Sunday, 6 July 2008

UK UFOlogists Nick Pope & Joe McGonagle on The Sun Newspaper And UFOs

Manchester RadioOnline has a regular Friday night show called, “Exploring The Unexplained.” On Saturday 05th July (2008) it had a surprise guest in the shape of Nick Pope as well as Joe McGonagle owner of UK-UFO.org website and mailing list, Joe is a regular on the show and is on every week covering the recent events regarding UFOs in the UK.

Not surprisingly Nick waxed lyrical (as he's involved with The Sun and their recent efforts) on, ‘The Sun’ newspapers attempts to turn the UFO subject not only into revenue for themselves but they are also reminding the nation why they are held in such a low regard as they continue to turn the UFO subject into a joke, and as always the joke is at at the expense of serious UFO research.

The Suns insistence in publishing mediocre UFO reports contrary to what they know to be the truth should come as no surprise to anyone, it’s just not that often that their failings are exposed and their complete disregard of any and all facts is as evident as it has been recently. Joe McGonagle highlights this with one of their recent stories when The Sun approached UK UFOlogist Jenny Randles about one of these sightings. It's explained in Joes interview and I'll (hopefully) be able to write more about Jenny and her dealings with The Sun in my next post.

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Saturday, 5 July 2008

IFOs: (LITS) UFO Balloons, Chinese Lanterns & Misidentifications

I have been aware of UFO Balloons and their inevitable misinterpretation as UFOs since (at least) back in 2005. However it wasn't until 2006 that I first thought about writing something due to the UFO Balloon sightings and subsequent UFO reports showing signs of being a real problem in future years as the release of these balloons at celebratory events -such as weddings- was/is escalating dramatically. I also researched them quite a bit as one of the sightings that received a lot of media coverage in 2006 literally drifted straight over my residence at the time.

2007 saw another increase of these ‘UFO Balloons' and more importantly the media started to take a real interest which peaked in July with the Stratford UFO report and never really dipped, now we're into 2008 and it seems as if these UFO-Balloons are becoming the most misidentified aerial object of the minute and shows no signs of easing up. Also as the summer months are upon us I can see no immediate relief from UFO-Balloons/Fire lanterns in the near future.

Unfortunately (and yet again!!) the finished article is too involved and it's simply not practical to post as a Blog entry so you can consider this short post a teaser!!

UFO-Balloon/Fire Lanterns Compilation Video

To read more about UFO Balloons/Fire Lanterns being misidentified and mistakenly reported as UFOs then please visit here (click on text).

You will find details of the Loughton 2006 UFO report/s, the Sunderland 2006 UFO report/s and the 2007 Stratford upon Avon UFO report/s as well as witness accounts, witness videos and images. Not to mention a history of the UFO Balloon/Fire Lantern specifically as it applies to the UK UFO scene as well as how the media have covered the phenomenon so far.

Visit The IFO/UFO Balloon webpage here.

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Friday, 4 July 2008

Small Minded ‘Guardian.co.uk' Abduction Article

It has been quite a while since I read a mainstream media article when the reporter's opinion alone truly sickened me but the sweeping generalisation that Mr Mark Lawson makes is one that is evidently imbued with his twisted personal perceptions as he suggests that the abduction phenomenon is no more than the externalisation of repressed memories of child abuse.



The final rationale is that spaceship-spotting is an outward expression of inner fears. For instance, many of those who claim to have been abducted by aliens report the experience of being anally or genitally probed. You don't need to rent rooms in Vienna to guess that a memory of extraterrestrial interference may have replaced that of a human encounter, although it may well have involved being carried out of their bedroom in the middle of the night…..In Britain now, the likeliest cause of these reports is fear of a different kind of penetration ….”



Source

Forgive me for not quoting the entire article…..

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Saturday, 21 June 2008

UK UFO – Police Helicopter Crew Reports UFO

I originally had this Blog post titled, “UK UFO – Police Helicopter Crew Reports Near Collision With UFO.” But unfortunately that has yet to be confirmed so rather add to the already alarmist media coverage of the event I'll try to stick with what has been confirmed.

