Red-Shirted Fakenauts

Glen de Vries

On October 13, 2021, William Shatner (age 90), the actor who played Captain Kirk on the Original Star Trek series, boarded a Blue Origin sub-orbital capsule and successfully flew to space becoming the oldest person to fly to space. The flight was ten minutes long.

The vehicle was New Shepard 4, and reached 341,434 feet (106 km).

Shatner flew to space on Blue Origin's second sub-orbital human spaceflight, Blue Origin NS-18, on October 13, 2021. He was accompanied by Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries, and Audrey Powers aboard the RSS First Step, the New Shepard suborbital rocket capsule, from Blue Origin's Launch Site One in West Texas. Aged 90 years, 6 months and 22 days, Shatner became the oldest person to fly to space, surpassing Wally Funk, who flew on Blue Origin's first human spaceflight at the age of 82 in July 2021.

In a televised post-flight conversation with Blue Origin's founder Jeff Bezos, who had invited him to join the flight, Shatner articulated experiencing what is called the overview effect, a deep awareness of the fragility of planet Earth and its relatively thin-atmosphere.

Due to Shatner being on the flight, spoof sites and meme builders had "fun" with the crew. Fake photos of the flight members were shown with red shirts versus Shatner's senior official uniform. The not-too-subtle meaning being that on Star Trek the first individuals killed in encounters were those wearing red.

These jokes seemingly appeared to be prophetic. 

On November 11, 2021, Glen de Vries, 49, died in a small plane crash. De Vries is one of the most common Dutch surnames. It indicates a geographical origin: "Vriesland" is an old spelling of the Dutch province of Friesland (Frisia). Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the northern part of the country. Hence, "de Vries" means "the Frisian". The name has been modified to "DeVries", "deVries", or "Devries" in other countries.

Since the late Middle Ages, Friesland has been renowned for the exceptional height of its inhabitants, who were deemed among the tallest groups of Indo-Europeans. Even early Renaissance poet Dante Alighieri refers to the height of Frisians in his Divine Comedy when, in the canticle about Hell, he talks about the magnitude of an infernal demon by stating that "not even three tall Frieslanders, were they set one upon the other, would have matched his height."

Where Glen de Vries was killed is a topic of social media conversation.

"The Time I Went to Aleister Crowley's Burial Site"

Or not...

 

"On 1 December 1947, Crowley died at Netherwood of chronic bronchitis aggravated by pleurisy and myocardial degeneration, aged 72....Crowley's body was cremated, his ashes were sent to Karl Germer in the US, who buried them in his garden in Hampton, New Jersey." Source.

Also worthy of your reading time...

Chris Knowles on Astroworld, here and here.

Fort Lauderdale Shooting: Star Wars vs Star Trek

A deadly shooting at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) has left 5 dead and 8 injured.

A law enforcement source identified the accused shooter as Esteban Santiago-Ruiz, 26, of New Jersey. The source said the recent father had an active military ID for the U.S. Army. Ruiz was part of the Alaska Army National Guard until August 2016 when he was discharged for unsatisfactory performance.

[In Spanish the meaning of the name Esteban is "crowned in victory." Santiago, (also San Iago, San Tiago, Santyago, Sant-Yago, San Thiago) is a Spanish name that derives from the Hebrew name Jacob (Ya'akov) via "Sant Iago," "Sant Yago," "Santo Iago," or "Santo Yago," first used to denote Saint James the Great, the brother of John the Apostle. Ruiz is a patronymic surname meaning "son of Ruy," a short form of the given name Rodrigo. Rodrigo derives from the Germanic name Roderick (Hrodric), from the elements hrod, meaning "renown" and ric, meaning "power." Ruiz is the 21st most common Hispanic surname.]

The shooter claimed his bag at the baggage claim area then took the gun from his bag before going into a bathroom and loading his weapon. He then reportedly came out of the bathroom and began shooting people in the baggage claim area. The accused shooter apparently ran out of bullets and sat down on the ground and waited for law enforcement to come and collect him.

