Where is UFOlogy at in 2015?

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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby Joe Hillshoist » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:51 am

gnosticheresy_2 wrote:On one hand you've got military/ intelligence/ industrial types messing round with new tech in secret. Pretty standard stuff. On the other hand you've got gods/ spirits/ demons messing round with reality in secret. Also pretty standard stuff. Where it gets confusing is that nobody can agree on which side is using the other. Again, this is pretty standard stuff.


Yes. Well put.
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby ShinShinKid » Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:51 pm

I think a look should be made to other countries/ continents.
Look at South America, my Espanol ain't what it used to be, but IIRC, there is much source material to filter/ examine. Maybe check out Jaime Maussan (Mexico), anybody know whatever happened to him?
Wombaticus, I too tuned out of UFOlogy...my tuneout came after someone tried to hoodwink me. I also have had a UFO experience, it came later, after I sort of tuned out. I actually led people out of my work building (by hand) to see it. I don't know what to believe, but I know what I saw!
Well played, God. Well played".
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby Stephen Morgan » Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:28 pm

barracuda wrote:
8bitagent wrote:But now days, whenever a UFO story or video comes out, its quickly debunked as fake. Why is there such a focus on fake videos?


Fake UFO videos are proven page-view and revenue generators following the Bat Boy business model.


Who's bat boy endorsing in the Republican primary?
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. -- Lawrence of Arabia
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby seemslikeadream » Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:26 pm

Image
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby peartreed » Fri Aug 05, 2011 12:48 am

DrVolin offers the best summary on this thread outlining the last decades of the modern UFO era in which the phenomenon lurches relentlessly towards its final burial plot, leaving only a corrupt, gaseous pong of disappointment in its blue spiral wake.

I’ve similarly collected and read hundreds of books on ufology over the last 40 or so years and that languishing library might at best become fireplace fuel for winter heat if our global economy continues to tank. But it was once addictively alluring, even compelling.

Rather than repeat the devolution of alleged alien intruders from contactee Space Brother gods to impossibly miraculous maneuvering nuts and bolts to the little neonate Gray wimps abducting and hybridizing our helplessly inferior hinies, let me recommend an obscure little book entitled “UFO Religions” for those still wondering why the flying saucers landed in our laps around the dysfunctional family circles.

Edited by Christopher Partridge, a senior lecturer in Theology and Contemporary Religion at Chester College in the UK, his research focuses on Alternative Spiritualities in the West and the social and psychological narratives expressed in UFO belief. He recaps the same 60-year history of our obsession with the elusive phenomenon and why defining and understanding its origins is like nailing Jell-O to a tree. It’s a truly dull academic read but quite informative if you can endure it.

Routledge ISBN 0-415-26324-7

Essentially, like all religions, ufology offers the prospect of salvation from the skies where some superior entity will take the burden of our individual responsibilities and accountability from our weary shoulders and offer a potential of carefree bliss, if only we can find that overlord and pin it down long enough to reveal life secrets and the mysteries of the universe.

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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby justdrew » Fri Aug 05, 2011 1:21 am

operator kos wrote:as to the OP:

the Mutual UFO Network, the Center for UFO Studies, and the Fund for UFO research all seem to still be doing active research.

Also, I somehow ended up on the mailing list for the Paradigm Research Group, which is active but seems to be a bit more of a mixed bag. At the least they do seem to be progressively building up a public interest and push for disclosure (not that those in charge give a crap what the peons want).


I think Paradigm Research Group bought their list from that guy who made a bit of a splash in the late 90s as some "tech exec" who'd quit his job and gone into the UFO business. what's his name? Seattle based IIRC.

ahh yes... Joe Firmage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Firmage
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby crikkett » Fri Aug 05, 2011 8:28 am

We're building spaceports in the desert and the Denver airport is really only one floor short of becoming one, itself.*

Which is why I think that UFOlogy today will become "car talk" next week. Without much fanfare.

--
*opinion based on personal inspection of the terminals.
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby elfismiles » Fri Aug 05, 2011 10:25 am

I was very active with the local MUFON chapter back in the 1990s. I even served as State Section Director for Austin (Travis and Williamson counties) for a short while. We had a very active group. I made a lot of friends. We trained investigators (I never attempted the training / open book test tho I have all the course materials) and held mini-conferences and hosted the annual conference in 1994. The local group is still going but it's not what it used to be.

We've commented upon / documented several of the past and recent Mufon controversies here at RI. I've always wanted to see Mufon continue even though I've been highly critical of it over the years.

I always held Cufos in higher regard but with their HQ being up in the North East and them not actively doing much at all ... they seem to be in a state of hibernation.

As for Fufor ... well, I can't tell if they even exist anymore. I thought they had gone defunct.

