The Paracast Newsletter
October 13, 2024
www.theparacast.com
Author and Researcher Kevin D. Randle Delivers a No-Holds-Barred UFO Update on The Paracast!
The Paracast is released every Sunday and available from our site, https://www.theparacast.com, your favorite podcast app, and the IRN Internet Radio Network. All episodes from 2022, 2023 and 2024 now feature better audio and fewer ads. We are also re-releasing some of our most popular classic episodes.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus a special version of The Paracast with all the ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Episodes are now released 12-24 hours earlier. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz welcome back veteran UFO researcher Kevin D. Randle. During this episode, Randle will offer his reaction to the best-selling book, “Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs” from former Pentagon UFO official Luis Elizondo. Does the book realize its hype, or is it just another title among thousands on the subject? Randle will also continue to evaluate the key cases he’s explored over the years, such as the 1947 Roswell crash and the 1957 incident at Levelland, Texas. He is seen as one of the preeminent experts on the UFO phenomenon, and is a retired lieutenant colonel who served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot and in Iraq as a battalion intelligence officer. Randle began writing for UFO magazines and eventually moved onto books. His writing is not limited to the UFO field. He is the author of more than 100 books that cover not just UFOs, but action-adventure, mysteries, science fiction and even a vampire novel called, cleverly, VAMPYR. Randle’s fact books include: Roswell in the 21st Century, Levelland, and UFOs and the Deep State. His blog can be found at https://www.kevinrandle.blogspot.com
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on September 22: Veteran UFO researcher Kevin D. Randle returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about such topics as why there appear to be fewer compelling UFO sightings than there used to be. Or is that even correct? Randle will also talk about the relationship between spiders and orbs, and the difficulties in reporting sightings to the authorities in recent years. He is regarded as one of the preeminent experts not only on the UFO phenomena in general, but also with the reported UFO crash near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947. He is a retired lieutenant colonel who served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot and in Iraq as a battalion intelligence officer. He began writing for UFO magazines and eventually moved onto books. Randle’s writing is not limited to the UFO field. He is the author of more than 100 books that cover not just UFOs, but action-adventure, mysteries, science fiction and even a vampire novel called, cleverly, VAMPYR. His recent UFO books include: Roswell in the 21st Century, Levelland, and UFOs and the Deep State.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Playing Catch-Up
By Gene Steinberg
Over the past few months, we’ve mostly focused this column on the current topics in the world of the paranormal; usually about UFOs. But it’s not as if we are any closer to a solution to such phenomena after all these many years.
Instead, we’re going to focus on the show and our little company here.
So over the weekend of October 5th and 6th of 2024, you might have had problems seeing the latest version of https://www.theparacast.com and our forum. Listening to episodes from our Paracast Plus streaming service might have been difficult if you didn’t use our special feed for your favorite podcast apps.
The reason?
Well, our web server was hit by malware. The symptoms were downright weird. A file known as .htaccess, which is basically a configuration file for a site, was corrupted with various forms of gibberish. Every time we replaced it with a good copy., the corruption reappeared, ghost-like. Some files would be copied over — and disappear.
Talk about the paranormal.
The infection had an arcane name that, in the scheme of things, is not important. We just had to clean it up as quickly as possible.
In case you’re wondering, malware protection software was installed. The sites are all scanned every morning, and infected files are supposed to be cleaned. Only when they were cleaned, the infection reappeared, over and over again.
All of our sites are backed up every morning.So we reverted the ones that didn’t have recent updates with older versions.
Zombie-like, the malware reappeared to do its dirty things.
The fix was complicated. Our web host ran a special malware app, CXS (ConfigServer eXploit Scanner) that covered the entire server and reported on possibly infected files. We used its report to locate a bunch of needless or suspicious files and delete them.
We then ran our regular malware protection app over and over again until the infected files were gone. I even backed up the sites to our backup server, rebuilt the original server, and copied everything back. Maybe this was a bit extreme, but we were just being extra cautious.
By Monday, everything appeared to be fixed and the daily scan has been clean. At least so far.
So what happened?
Well, it’s a dangerous world out there when it comes to malware. Protection apps constantly have to be updated to reflect new virus strains. While Linux servers aren’t usually as vulnerable as, say, a Windows PC, it does happen. For now, we’re not assuming we were deliberately targeted. It was probably just one of those things.
Onto other subjects:
Back in May, GCN, the radio network that syndicated The Paracast for nearly 14 years, closed shop. So we had to look for other options.
Either way, the show has always been available for download from most of the major podcast services, such as Apple, iHeart Radio and Spotify. But what about the ads?
In the old days, we sold our own advertising, but with difficulty. A few would-be salespeople joined us to push ads. One did a great job, but burned out in a few months.
So our second foray into distributing the show resulted in trying three of the podcast hosts, which offer a way to have the networks insert ads to provide some income.