Sources say he had a concealed weapons permit. The source added he had a minor criminal and psychological history.

Law Enforcement sources told CBSNews that in Nov. 2016, he walked into an FBI office in Anchorage, AK claiming he was being forced by the CIA to fight for ISIS but was sent to a psychiatric hospital after police was called. In 2011 or 2012, he was investigated for child porn. Three weapons and a computer were seized but there was not enough evidence to prosecute him.

"The gunman was reportedly wearing Star Wars shirt at the time of the shooting," stated several media sources.

But a view of one of the blurry photographs of his arrest shows the shirt might be a Star Trek shirt.

Authorities said the gunman opened fire around 1 p.m. in the baggage claim area of Terminal 2.

“People yelling, people screaming, everyone in a big pack just running as far as possible away from the shots. Our bus driver wasn’t sure what was going on, he was asking, ‘What’s happening? What’s going on?’ But no one was answering because everyone was in a rush to get safe,” said a traveler named Ben who was at the airport grabbing a shuttle when the shooting happened.

Star Trek's New Chekov Has Been Taken

Anton Viktorovich Yelchin (born March 11, 1989) died at 1:10 am PDT, Sunday, June 19, 2016, when his car rolled backwards down his driveway, pinning him against a brick mailbox pillar and security fence. Yelchin was an American film and television actor, known for portraying Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek reboot series, and for several other prominent roles.

Yelchin began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television roles and the Hollywood films Along Came a Spider and Hearts in Atlantis (both 2001).

Yelchin's role as Jacob Clarke in the Steven Spielberg UFO abduction television miniseries Taken (2002) was significant in furthering his career as a child actor. (Was his character's moniker a name game from the writers of Taken? David Jacobs and Jerome Clark are two well-known ufology researchers and authors whose names may have been slightly modified as an in-joke.)

Late for a rehearsal, it was early in the morning of June 19, 2016, when friends found Yelchin at his Studio City, California home in what was described as a "freak accident." Reportedly, he had walked around his car when it was in neutral, and it had rolled down his steep driveway, hitting him. He was pronounced dead later that day at the age of 27.

Like the original actor who played Chekov in the famous Star Trek TV series from the 1960s, Walter Koenig, Yelchin was Russian-American Jewish [actor]. Koenig's son, Joshua Andrew Koenig, an actor himself, [died by] suicide at the age of 41 in 2010. [He disappeared on February 14, Valentine's Day, and his body was found on February 25, 2010. A group of 11 of his friends and family members searching for Koenig found his body hanging from a tree in Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver.] Joshua [Andrew] Koenig had a minor role [as Tumak] in a Star Trek Deep Space Nine episode in 1993. The name of the Star Trek character Chekov, of course, is synonymous [as Anton Chekhov] with the famous Russian playwright who died relatively young at 44, from tuberculosis [on July 14 1904]. ~ Lawrence.

Joshua Koenig in his role as Joker (2003).

Joshua Koenig played the role of The Joker in the critically successful 2003 fan film Batman: Dead End. Directed by commercial director Sandy Collora, the short received its first screening at the San Diego Comic-Con International. Director Kevin Smith called it "possibly the truest, best Batman movie ever made."

J Andrew Koenig's wiki page informs us that as a little boy, Koenig served as the inspiration for genre writer Harlan Ellison's noted short story Jeffty is Five, which won the Nebula and Hugo awards. Ellison knew Koenig as a little boy through his father, Walter Koenig, the original Star Trek Chekov as stated above. Ellison had written for the original Star Trek Series, notably the episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" broadcast in the first season, in 1967. It would win a Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1968 and is considered one of the most memorable of the original Star Trek TV episodes. Ellison published a book in the 1990s on this episode and his involvement therein, entitled The City on the Edge of Forever. ~ further from Lawrence.

Walter Koenig, August 30, 2014, DragonCon, where we were 

both appearing/giving talks.