My own local non-profit lending library, the Anomaly Archives, just hosted a lecture by Texas State Mufon Director Steve Hudgeons who lead the Mufon investigation in the Stephenville flap. He gave a good presentation but he and his lead investigator also confirmed a lot of my preconceptions about the state of Mufon.

As for PRG ... I've not paid much attention to Bassett over the years. I keep confusing him with Peter Gersten who says he's going to jump off a cliff on that morning in December 2012. :hrumph

operator kos wrote:as to the OP:

the Mutual UFO Network, the Center for UFO Studies, and the Fund for UFO research all seem to still be doing active research.

Also, I somehow ended up on the mailing list for the Paradigm Research Group, which is active but seems to be a bit more of a mixed bag. At the least they do seem to be progressively building up a public interest and push for disclosure (not that those in charge give a crap what the peons want).
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby Searcher08 » Fri Aug 05, 2011 11:31 am

elfismiles wrote:I was very active with the local MUFON chapter back in the 1990s. I even served as State Section Director for Austin (Travis and Williamson counties) for a short while. We had a very active group. I made a lot of friends. We trained investigators (I never attempted the training / open book test tho I have all the course materials) and held mini-conferences and hosted the annual conference in 1994. The local group is still going but it's not what it used to be.

We've commented upon / documented several of the past and recent Mufon controversies here at RI. I've always wanted to see Mufon continue even though I've been highly critical of it over the years.

I always held Cufos in higher regard but with their HQ being up in the North East and them not actively doing much at all ... they seem to be in a state of hibernation.

As for Fufor ... well, I can't tell if they even exist anymore. I thought they had gone defunct.

My own local non-profit lending library, the Anomaly Archives, just hosted a lecture by Texas State Mufon Director Steve Hudgeons who lead the Mufon investigation in the Stephenville flap. He gave a good presentation but he and his lead investigator also confirmed a lot of my preconceptions about the state of Mufon.

As for PRG ... I've not paid much attention to Bassett over the years. I keep confusing him with Peter Gersten who says he's going to jump off a cliff on that morning in December 2012. :hrumph

operator kos wrote:as to the OP:

the Mutual UFO Network, the Center for UFO Studies, and the Fund for UFO research all seem to still be doing active research.

Also, I somehow ended up on the mailing list for the Paradigm Research Group, which is active but seems to be a bit more of a mixed bag. At the least they do seem to be progressively building up a public interest and push for disclosure (not that those in charge give a crap what the peons want).


Miles, what were the people you worked with there interested in? - in the sense of the aspects covered by DrVolin such as channelled Space Brothers / abduction research / Vallee type psych - 4D / MIC-driven / exopolitics - did the proportions of those change over the years that yuo were involved?
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby justdrew » Fri Aug 05, 2011 3:29 pm

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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby Harvey » Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:13 pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14387365

UFO witnessed by radio 5 live's Sports correspondent near Buntingford.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=bunting ... 18167&z=11

Right next to:

The most heavily number plate recognition camera saturated spot in the UK.

http://abeyance.org.uk/aggregator/categories/1

And home to:

http://www.roystoncave.co.uk/index.html

http://www.roystoncave.co.uk/knights.html

The carvings are medieval in appearance and some studies of the Cave have drawn comparisons from the wall carvings and other sources to indicate that it may have been used by the Knights Templar. Other studies point to the existence of Masonic symbols within the Cave that could link the Cave to James I who was himself a Freemason and who maintained a hunting lodge at Royston. Others believe the Cave is a spiritual centre where two significant ley-lines cross whilst other studies indicate that the Cave may simply have been a hermitage or a prison or oubliette.

Lovely. Knight's Templar, CCTV overkill and UFO's. Expect fireworks. Or at least, more bullshit. :coolshades
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby Harvey » Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:51 pm

More on the 'Ring of Steel' number plate recognition system:

In March last year, the News revealed Royston would become the UK’s first ‘ring of steel’ town where cameras watch all routes in and out.

The move has caused national uproar – Alice Hutton investigates.

It would be fair to say that Royston is not your average ‘criminal highway’.

It has a lot of hairdressers, a medieval cave, plenty of playgroups and a popular annual flower competition.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Royston ... 082011.htm

And about the same time as the cameras were announced:

Worms are ruining religious chalk carvings found in underground caves in Hertfordshire.

The seven hundred year old caves in the centre of Royston contain religious iconography that could be linked to the Knights Templar.

However, water has started to leak in to the cave under Melbourn Street.

The water is attracting worms which are eating the chalk and therefore eroding the precious religious symbols that are carved in to the cave's walls.

Spiritual Significance

The religious carvings lead many experts to believe they were made by the Knights Templar who were based in nearby Baldock.

However, others believe the cave to be an early Masonic meeting place.

