It was a good line by Eli Wallach in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly after blowing the guy away says: “If you’re going to shoot, shoot; don’t talk.” But it is much the same with talking; if you’re trying to make a point get to it and shoot; don’t wear out your audience.

The Phantom in the funny papers was a hit with me as a kid from the start, and there was a good deal of nostalgia for me in the film much like that with The Shadow. However, sometimes I can’t help but wonder what is behind some programs like the History Channel two-hour presentation on crystal skulls. It seemed such a waste of time and perhaps only trading on the new Indiana Jones movie. And as happens too often with too many programs lately the HC show was accompanied by a dreadfully distracting, noisy sound track in several places that rattled your ears. All in all I thought it a noisy and unproductive waste of time with little of any redeeming value. It reminded me of obnoxious boors that drone on and on but simply cannot tell a story properly, and if they have a point it seems to be lost in self-important verbosity without any consideration for their listeners.

As to archeology here is an interesting note from K. Kris Hirst, May 19, 2008: Well, I must admit that the fever pitch in the United States over the new Indiana Jones movie to be released the end of this week has certainly infected me, but I'll try to restrain myself for a sedate weekly newsletter. They probably won't let you into the movie theater with a trowel in your back pocket, even if it's properly sharpened… Harrison Ford Joins the AIA: This is really great news: the American movie industry's best known archaeologist (sorry Lara Croft) has been elected to the governing board of the best known archaeological community in the US: the Archaeological Institute of America… In a move that might have something to do with the release of the upcoming movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, this week actor Harrison Ford joined the board of the AIA, which has 8,500 worldwide members in 104 chapters, and reaches nearly a quarter million people through its publication Archaeology magazine. In a press release, Ford is quoted: "Knowledge is power, and understanding the past can only help us in dealing with the present and the future…"

The star power of Harrison Ford added to the AIA is certainly welcome by me and many others, and I don’t doubt his sincerity and genuine interest in archeology. As to skulls crystal or otherwise they have had a prominent role in cultures throughout human history. But the recent attention being paid to crystal skulls does emphasize how curious we humans are about such things. Much in the way of Fox Mulder’s “I Want To Believe” many of us would like to know if some of the things the ancients did far beyond what we would otherwise think impossible we imagine there may be something to fabulous stories about Atlantis, extraterrestrials, UFOs, etc. But when it comes to crystals they seem always to have a place in both history and mythology that continues today.

Some of you may recall putting together your first crystal radio receiver as I did as a boy many years ago. Talk about something “magical,” that was a great wonder to me! That something so simple could actually bring in radio signals using a “rock” was nothing short of miraculous to me at the time. So it isn’t any wonder kids like me back then were easily persuaded to believe in the mystical properties of crystals. But the wonder of such a thing shouldn’t give way to science altogether, and I haven’t argued the mysteries of crystals with those that want to hold on to their beliefs. And I add there are many well-educated, even prominent people who believe in things like the mystical properties of crystals and crystal skulls.

One of the dustier among my books is the 1981 Reader’s Digest “Into the Unknown.” It would amaze some people to discover how little we knew about things like crystal skulls that this publication, though scorned by some thinking they are above such an unscientific source, would call to attention back then before home computers and search engines became commonplace. And while I don’t credit the claimed antiquity of crystal skulls many of the mysteries in the Reader’s Digest volume continue to remain mysteries, and suppose the Mayan Doomsday Calendar should prove to be true and God pulls the plug on December 21, 2012? Will anyone believing in the mystical properties of crystal skulls fare any worse than those that don’t? I would never want to abandon an imagination and I continue to consider some of the many possibilities I recall from childhood.