At 12:40am on Sunday, 8th June (2008) the three man crew from ‘The South & East Wales Air Support Unit' reported seeing an unidentified aircraft. The crew have made an official report which has been forwarded to the relevant authorities (MoD and CAA). The police Eurocopter, an EC135T21, was hovering in the sky at 0040 BST above the St Athan military base waiting to land when the unidentified aircraft was spotted.

The Police Eurocopter - EC135T21
The Police Eurocopter - EC135T21 - UFO report

Image Source – Deltawhiskey

That's about in the way of actual facts, the majority of which were obtained from an official press release by the South Wales Police press office (which can be read a little further down). In fact the only seemingly credible coverage of the event by the media has been by the BBC, they also include quotes from a Ministry of Defence spokesperson who said they (the MoD) had heard nothing about the incident before condescendingly adding:

"But it is certainly not advisable for police helicopters to go chasing what they think are UFOs.”

The fact that they weren't aware of the report has been confirmed to Joe McGonagle of the UK-UFO.org website who has already received a reply to a FoIA request about the incident, and was as follows:



"Dear Mr McGonagle,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 20 June 2008 asking for copies of any records held by the MoD in relation to an alleged UFO sighting by a police helicopter crew on 7 June 2008. Other than press enquiries, the MoD has no record of this alleged incident being reported to it."

DAS-FOI



The BBC article also states that: “Cardiff International Airport said air traffic control provided a service to the police helicopter to ensure it had appropriate air space, including allowing it space to return to RAF St Athan to refuel.

So we have the Police press release saying that the incident happened while they were waiting to land and no pursuit took place.

And now we have the Airport saying that it facilitated this pursuit and helped it to navigate safely back to the St Athan base. Although the ambiguity of the quote could easily mean that this is merely citing the standard procedure rather than describing the result of chasing an unidentified aircraft…..

Practically every news piece I've read so far has quoted an early article from the bastion of integrity that is, “The Sun” newspaper with yet another of their surreptitious and of course anonymous 'sources'. The (Sun newspaper) 'source' was quoted as saying:

It closed in at great speed, aiming straight at the helicopter…..The chopper had to swerve sharply to avoid being hit. The guys said if they'd stayed where they were, they'd be dead – it would've been a direct hit…..They are convinced it was a UFO. It sounds far-fetched, but they know what they saw…..These guys are hardened professionals and know people will take the mickey, but they are certain they saw a UFO…..After the near-collision they decided to follow it to find out what the hell it was…..They belted across the Bristol Channel in pursuit, but it was too quick. They got to the North Devon coast and had to turn back because they were running low on fuel.”



Now compare and contrast this with the,

South Wales Police - Official Press Release :

"South Wales Police can confirm the South & East Wales Air Support Unit sighted an unusual aircraft. This was reported to the relevant authorities for their investigation. In today's skies, there are a wide variety of aircrafts which come in a range of different shapes and sizes and in all probability, this sighting has just confirmed that one of these was in the area at the relevant time. Reports that we chased the unusual aircraft across the Bristol Channel and the North Devon coastline is inaccurate.



From one extreme to another and I expect the truth is to be found somewhere in between the two, although probably nearer to the MoD's extreme than the one anonymously claimed and irresponsibly reported by The Sun newspaper.

A point worth making is the apparent lack of any kind of thermal imaging, but one media report says thermal imaging cameras and another says night vision goggles, so like every other aspect we will have to wait until more information is made available before speculating on what that could mean.

Another salient point is that it is surely both impossible and impractical for the MoD to claim that this event was, “Of no defence significance” as is their usual declaration especially when considering the proximity to both military and civilian airports but I'm sure they'll think of something…..



The “World Aero Data” website entry for St Athan, states:

All inbd acft call CARDIFF APP CON 5 min before CTLZ, if unable call ST ATHAN APP CON 125.85 277.225.