As many have pointed out, Anton Yelchin joins the "27 Club." The 27 Club is a term that refers to a number of popular musicians who died at age 27, often as a result of drug and alcohol abuse, or violent means such as homicide or suicide. Besides his acting, Yelchin once played in a punk band named The Hammerheads.

Yelchin was born on March 11, 1989. That same day, a former US Congressman, Democrat James Kee (b. April 15, 1917) died March 11, 1989. He lived his life in Fayetteville, West Virginia. March 11th is numerologically recalled for the Japanese earthquake of 3.11.2011.

Yelchin died 33 days before the next, new Star Trek movie opens on July 22, 2016. Star Trek Beyond is the thirteenth film in the Star Trek film franchise and the third installment in the reboot series after Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).

My condolences to the family and friends of Yelchin, Koenig, and others who died tragically, by suicide and otherwise.

Thanks to correspondent "Lawrence" and "rexlizardo" for their sync notes.

Harrison Ford Plane Crash Foreshadowed?

Star Wars, Blade Runner, and Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) was injured on March 6, 2015, about 2:25 p.m. PT, Thursday afternoon when his vintage single-engine airplane crashed on the Penmar Golf Course shortly after taking off from Santa Monica Airport, Venice, California.

The popular movie star and private pilot reported engine failure and requested an immediate return. He failed to reach the runway, avoided a residential area, and crash-landed instead on the approach to the 8th tee. He was injured, with gashes in his head and a broken arm.

The plane was built in 1942, a vintage training aircraft, a Ryan PT-22.

From 2013, Harrison Ford (in the back seat) is seen above flying his plane, the same one that crashed on March 6, 2015.

Amazingly, then correspondent Tim Hovasse sent along to me, from a 2015 calendar he owns, the following photograph. It shows Harrison Ford's Ryan PT-22 as the symbolic image for March 2015. The calendar was for the support of injured veterans. The pilot of the pictured Ryan PT-22 is seated where Ford was the day of his crash. But it looks like the man who is copiloting the plane in the photo above.

Speaking of the name "Ryan," Ford played the role of Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994).

News of the Ford crash caused a Twitter storm, and some feared a nerdpocalypse was afoot.

Maurice Hurley, a writer and producer for Star Trek: The Next Generation, died on February 24, 2015, at the age of 75. Former Star Trek executive producer Rick Berman confirmed his death, tweeting, "We lost one of Star Trek's most talented minds yesterday. Maurice Hurley produced seasons 1 and 2 of TNG. He was one of a kind. So very sad."

Harve Bennett (born Harve Bennett Fischman; born August 17, 1930) was an American television and film producer and screenwriter. Bennett was best-known as the producer of four Star Trek films, and the writer on some of those and others. According to his wife, Bennett had been in declining health when he died February 25, 2015, due to complications from a recent fall, at the Providence Medford Medical Center in Medford, Oregon.

Star Trek's half-Vulcan, half-human alien hybrid, Leonard Simon Nimoy (born March 26, 1931) was an American actor, film director, poet, singer, and songwriter. He was known for his role as Mr. Spock of the Star Trek franchise.

On February 19, 2015, having been in and out of hospitals for the past several months, Nimoy was taken to UCLA Medical Center for chest pains. Nimoy died of complications of COPD on February 27, 2015, at the age of 83, in his Bel Air, California, home. 

And then on March 6, 2015, Harrison Ford crashed his plane.

Piccard/Picard, Star Trek, Borg, Bane and the Dark Knight Links to Wheeling-Bridgeport Events

There was another gun attack against a Federal today, allegedly by a lone shooter. In late news, a bomb threat has been linked to it. Why did it all bring to mind Star Trek?

Thomas Piccard, or Thomas Picard, a former Wheeling, West Virginia police officer, was identified as the gunman who fired shots at the Wheeling Federal Building on Wednesday, October 9, 2013, before being killed by police officers. Law enforcers said the shooter was 55-year-old Thomas J. "Tom" Piccard of Bridgeport, Ohio. He retired from being a police officer in Wheeling in 2000.