Two ley-lines cross at the location and some attribute a spiritual significance to the cave.

Although the carvings are not going to vanish overnight, the search is on to prevent the water entering the cave and permeating through the chalk.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/threecounti ... 611193.stm

Baldock:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=baldock ... 99023&z=11

The UFO sighting near Cottered is on a triangle formed by Baldock, Buntingford and Royston.

Anybody coming from North of Royston will have to pass through it to visit the Templar caves. Interesting coincidence. Especially with the UFO.
Last edited by Harvey on Fri Aug 05, 2011 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby elfismiles » Fri Aug 05, 2011 5:01 pm

Searcher08 wrote:Miles, what were the people you worked with there interested in? - in the sense of the aspects covered by DrVolin such as channelled Space Brothers / abduction research / Vallee type psych - 4D / MIC-driven / exopolitics - did the proportions of those change over the years that yuo were involved?


Hola Searcher... I'd characterize the original Austin Mufon folks as mostly true-believers in the standard UFO myths: the phenom mostly represents an ET presence, alien abductions being the focus of most of the group members interest then, with a heavy belief in these facts being covered up by govt, including the standard crashed saucers and pickled aliens mythos.

We had a handful of skeptics, a handful of folks who believed themselves to be abducteees and a handful of those more interested in channelling and contactee type tales.

Some of the regulars had formed the local mufon chapter after Ray Stanford's PSI / AUM groups folded. Ray (and twin brother Rex) is a fascinating ufological character and worthy of his own thread. His PSI (Project Starlight International) group was the most scientifically based civilian UFO research group ever (I think) second only to Project Hesdalen in Norway. But his AUM (Association for the Understanding of Man) group was a channelling / spiritualist org.

Our most grounded and rational skeptic was Ron (Jerrold) Johnson who worked with Hal Puthoff and was allegedly next in line to be head of Mufon before his sudden (and some believe mysterious) death at the annual conference of the Society for Scientific Exploration. The one time Vallee responded to a letter of mine he mentioned how he, Hal and Ron had had a fantastic conversation the night before Ron's death.

After being a regular attendee and helping out with audio and video for the Austin conferences I stopped going to the monthly meetings as I truly felt it was mostly a waste of my time. I felt I was the most informed person there and was tired of the run of the mill discussions that usually transpired.

I also began leading the local support group for experiencers after that group's founder asked me to before she left town. At its height we were having 2 meetings each month. Eventually interest and attendee numbers waned and when the founder returned I handed the reigns back to her and she closed the group for lack of interest. That group was HUGE at its height.

Years later I'd be asked to head the local Mufon chapter which I did for a brief time.

Thanks to DrVolin for that excellent overview btw ... :-)
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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby elfismiles » Fri Aug 05, 2011 5:12 pm

While more armchair than in-the-field, I too recommend the blogger at INTANGIBLE MATERIALITY.

And great suggestion PearTreed. Not sure if I'd seen that one before...

UFO Religions by Christopher Partridge
http://www.amazon.com/UFO-Religions-Chr ... 0415263239

Similarly I also recommend James R. Lewis' ....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Lewis_(scholar)

The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions
http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedic-Sour ... 573929646/

UFOs And Popular Culture: An Encyclopedia Of Contemporary Myth
http://www.amazon.com/UFOs-Popular-Cult ... 576072657/

peartreed wrote:
... let me recommend an obscure little book entitled “UFO Religions” for those still wondering why the flying saucers landed in our laps around the dysfunctional family circles.

Edited by Christopher Partridge, a senior lecturer in Theology and Contemporary Religion at Chester College in the UK, his research focuses on Alternative Spiritualities in the West and the social and psychological narratives expressed in UFO belief. He recaps the same 60-year history of our obsession with the elusive phenomenon and why defining and understanding its origins is like nailing Jell-O to a tree. It’s a truly dull academic read but quite informative if you can endure it.

Routledge ISBN 0-415-26324-7

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Re: Where is UFOlogy at in 2011?

Postby AhabsOtherLeg » Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:27 pm

peartreed wrote:DrVolin offers the best summary on this thread outlining the last decades of the modern UFO era in which the phenomenon lurches relentlessly towards its final burial plot, leaving only a corrupt, gaseous pong of disappointment in its blue spiral wake.


Definitely. His post reminded me just how little I know about this subject, and how superficially/listlessly I've followed it down the years. Wish I hadn't said earlier that the internal politics of the various UFOlogy crowds was boring - it's anything but, and the fact that intel agencies have been crawling through it from the start has massive and frightening implications. It's not boring, just frustrating, and the existence of vying factions seems almost (almost?) custom-built to stop anyone from reaching the truth of the matter. Just wanted to agree that Volin's post was great.
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