Perhaps the failure to alert Cardiff airport of any sort of UAV tests is partly responsible for the sarcastic comments by the MoD advising the Police helicopter crew not to chase everything that they may think is a UFO. But if this is the case you would think that somebody at the base would have had the sense not to launch whatever it was at the same time as the Police helicopter was waiting to land as surely this is one of the many factors which MUST be considered in testing any kind of secret project (e.g. UAV), and especially so considering how close it is to a civil airport and consequently busy civil flight-paths.



Sources:
UK-UFO.org
The Sun
BBC News/Wales

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Sunday, 15 June 2008

The Dreamland Drones & New Chances?

The Dreamland Drones

After being out of the ‘Drone scene' for a few months Whitley Strieber has rekindled his involvement by attempting to resuscitate the Drone subject which has itself been in remission for a couple of months now. Whitley made a couple or so posts regarding the Drones last June (2007) when the Drone images and witnesses were coming thick and fast. In fact to the best of my knowledge Whitley has only made a few posts in total regarding the California Drones, here's an extract from his previous Drone revelation back in December last year:



A Most Complex Encounter - (Dec 11, 2007)

So this experience actually crossed waking and dream. The first time I got out of bed and walked into the living room and saw the trees, I was wide awake and actually moving across realities physically. Then, when I slept and dreamed, the realities unfolded around me. When I saw the drone, I was possibly in yet another universe, different from this one.

So the logical question, at least to me, is this: how could anyone even write such far-fetched nonsense, let alone believe that it really happened?



It seems Whitley Strieber adheres to the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche in that, “There are no facts, only interpretations,” or perhaps a more fitting axiom would be that of Democritus and, “Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.

Anyway, fast forward six months to a couple of days ago and June 13th, 2008 Whitley posted another Drone related Blog post, an extract follows:



New Chance – (June 13, 2008)

Last summer, the so called "drones" appeared. Linda Moulton Howe and I soon confirmed that the photographs were real, both by what photo analysis could done, and by numerous interviews with witnesses, many of whom were willing to go on the record with their names.

Then there were the Carat documents. These were furiously rebutted on the internet, but when I suggested that somebody create similar images, nobody responded. The reason that they did not respond is contained in a comment made by an engineer, Michael A. Reed of Reed Development Associates, who recently looked at them at Linda Howe's request. He commented, "the things are so complex, they are a little mind boggling!"

This is why none of the people claiming both expertise as draftsmen and that the Carat images were frauds came forward to produce similar but differently constructed images. There were a few knockoffs of the Carat images, but that proves nothing. Anybody can recopy images and make a few changes with a simple drafting program.

Last summer, when I read in the Carat documents the amazing concept of "self-activating software," I knew immediately that this is exactly what the crop circles are. They are activating something in our earth, and, fortunately, there is nothing that the forces of evil, largely embodied in government, its lying shills in the media, and farmers who destroy the circles as fast as possible, can do about this. This is because the effect is instantaneous, and by the time the destroyers reach a given circle, it's already too late.”



RE: The photographs were real, both by what photo analysis could done, and by numerous interviews with witnesses, many of whom were willing to go on the record with their names.”

In the same sentence as, “Photographs were real” he ascertains this by, "Both by what photo analysis could done, and by numerous interviews with witnesses.”

It seems as if Whitley has been studying at the Linda Moulton Howe School of Investigative Journalism!!

Firstly we have the ambiguous error of, “could done,” is this, “was done” or, “could be done?” (More importantly where is this analysis and has it been subjected to peer review?)

And secondly which photo witnesses have been interviewed or for that matter which photo witnesses have been proven to disclose their real name/s?

ALL of the original photo witnesses disappeared without a trace, well all except Rajman1977 who posted twice on the OM forums before promptly disappearing into cyberspace. Also all of the witnesses have stopped answered any follow-up emails which were sent to the addresses from where their emails originated.

“Then there were the Carat documents. These were furiously rebutted on the internet, but when I suggested that somebody create similar images, nobody responded.”

Hold on a minute, I've seen many, many replications of the CARET documents. But this is of course easily dismissed by Whitley saying that:

There were a few knockoffs of the Carat images, but that proves nothing. Anybody can recopy images and make a few changes with a simple drafting program.”