Piccard fired multiple rounds into the federal building during the afternoon before he was shot dead by a policeman. A court security officer also shot the gunman.

A security guard suffered minor injuries when Piccard fired an estimated 20 rounds into the building at 2:30 p.m. City resident Carla Webb Daniels said she saw the man reload his assault rifle and then fire at a nearby YWCA. She said he fired between 25 and 30 rounds.

Piccard began firing from a Chase bank parking lot across from the federal building. He was observed in the parking lot very quickly after the first shots were fired.

Authorities identified the gunman first as Thomas Picard, later with the surname Piccard, who died at a local hospital. U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld said he was a former Wheeling police officer.

An unidentified store manager said it sounded like the shooter used two different weapons. At a news conference late Wednesday, Piccard was said to have been armed with an assault weapon and a handgun.

The building houses the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, along with regional offices of the Social Security Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the General Services Administration.

Investigators were searching Piccard’s home in hopes of determining a motive and if he acted alone.

Officials said it was too early to tell whether Piccard was targeting anyone in the building or what his motive may have been. Asked if the gunman had any beef with the U.S. government, authorities said, “We’re really digging hard at this point to find out.”

The building houses a variety of courtrooms and related offices, including judges, prosecutors and law enforcement.

Although reportedly living in Bridgeport, Ohio, at the time of the shooting, Piccard was a former Wheeling resident (see obituary of his mother, Nancy Joan Borchert Piccard Griffiths, here).

Reporter Glenn Bolich noted that police, FBI and the Allegheny County bomb squad were on scene Wednesday night in Bridgeport, Ohio. The bomb threat is related to the Wheeling shooting, he said.

Tom Piccard, the shooter, had a "threatening" note in Latin scrawled on side of his trailer, reports Glenn Bolich, WTOV9-Steubenville, Ohio.

Andrew W. Griffin, editor of Red Dirt Report, shares this:

According to The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register, "scrawled on the exterior of a trailer in Bridgeport (Ohio) is a variation of the following phrase, in Latin: 'Abandon hope all ye who enter this place.'"
That of course is from Dante's Inferno and in Latin is: Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.

Pretty grim, it would seem.

We have more to learn about Thomas Piccard, it would seem.

Red Dirt Report's Griffin made these further observations, in comments directly to me, after reading an earlier version of this posting:

The city where Piccard's actions took place - Wheeling, West Virginia (Wheeling is 98 nautical miles upstream, on the Ohio River, from Point Pleasant, West Virginia) - was noted rather frequently in one of my favorite TV shows - Northern Exposure (1990-1995). One of the show's stars was John Corbett, who played the philosophy-espousing deejay and motorcycle outlaw Chris Stevens. His character was from Wheeling and actor Corbett also is from Wheeling. Chris was known to quote from Dante while on the air.In a fascinating 1994 episode of Northern Exposure, titled "Una Volta In L'Inverno," shopkeeper Ruth-Anne tries to learn Italian so she can read Dante's Divine Comedy in its original language. Chris, meanwhile, is trying to help sunlight-deprived trapper Walt get off his "light visor" using "tough love," the way he used tough love for a codeine-addicted, gun-toting friend back in Wheeling. Actor John Corbett was born May 9, 1962. 697 years earlier, to the day, Dante Alighieri was born.

One more thing about the aforementioned Northern Exposure episode "Una Volta L'Inverno." I just rewatched it this morning and something caught my attention. During a scene where Cicely's mayor is trying to rally the townspeople to help her rid the streets of annoying herds of caribou, former Wall Street banker-turned-trapper Walt (wearing a visor to fend of SAD - seasonal affective disorder, being they live in Alaska) blurts out: "Rattle their soundsystems. Low-range harmonic waves. 100,000 hertz, say. Transmit in three second bursts. They don't like that kind of thing. Mess with the head, the body follows."The mayor dismisses the idea, while Wheeling native Chris Stevens looks across the table at Walt a bit bemused.

