FT241

[ArthurASCII]

Woo Hoo!
It arrived this morning...

Popobawa - Zanzibar's Bat-Winged Terror and a super photo of a bat-winged cat to boot!

 

[ramonmercado]

Woo Hoo!
It arrived this morning...

Popobawa - Zanzibar's Bat-Winged Terror and a super photo of a bat-winged cat to boot!

Thats nothing! I met a terrier husky cross yesterday. Should be great for chasing Arctic foxs.

 

[liveinabin]

Here too.
Found it on the door mat AFTER I got out of the bath. Grrr

 

[escargot]

Yup, s'bad news, could mean another bath.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Mine came today, too!

I'm saving it for later, for with the wine.

 

[escargot]

Mine'd arrived when I returned from dogwalking at lunchtime. I like the story of the ancient pet snail, although I've heard it before and am not impressed by its diet of 'water and soil'.

My pet snails used to enjoy fresh greens, chips and beer.

 

[GNC]

I can't seem to find this issue's "Letter from a Mad Person". It must be incredibly well hidden. Is this a conspiracy?

Liked the article on the phantom bat creature of Zanzibar, but the "artist's impressions" were really awful. Was the artist in question ten years old?

 

[ramonmercado]

I can't seem to find this issue's "Letter from a Mad Person". It must be incredibly well hidden. Is this a conspiracy?

Check out the editorial.

 

[liveinabin]

Very disappointed to see that the fake as a fake thing 'ghost photo of a boy standing by a gate', was published without the de-bunking.
It was even printed on a page opposite a Star Wars advert.

Come on FT. I expect better.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Very disappointed to see that the fake as a fake thing 'ghost photo of a boy standing by a gate', was published without the de-bunking.
It was even printed on a page opposite a Star Wars advert.

Come on FT. I expect better.

I did wonder, considering that it's so obvious.

 

[Beakmoo]

Another excellent issue. Unusually upbeat Strange Deaths too.

 

[escargot]

The 'boy ghost' story was probably agreed and paid up months ago, so in these times of fast-moving information it's not surprising to see it in print after being debunked.

Anyway, it gives us something to be smug about. 8)

 

[Daftbugger1]

I can't seem to find this issue's "Letter from a Mad Person". It must be incredibly well hidden. Is this a conspiracy?

Check out the editorial.

Eh? Check the last letter 'no crank' Beautiful contrast to the well written letter preceding it.

Why does Patrick Sharkey (Letters) think that Wales is a strange place to film a Dr Who spin off? The current reincarnation of Dr Who is filmed in Cardiff, so why is it odd that TorchWood is filmed there too? I assume it's much cheaper than filming in London.

 

[colpepper1]

David Sutton's article on RVW was excellent. We could do with more on British neo/romantics to counter the interminable reality stuff the UK is associated with.

 

[Timble2]

David Sutton's article on RVW was excellent. We could do with more on British neo/romantics to counter the interminable reality stuff the UK is associated with.

I thought that was an excellent article too, something I knew nothing about whatsoever.

 

[47Forteans]

It seems that everyone has their copy before mine even arrives in Australia. I am very envious! I will now go into the corner and sulk until mine arrives! Or I could just keep myself distracted reading astronomy mags!

 

[_Lizard23_]

Not me! Through a slightly unusual turn of events I still have my subscription but it is delivered to and read by friends and I have to go out and buy a copy on top of that ... four quid bloody odd and half an hour searching in WHSmiths .... I deserve an FT reader of the year award or something

How long after the first subscriber copy hits the mat and this thread starts does it show up on shop shelves?

 

[GNC]

Very disappointed to see that the fake as a fake thing 'ghost photo of a boy standing by a gate', was published without the de-bunking.
It was even printed on a page opposite a Star Wars advert.

Come on FT. I expect better.

Just as bad is the photo of a drop of water on a window, which could easily be mistaken for a drop of water on a window. And nothing else.

 

[ramonmercado]

I can't seem to find this issue's "Letter from a Mad Person". It must be incredibly well hidden. Is this a conspiracy?

Check out the editorial.

Eh? Check the last letter 'no crank' Beautiful contrast to the well written letter preceding it.

.

Only joking, I hadn't got FT241 at that stage.

You're right, 'no crank' is a beauty.

 

[McAvennie]

Very disappointed to see that the fake as a fake thing 'ghost photo of a boy standing by a gate', was published without the de-bunking.
It was even printed on a page opposite a Star Wars advert.

Come on FT. I expect better.

Came online to specifically say the same thing! Got to be something of an in-joke with it up against the Star Wars ad, but nevertheless it is very poor as that page will go down in record with no debunking.

Really hope to see a follow-up next issue but that story is months old so surely the staff knew of the debunk when printing came around.