Apparently not everybody can recopy text in the same fashion as I think we can safely assume that the "Carat" Whitley speaks of is actually "CARET". You may think that's an easy mistake to make, but not when you consider it's an acronym of:

"Commercial Applications Research For Extraterrestrial Technology".

And Whitley repeatedly misspells this simple acronym -never once spelling it correctly- suggesting to me that perhaps Whitley isn't quite as knowledgeable about the Drone phenomenon as he would like us to believe.

But back to the question and what is it exactly Whitley is asking of people? He suggested someone create similar images and when this was done it was simply dismissed as copying the originals!! The fact of the matter is that the originals are fairly unique in their design, well they're unique enough so that anyone attempting to replicate them would have to copy the overall design if any kind of comparison were to be made, otherwise how could you distinguish that they were in fact similar images?

This seems to me like it's no more than moving the goalposts…..

When do facts stop being the issue?

Is it a conscious decision or a genuine mistake?

Perhaps it's no more than a genuine mistake, an objective reality that once squeezed through the prism of belief and filtered through personal values becomes fact, but as John Burroughs wrote:

To treat your facts with imagination is one thing,
But to imagine your facts is another.

RE: “Last summer, when I read in the Carat documents the amazing concept of "self-activating software," I knew immediately that this is exactly what the crop circles are.”

Whitley is talking About the, “Functional blueprint” which Isaac specifically states is geometric forms and patterns which fit together to form diagrams,” and that, Once they are drawn, so to speak, on a suitable surface made of a suitable material and in the presence of a certain type of field.”

A suitable surface being that of the face of the earth and a certain type of field being that of a farmers field is a bit of a stretch, don't you think? (And that's regardless of which dimension it allegedly appeared in!! Oh and of course Isaac never refers to it as software).



Can you recall Whitley's opening gambit? “Linda Moulton Howe and I soon confirmed that the photographs were real”

On June 8th of last year in his Blog entry titled, “The Mystery of the Drones” Whitley writes:

Throughout the process, I have obtained analysis of the pictures offered, with little success because of the generally low resolution and the proliferation of effects programs more sophisticated than Photoshop that can make virtually undetectable inclusions in still images……The only thing that prevents me from declaring that they are real is that special effects are just so sophisticate d…..Understand, please, this does NOT mean that I'm endorsing these images . I believe Sylvia , Chad and Mr. Smith, but I cannot endorse the images because I cannot, personally and beyond doubt, prove that they are authentic.”

And on June 29th in his Blog post, “The Drones: Are They Real, and What Do We Do?” Whitley wrote:

“Now, it is VERY important to realize something before I go on, and to take it into your mind and heart: EVEN IF the entire Isaac production is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be a hoax, and that may happen.”



Okay, who put a "Stop Payment" on Whitley's reality check?

I hope it's not his personal sighting which transcended several dimensions that Whitley is touting as the proof of the existence of the Drones, as just because he personally fails to accept our *reality* then it doesn't nullify it for the rest of us, or even make it go away for Whitley himself as it'll always be there waiting for him every time when he wakes up, whether it's accepted as such is another matter entirely.



Can you remember the CGI video created by Kris Avery that was claimed to be real by Linda Moulton Howe last May? (Full details here). Well it'll surely come as no surprise to learn that Whitley apparently made the same mistake. On May 25 th last year Unknown Country made a Blog post called, “'Drone' Almost Certainly Real” that contained the following text:

“Both Linda Howe and Unknowncountry have resources in various engineering disciplines. An Unknowncountry source at NASA has said that the object is far from any known technology. "If it is using electrostatic lift, then it would have to be extremely light, perhaps on the order of a few pounds, but then where would the energy come from? Electrostatic lift is a laboratory phenomenon, as far as I know."

We asked him to comment on this statement by an engineer queried by Linda Howe. The engineer said, "The design strategy of charged ion shaped plasma 'buoyancy' devices does bear some relevancy here. For instance, the circular array of curved 'antennae' coming out of the center of the device is very similar to a form of wave guide shaping mechanism for a charged plasma ion field."