News reports note that Piccard lived in the "Presidential Estates" housing addition in Bridgeport, Ohio (across the Ohio River from Wheeling, W'Va.) and that he lived on Johnson Street. Google Maps shows the Presidential Estates as featuring street names of 20th century presidents - Eisenhower, Nixon, Hoover, Kennedy and, of course, LBJ. However, the main street leading into the housing addition is Adams Drive. John Adams, presumably? Of course LBJ rose to power in the wake of JFK's assassination, a tragedy that took place 50 years ago next month.

(Northern Exposure's Chris Stevens, of course, is not the same Chris Stevens who was the U.S. Ambassador of Libya who was murdered when the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked on September 11, 2012.)

Matt Bell sends along this thought: "I read 'Wheeling' and I hear Shelby Downard say, in his idiom (something like), 'Over at Wheeling, West Virginia...that's where you have your shrine of Osiris.'"

The Name Piccard/Picard

The name Picard is familiar-sounding today because of the Star Trek character, Jean-Luc Picard.

In late 2366, Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard is assimilated into the Borg and his Borg designation is give as "Locutus of Borg" (pictured).

Memory Alpha points out:

As for the name Locutus, Michael Piller termed it as "a name which I got out of the dictionary about language – I think it's a Latin word for language." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 23, p. 17) Locutus actually means "having spoken" or "he who has spoken" in Latin, still an appropriate name for one serving as spokesman.

In many of the recent Washington D. C. violence incidents, you will have noted an underlying theme of voices in people's head, hearing voices, being controlled, and related behavioral descriptions. A fictional theme of the Borg in Star Trek was one of the control of the individual for the well-being and support of the hive. 

Piccard and/or Picard is a surname meaning a person from Picardy, a historical region and cultural area of France.

This interesting surname [of Picard] can have two possible origins, both French. It can be locational and refer to someone from Picardy (Picardie) in Northern France and Normandy or else be derived from a French personal name compounded of "Pic" and -"hard" composed by analogy with Richard, in which form it was to give rise to the variant surname Pitcher. A form of the personal name Pickard is found in England as early as the 12th Century as Paganus filius (son of) Pichardi from the "Pipe Rolls from Hampshire" (1160). The surname has also emerged in records by this time (see below); a John Pikart was recorded in the Huntingdonshire Hundred Rolls (1279). In church records for Yorkshire one Agneta Pickard is noted as marrying Edwardus Bruce at Farnham on November 5th 1577. A later marriage was that of Bridget Pickard to John Grenup at Holy Trinity Church, Micklegate, York on May 9th 1626. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Pichard, which was dated 1169, in the "Pipe Rolls of Hampshire," during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches," 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling. Source.

Intriguingly, the cloned "son" of Picard, named Shinzon, in 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, was played by actor Tom Hardy, who was Bane in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises. For more on Bane lexilinks, see here.

(Enki H/T for word of initial shooting.)

Malachi Throne Dies

In a bizarre twist of fate, considering the Malachy Prophecies and the "throning" of a Jesuit Pope on March 13, 2013, plus the "lexilinking" played out across the twilight language landscape last year, Malachi Throne has died.

Veteran actor Malachi Throne, 84, was best known for his roles as False Face on the televised Batman series, and as the reoccurring character of Noah Bain (!) on It Takes A Thief.

Throne died the evening of March 13, 2013, of unknown causes.

Malachi Throne was born in New York City, on December 1, 1928. He was an American stage and television actor, noted for his guest-starring roles on Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, Mission: Impossible, and The Six Million Dollar Man, and those mentioned above. In Babylon 5, he played "Prime Minister Malachi."

One of his strangest roles was as the villain "False Face" in the ABC Batman (1966) series. The character, who used a variety of disguises to effect his nefarious schemes, wore a semi-transparent mask when not in the midst of his crimes. The mask rendered Throne's real face unrecognizable on screen. Playing off this effect, but against Throne's wishes, the show's producers wrote the on-screen credit as "? as False Face," which denied Throne his credit. However, at the end credits of the episode, "Holy Rat Race," his full name was finally given full credit. His portrayal was a substitution for Clint Eastwood's proposed version of Two-Face. Source.

