Books record an artists work as do cassettes. Now the humor may come in because why would Mac use outdated technology. Maybe because you do. He's speakin' your language but in that instance, still at least one step ahead technologically.<br /><br />Just some thoughts.<br /><br />Peace.ToothyGrinMatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15986081295286583354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-63858456438128907302010-02-10T17:31:23.673-08:002010-02-10T17:31:23.673-08:00Reply to James:
No the DVD cassette was not stuck...Reply to James:<br /><br />No the DVD cassette was not stuck. I don't know what happened. There is a button you can push, and it ejects the cassette. But nobody was there to push it. It was the same noise. It just popped out (with a click noise) all by itself.<br /><br />I was curious if there would be some mystical significance to the CD's that were stacked in the cassette. There were only two discs, one was the HAIRSPRAY soundtrack (the original movie), and the other was a punk-rock mix titled INSTANT GARAGE. No significance I can figure out.Mike Clelland!https://www.blogger.com/profile/11369575898695154728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-3381120368061257732010-02-10T11:39:30.402-08:002010-02-10T11:39:30.402-08:00Did I miss something... what was the casette that...Did I miss something... what was the casette that had been trapped in the player?<br /><br />Mac Tonnies was obviously unique. I wish, well I am in the middle of the Binnall interview with him right now, but I think his voice offered unity and sanity in a time of schism and... strangeness? Something sorely needed and lacking in a lot of converations touching the 'crypto' arena.<br /><br />Without a doubt you were blessed to know him. And we have been blessed to have heard his voice.<br /><br />Your post is sincere, touching, perhaps even tender, and thought provoking. I am sure his book is as well.Jameshttp://tormance.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-84008052476672333692010-02-10T07:49:43.724-08:002010-02-10T07:49:43.724-08:00I really enjoyed this.
Smh @ thinking about remov...I really enjoyed this.<br /><br />Smh @ thinking about removing it at some point.<br /><br />For shame.<br /><br />:)ToothyGrinMatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15986081295286583354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-59648430626411683062010-02-09T17:33:13.255-08:002010-02-09T17:33:13.255-08:00Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed that. Can'...Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed that. Can't wait to get my hands on his new book.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-27649884010472337272010-02-09T16:57:13.848-08:002010-02-09T16:57:13.848-08:00A perfectly wonderful bit of writing Mike. Thanks ...A perfectly wonderful bit of writing Mike. Thanks for sharing this with all of us, I think Mac was a fortunate fellow to have inspired such eulogizing. I am looking forward to getting my hands on the results of both your efforts on the Cryptoterrestials,David Stewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13711140240390775525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7455216065351371692.post-23108279731941767662010-02-09T16:37:41.713-08:002010-02-09T16:37:41.713-08:00http://dailygrail.com/Alien-Nation/2010/2/Mac-Tonn...http://dailygrail.com/Alien-Nation/2010/2/Mac-Tonnies-Cryptoterrestrials-Coming-March<br /><br />PS: I learned about that Crumb's book later in December, and I immediately thought you might be a great fan of him when I saw that first illustration from Mac's book. I wanted to mention it to you but for some reason I didn't.Red Pill Junkiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14738203580562140501noreply@blogger.com