After two of the hosts failed to deliver the goods for us, we settled on Spreaker, a division of iHeart, the largest radio network. To include ads, and revenue of course, we insert markers for the show files, where ads are going to be heard.
Episodes are now available on even more podcast services.
Now I know many of you objected to the number of ads when The Paracast was on GCN. It amounted to 41 minutes for each episode, which is par for the course for syndicated radio in the U.S. It’s similar for broadcast television, which explains why streaming services, ad-free or with limited advertising, have become so popular.
I know radio networks in other countries don’t stuff shows with quite as many ads. With Spreaker, the number of ads in an episode is far less than half what it used to be. That, we hope, makes The Paracast more listenable.
If you’d rather not have any ads, we offer you The Paracast Plus, a streaming service that we’ve been running for almost 10 years now. In addition to the main show, you get a value-added bonus podcast, The Paracast Plus. In part, it extends the main show with additional discussions with a guest. We also deliver exclusive interviews that aren’t duplicated on The Paracast. What’s more, it’s uncensored, for better or worse. It’s not R-rated, but certainly fits the PG-13 category if you use movie ratings as a guide.
To simplify the setup, The Paracast Plus is presented as a premium version of the forum. This way, you also have access to extra discussion boards. To be frank, there may be better ways to present a streaming setup, but it sometimes requires extensive programming.
So we’ve got a system and it usually works.
Right now, our rates are the lowest ever, starting at $4.00 per month. Signing up is quick. Just go to https://www.theparacast.plus and you’ll see the options whether you’re a forum member now or want to join us.
The new setup appears to be working. You listeners clearly appreciate the smaller number of ads, so downloads have increased almost every week. It also generates more revenue.
That said, with rising prices, The Paracast still accepts donations, another way to help us live long and prosper.
The Paracast has been here nearly 19 years, and we’re not going anywhere.
If you want to send a donation, use this PayPal URL, which is the most direct way: Pay Eugene Steinberg using PayPal.Me
When you send your payment, you might want to use the friends or family option, so PayPal doesn’t take its ransom. Yes, I said it.
If you don’t want to use PayPal, let me know and I’ll give you some other options, such as Venmo. For regular donations, on a monthly basis, please click one of the Donate links at https://www.theparacast.com.
As always, I welcome your questions or comments. If you know of a better way to handle this setup, I’m all ears.
And I’m still looking for volunteers to help with our WordPress sites and XenForo forum systems. If you’re not a member of The Paracast Plus, you can earn a free lifetime subscription for your efforts.
Copyright 1999-2024 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
October 13, 2024
www.theparacast.com
Author and Researcher Kevin D. Randle Delivers a No-Holds-Barred UFO Update on The Paracast!
The Paracast is released every Sunday and available from our site, https://www.theparacast.com, your favorite podcast app, and the IRN Internet Radio Network. All episodes from 2022, 2023 and 2024 now feature better audio and fewer ads. We are also re-releasing some of our most popular classic episodes.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus a special version of The Paracast with all the ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Episodes are now released 12-24 hours earlier. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz welcome back veteran UFO researcher Kevin D. Randle. During this episode, Randle will offer his reaction to the best-selling book, “Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs” from former Pentagon UFO official Luis Elizondo. Does the book realize its hype, or is it just another title among thousands on the subject? Randle will also continue to evaluate the key cases he’s explored over the years, such as the 1947 Roswell crash and the 1957 incident at Levelland, Texas. He is seen as one of the preeminent experts on the UFO phenomenon, and is a retired lieutenant colonel who served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot and in Iraq as a battalion intelligence officer. Randle began writing for UFO magazines and eventually moved onto books. His writing is not limited to the UFO field. He is the author of more than 100 books that cover not just UFOs, but action-adventure, mysteries, science fiction and even a vampire novel called, cleverly, VAMPYR. Randle’s fact books include: Roswell in the 21st Century, Levelland, and UFOs and the Deep State. His blog can be found at https://www.kevinrandle.blogspot.com
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on September 22: Veteran UFO researcher Kevin D. Randle returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about such topics as why there appear to be fewer compelling UFO sightings than there used to be. Or is that even correct? Randle will also talk about the relationship between spiders and orbs, and the difficulties in reporting sightings to the authorities in recent years. He is regarded as one of the preeminent experts not only on the UFO phenomena in general, but also with the reported UFO crash near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947. He is a retired lieutenant colonel who served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot and in Iraq as a battalion intelligence officer. He began writing for UFO magazines and eventually moved onto books. Randle’s writing is not limited to the UFO field. He is the author of more than 100 books that cover not just UFOs, but action-adventure, mysteries, science fiction and even a vampire novel called, cleverly, VAMPYR. His recent UFO books include: Roswell in the 21st Century, Levelland, and UFOs and the Deep State.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Playing Catch-Up
By Gene Steinberg
Over the past few months, we’ve mostly focused this column on the current topics in the world of the paranormal; usually about UFOs. But it’s not as if we are any closer to a solution to such phenomena after all these many years.
