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on ERRA. FLAWED LOGIC 194 REVELATIONS the reason they are so bright is that they are very young stars whose energy radiates in the ultraviolet and violet parts of the spectrum, a form of energy that would be very destructive to any life form trying to evolve Perhaps it is to protect her skin from such intensely destructive rays that the beautiful Semjase, who is four hundred years old, has to come to earth regularly to buy cosmetics, as Wendelle Stevens confided to me that evening in Tucson. Isn't it curious that all these extraterrestrial worlds have names with a similar structure of four characters: AFFA, UMMO, ERRA, two vowels separated by a repeated consonant? Will we soon receive visitors from OBBA, ELLU, and INNO? Or does this childish denomination simply reflect the mental level of the people who come up with such tales, and those who blindly swallow them? Obviously, the believers have found in the photographs, and in the muddled mythology that surrounds them, the personal validation they sought in their own lives. The history of the UFO phenomenon is replete with so-called valida- tions of the kind presented by Meier and Stevens, and it takes more than a rational brain to resist their temptation. It takes a very critical balance between open-minded acceptance of new facts—an attitude without which there would be no progress in science—and a refusal to be swayed by any authority or faith. And it takes training in that elusive discipline: being able to distinguish clearly between that which is real and that which we would like to be real. In my professional work with high-technology companies, I have seen many otherwise good scientists and good businessmen among my colleagues fail because of that last weakness, and I have fallen into that trap myself once or twice. Unless you deliberately seek out people with critical minds able to debate a particular belief or fact with you, it is very easy to miss some important facts. Sometimes the best recipe for sanity is to turn away from your friends