Throne worn varieties of disguises as False Face to effect his evil efforts against Gotham City. He also wore a semi-transparent mask when not in disguise.

Regarding the name "Bain," see also: 

Bane/Bain ~ Part 1 

Bane/Bain ~ Part 2 

Bane/Bain ~ Part 3

Happy Valentine's Day: A Good Day to Die?

This just in: South Africa's so-called Blade Runner Oscar Pistorious, 26, (paralympian) has reportedly been arrested on the charge of murder after he allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend at his home. The victim was model Reeva Steenkamp (pictured), said to be 29 or 30 years old. This occurred in South Africa, where it was Valentine's Day already.

Reeva Steenkamp = Reeva ("to bind," or, if taken from French, "shore"), Steen (German, "stone") Kamp (German, "field").

She was born in South Africa, and was from a family of horse trainers; her father, Barry, is related to famous South African trainers the Amos brothers.

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For more on the film Blade Runner, see also,

First Blade Runner Dies

Blade Runner: 30 Years of Synchromysticism - Part 1 (Tyrell 2019 + Weyland 2023)

Blade Runner: 30 Years of Synchromysticism - Part 2 (Aztec-Mayan Symbolism)

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The following was written and posted on February 13, 2013, 11:11 PM, EST. 

Interesting the imagery that was utilized for this...

Good or bad?

Bruce Willis takes on the role of John McClane for the fifth time in the Die Hard series. In A Good Day to Die Hard, the movie moves the story, involving his CIA operative son, to Moscow, Russia (although it was filmed in Budapest, Hungary). It also introduces his daughter. 

Is A Good Day to Die Hard the official kickoff of this coming summer's big tent violent motion pictures?

Bruce Willis brings us a bloody Valentine's Day gift on February 14, 2013.

Is that feature the opening of another summer of red dawns and dark movies?

What are some of the selections and their opening USA dates?

Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013)

Star Trek into Darkness (May 17, 2013)

Man of Steel, producer Christopher Nolan's dark film (June 14, 2013)

The Lone Ranger (July 3, 2013)

Thor: The Dark World (November 8, 2013)

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Thursday, February 14, 2013, is Saint Valentine’s Day.

This date is celebrated worldwide to mark the deeds of bishop Valentine in Terni City in Italy during the second half of the third century, who officiated the marriage of young couples in secret to help them avoid joining the Roman legions.

When the Roman Emperor Claudius II, known as Claudius Gothicus, was made aware of these hidden marriage celebrations, he commanded the decapitation of Bishop Valentine, allegedly, on 14 February 270 BC.

Specifically, helping Christians at the time was considered a crime. Nevertheless, when first imprisoned, Claudius took a liking to his prisoner -- until Valentinus tried to convert the Emperor -- whereupon the priest was condemned to death. Valentinus was beaten with clubs and stoned; when that did not kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate.

In 498 BC, Pope Gelasius canonized him due to his dedication to the faith and love.

Many of the current legends that characterize Saint Valentine were invented in the fourteenth century in England, notably by Geoffrey Chaucer and his circle, when the feast day of February 14 first became associated with romantic love. Some historians feel the holiday may have been created as an attempt to supersede the pagan holiday of Lupercalia.

But there is little that is romantic about some histories linked to this day, depending upon your own personal experiences, of course. For example, my maternal grandmother, Nellie Gray (pictured), was the victim of a murder-suicide on Valentine's Day, 1940. Suicide clusters, the Valentine's Day Massacre, the Valentine Killer, and other forms of violence tied to this date are part of our history, of course. It will also be recalled that on this date in 2008, the Northern Illinois University campus mass shooting occurred.

Enjoy your Valentine's Day. And be safe.

Then we have to get through that very dangerous week in April.

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I have a section of The Copycat Effect about Valentine's Day, parts of which are quoted here, in Valentine's Dangers.