I work for a magazine and we print on a Monday - and are editing the pages right up until the last second - and have the magazine by the Wednesday so it isn't like they'd have made this page up months ago and couldn't have been altered. Unless FT is run using some very peculiar editorial practices!

 

[theredmeanie]

I can't seem to find this issue's "Letter from a Mad Person". It must be incredibly well hidden. Is this a conspiracy?

Check out the editorial.

Eh? Check the last letter 'no crank' Beautiful contrast to the well written letter preceding it.

.

Only joking, I hadn't got FT241 at that stage.

You're right, 'no crank' is a beauty.

So exactly what is funny (or, indeed Fortean) about a respected magazine printing letters from people who are obviously disturbed so that it's readers can have a laugh about it's content? Perhaps someone could enlighten me? ramonmercado? Daftbugger? David Sutton?

Maybe I'm just having a low sense of humour day, but the publication of such letters (and comments such as the ones above) seem to say 'Haha! Look at the crazy person, how superior I am to him', which is a very distasteful and dodgy aspect of humans.

It seems to me that the people who indulge in such behaviour tend to be pretty damaged individuals who feel better about their own insecure, inadequate senses of self when laughing at others.

I seem to remember a few years ago FT devoted an entire letters section to communications of this type. I think the whole thing stinks.

FT casts a wide net, and by it's nature is going to attract a fair amount of disturbed people. It's a fucking cheap shot to take the piss out of them like that. It's a fair bet that the letter writer in question (who buys and therefore keeps the magazine alive as we all do) will have been avidly scouring the letter pages to see if his/her letter was published. I hope that if and when they read it, they haven't the ken to realise that the only reason it was published was for a low rent laugh.

 

[colpepper1]

It should be remembered that many sceptics believe the entire phenomenalist arena is populated by the mentally disturbed and self-deluding, with FT pandering to their misguided obsessions by presenting faux data. The line between impressionable fantasist and complete nutter is - in some eyes -mostly down to grammar.

 

[Dr_Baltar]

Maybe I'm just having a low sense of humour day...

No, I don't think you are. I shamefully enjoy schadenfreude as much as the next flawed human being, but I too was uncomfortable that FT had seen fit to print that letter.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Maybe I'm just having a low sense of humour day...

No, I don't think you are. I shamefully enjoy schadenfreude as much as the next flawed human being, but I too was uncomfortable that FT had seen fit to print that letter.

The letter got sent. It was printed. The title above the letter is a direct quote from the letter itself. There are no other comments.

I found it an interesting and informative letter, in no way offensive and no doubt representative of a substantial proportion of letters, either sitting in the Editor's in-tray, or tucked away in the filing cabinets.

 

[ramonmercado]

Maybe I'm just having a low sense of humour day...

No, I don't think you are. I shamefully enjoy schadenfreude as much as the next flawed human being, but I too was uncomfortable that FT had seen fit to print that letter.

I think the letter writer comes across as being more odd than barking. From someone who was a bit belligerent, not very intelligent, on a short fuse who would not take kindly to having his views questioned let alone rejected.

It was a mistake though for FT to publish all those letters from people who obviously living on another astral plane.

 

[WhistlingJack]

So exactly what is funny (or, indeed Fortean) about a respected magazine printing letters from people who are obviously disturbed so that it's readers can have a laugh about it's content? Perhaps someone could enlighten me? ramonmercado? Daftbugger? David Sutton?

Be fair - if the mag stopped printing contributions from the 'obviously disturbed', it would probably have to drop the 'It Happened to Me' section entirely.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

I enjoyed the Vaughan Williams piece, although it did seem to be stretching a bit for Fortean legitimacy, occasionally. There's been a good run of potted biographies of mystical, romantic and Fortean cultural icons. Most enjoyable. I hope we get some more.

 

[ramonmercado]

I enjoyed the Vaughan Williams piece, although it did seem to be stretching a bit for Fortean legitimacy, occasionally. There's been a good run of potted biographies of mystical, romantic and Fortean cultural icons. Most enjoyable. I hope we get some more.

Agree with u on VW piece, very interesting but not too Fortean.

Liked the Church of Satan piece as well.

 

[colpepper1]

Any creative act that takes a mystical or allegorical source is fair game for FT in my book. Certainly as much as drug culture articles or incompetent crime type columns, let alone yet another computer game review.
A favourite article of recent times was the predatory stoat pack. It crossed cryptozoology, folk lore and animism in a perfect brew.

 

[wembley8]

Oddly enough, I thought the stoat pack one was useless. They didn't talk to anyone who knew anything about stoats (not exactly rare and mythical beasts -- there's plenty of info out there) or animal behaviour, or look into the reality of the thing. As far as I can tell, it was based entirely on the unreliable memory of one child witness (who had been scared by stories of predatory stoat packs). It didn't contribute anything to exploring the "phenomenon". They might as well have rehashed the myth about lemmings again.