Instead, we’re going to focus on the show and our little company here.
So over the weekend of October 5th and 6th of 2024, you might have had problems seeing the latest version of https://www.theparacast.com and our forum. Listening to episodes from our Paracast Plus streaming service might have been difficult if you didn’t use our special feed for your favorite podcast apps.
The reason?
Well, our web server was hit by malware. The symptoms were downright weird. A file known as .htaccess, which is basically a configuration file for a site, was corrupted with various forms of gibberish. Every time we replaced it with a good copy., the corruption reappeared, ghost-like. Some files would be copied over — and disappear.
Talk about the paranormal.
The infection had an arcane name that, in the scheme of things, is not important. We just had to clean it up as quickly as possible.
In case you’re wondering, malware protection software was installed. The sites are all scanned every morning, and infected files are supposed to be cleaned. Only when they were cleaned, the infection reappeared, over and over again.
All of our sites are backed up every morning.So we reverted the ones that didn’t have recent updates with older versions.
Zombie-like, the malware reappeared to do its dirty things.
The fix was complicated. Our web host ran a special malware app, CXS (ConfigServer eXploit Scanner) that covered the entire server and reported on possibly infected files. We used its report to locate a bunch of needless or suspicious files and delete them.
We then ran our regular malware protection app over and over again until the infected files were gone. I even backed up the sites to our backup server, rebuilt the original server, and copied everything back. Maybe this was a bit extreme, but we were just being extra cautious.
By Monday, everything appeared to be fixed and the daily scan has been clean. At least so far.
So what happened?
Well, it’s a dangerous world out there when it comes to malware. Protection apps constantly have to be updated to reflect new virus strains. While Linux servers aren’t usually as vulnerable as, say, a Windows PC, it does happen. For now, we’re not assuming we were deliberately targeted. It was probably just one of those things.
Onto other subjects:
Back in May, GCN, the radio network that syndicated The Paracast for nearly 14 years, closed shop. So we had to look for other options.
Either way, the show has always been available for download from most of the major podcast services, such as Apple, iHeart Radio and Spotify. But what about the ads?
In the old days, we sold our own advertising, but with difficulty. A few would-be salespeople joined us to push ads. One did a great job, but burned out in a few months.
So our second foray into distributing the show resulted in trying three of the podcast hosts, which offer a way to have the networks insert ads to provide some income.
After two of the hosts failed to deliver the goods for us, we settled on Spreaker, a division of iHeart, the largest radio network. To include ads, and revenue of course, we insert markers for the show files, where ads are going to be heard.
Episodes are now available on even more podcast services.
Now I know many of you objected to the number of ads when The Paracast was on GCN. It amounted to 41 minutes for each episode, which is par for the course for syndicated radio in the U.S. It’s similar for broadcast television, which explains why streaming services, ad-free or with limited advertising, have become so popular.
I know radio networks in other countries don’t stuff shows with quite as many ads. With Spreaker, the number of ads in an episode is far less than half what it used to be. That, we hope, makes The Paracast more listenable.
If you’d rather not have any ads, we offer you The Paracast Plus, a streaming service that we’ve been running for almost 10 years now. In addition to the main show, you get a value-added bonus podcast, The Paracast Plus. In part, it extends the main show with additional discussions with a guest. We also deliver exclusive interviews that aren’t duplicated on The Paracast. What’s more, it’s uncensored, for better or worse. It’s not R-rated, but certainly fits the PG-13 category if you use movie ratings as a guide.
To simplify the setup, The Paracast Plus is presented as a premium version of the forum. This way, you also have access to extra discussion boards. To be frank, there may be better ways to present a streaming setup, but it sometimes requires extensive programming.
So we’ve got a system and it usually works.
Right now, our rates are the lowest ever, starting at $4.00 per month. Signing up is quick. Just go to https://www.theparacast.plus and you’ll see the options whether you’re a forum member now or want to join us.
The new setup appears to be working. You listeners clearly appreciate the smaller number of ads, so downloads have increased almost every week. It also generates more revenue.
That said, with rising prices, The Paracast still accepts donations, another way to help us live long and prosper.
The Paracast has been here nearly 19 years, and we’re not going anywhere.
If you want to send a donation, use this PayPal URL, which is the most direct way: Pay Eugene Steinberg using PayPal.Me
When you send your payment, you might want to use the friends or family option, so PayPal doesn’t take its ransom. Yes, I said it.
If you don’t want to use PayPal, let me know and I’ll give you some other options, such as Venmo. For regular donations, on a monthly basis, please click one of the Donate links at https://www.theparacast.com.
As always, I welcome your questions or comments. If you know of a better way to handle this setup, I’m all ears.
And I’m still looking for volunteers to help with our WordPress sites and XenForo forum systems. If you’re not a member of The Paracast Plus, you can earn a free lifetime subscription for your efforts.
Copyright 1999-2024 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!