This was quickly changed to: “Drone Appears on You Tube” with the claims that it was real removed, then witin hours it changed again to, “Drone Appears on You Tube--But Original Photos Still Stand Up ” with the text completely changed to:

"Super-clear photos of a bizarre UFO have caused an international sensation, and now CGI experts are showing just how perfect fakes can be, but so far there is no evidence at all that the 'Chad' photos posted on Flikr, and the 'Alabama' photo posted on Earthfiles.com are fakes. Headers on the Chad photos indicate that they were taken with a Konica Minolta DiMAGE X at an ISO Speed of 100 and a resolution of 72dpi on May 6 at 5:43 PM. In addition, Linda Moulton Howe leads off Dreamland today with a convincing interview with a witness who saw the 'drone' two years ago. So the evidence still favors the original photos being real. BUT the drone is now being reproduced perfectly using CGI technology. It is virtually impossible to tell whether or not the original photographs are real, but the depth of evidence Linda Howe is presenting remains compelling. To see an expert video that has been created of the 'drone,' click here. This is probably CGI work, but it, also, could be a real video of such a drone in testing.”

This is all documented by a user who left several comments on Mac Tonnies Blog, “Posthuman Blues” the poster also wrote that:

So, the first unknown country (UC) article on the CGI fake, endorsing it as "almost certainly real" was replaced by the second, which reversed course to suggest belatedly the "craft" just might be a fake, and now a _third_ version of the article appears, changing course again, rewritten and now including a note that Strieber will be interviewing Howe on the UC "Dreamland" radio program about the "craft" perhaps _still_ being real, based on the original "Chad" and secondary "Alabama" photos (which are different, and also fakes), but that _now_ other CGI fakes may be surfacing from other sources from elsewhere, including a YouTube video using CGI of the "craft" taking off from the ground at a location that appears to have a large white building, on the left, which may be an aircraft hanger.”

Mac replied that:

I'm not the least bit surprised. Strieber probably realized how lame the story was and decided to pretend it never happened. He's done it before.”

And finally, I'll leave you with a Whitley Strieber quote that sums the entire debacle up better than I ever could…..


“So the logical question, at least to me, is this: how could anyone even write such far-fetched nonsense, let alone believe that it really happened?”

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Tuesday, 27 May 2008

Continental Airlines Pilot Reports UFO - FBI Investigates (May 26th 2008)

The FBI are investigating this incident although all early reports tend to suggest that it was little more than an amateur ‘rocket enthusiast’.

Is this public announcement of an imminent investigation because the fact that a smoke trail was present and it’s a relatively safe bet that this was the result of an amateur rocketeer?

The main reason for the investigation if early media reports are to be believed isn’t to identify the UFO but rather to assess exactly how close the object was and if it posed any kind of threat.

No doubt model rocket enthusiasts will bear the brunt of this investigations as it has already been reported that those in and around the Houston area have already been approached and questioned by the authorities.

Or is this an all too convenient explanation? Unfortunately (and with the information available) as well as being the most convenient it's also undoubtedly the most likely....



HOUSTON -- The FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration said they are investigating a report from a Continental Airlines pilot, who told air-traffic controllers that a possible model rocket with a flaming tail and a trail of smoke was flying ahead of the plane shortly after takeoff Monday.

Although the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved in the investigation, officials said they believe the object was a model rocket.

FAA spokesman Roland Herwig stated: " We don't know for sure what the object was. But we think it might be somebody doing model rocketing…..The pilot saw the rocket and some people saw the rocket's trail. Building rockets is a legitimate hobby, but hobbyists have to let the FAA know what they're doing. "



The pilot spotted the object flying at 5,000 feet about 11 miles east of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston . Flight 1544 continued its trip from Houston to Cleveland after reporting the object to air traffic controllers. Scott Wilson, a spokesman for the FBI's Cleveland office, said in a story in The Plain Dealer that the plane wasn't in danger and landed safely. Continental Airlines spokeswoman Kelly Cripe declined to discuss what crew members had seen aboard the Boeing 737, which carried 148 passengers. The plane did not change course and was not damaged.

FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said::

"We don't know if it was a rocket or what…..We will interview everyone and determine the validity of what was seen. "

Robert Morehead, an engineer and president of the Amateur Spaceflight Association in Houston , said model rockets routinely can reach as high as 40,000 feet. He said model rocket enthusiasts are supposed to notify the FAA if a rocket is entering controlled airspace.

Laura Brown, an FAA spokeswoman in Washington D.C. told the Chronicle that model rockets have crossed paths with planes before but have never struck them. She also said that the Memorial Day holiday weekend was a good time for a launch.

Source

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Monday, 7 April 2008

The Drone UFO Timeline - Explained?

This started off as a regular run of the mill post on the current happenings with regards the Drones but it ended up as more of a short Novel!! So rather than split it into separate posts I've decided to start the post on my Blog as usual but continue it on a dedicated page…..

As regular readers will know I've been interested in the Drones since the story first broke, I've participated in many forums on the subject of the Drones and met many, many people, all of whom I hold in high regard regardless of their opinions and I've also offered regular commentary on the Drones as any new events occurred.

Since the story is quickly unfolding courtesy of the labours of two Private Investigators I wanted to make a couple of observations.

I fear that the relevant information regarding the Drone UFOs is in serious danger of becoming obfuscated beyond recognition. Linda Moulton Howe (LMH) has published what she calls an, “Eyewitness Timeline” of the Drones, somewhat selectively including/numbering Drone reports that were ONLY submitted to her, or reports in which she had some part to play.

So if you see or know anything about the Drones while I encourage people to submit their information to LMH, I would strongly recommend that this is NOT your only means of disclosing what you know. Especially when you realise that in a couple of months or so, your information will for all intents and purposes became of the, “Pay Per View” variety, due solely to the, “Unique” way that LMH moves her archived material to her (paid) subscribers section.

Indeed the photographs of the Drone that were taken at Big Basin which she was sent numbered 12 in total. Images she was sent with the sole intention of getting the information out there for public dissemination. LMH scanned and resized the images which greatly reduced the resolution before releasing them. This justifiably caused an uproar among the online UFO community and after she received many, many emails over this refusal to release the images as she received them and as intended, LMH finally released ONE of the TWELVE images she received at a resolution which was high enough to enable a more thorough analysis. Now it's coming up to nearly a year since she received these images and she STILL REFUSES TO RELEASE them!!

Post Continues Here - Video/Images etc.

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Thursday, 3 April 2008

Two More California UFO Drone News Reports

Previous Drone Fox News Report here.
All previous Drone related posts and media available here.

Another Fox News Report On The Dragonfly Drones, this time it's courtesy of Fox And Friends.


(A UFO Cold Case).

Secondly, it's a KSBW.com News Report On The Drones.

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Tuesday, 25 March 2008

Aurora Furore Over Great Gonerby UFO?

A little over a week ago (17 March 2008) I Blogged about a Grantham Journal article that reported on the UFO recently spotted in Saskatchewan ( Canada ) that was reportedly similar to other sightings by Allan Spick, who lives in Great Gonerby (UK). Mike Repin contacted the Journal after seeing a drawing by Spick which reminded him of a UFO that he'd previously witnessed.

The Grantham Journal has since reported that the plot thickens as a Luton man called John Pacey has been in touch to let them know he thinks what was seen was possibly a mysterious, “Spy-Plane ” which the Journal ominously reminds us, “Officially does not even exist .”

Flight-sim model of artist's concept of the Aurora aircraft – Wiki
Aurora Furore Over Great Gonerby UFO?
Sketch: Grantham Journal./ Specs Wiki – Estimate

Before adding that plane spotters claim the, “Triangular Aurora aircraft was built by the US Air Force to replace the aging Blackbird surveillance plane……It is believed to be capable of speeds massively in excess of the sound barrier. ” Also the actual article is headed, “Is this the Great Gonerby UFO ? ” & sub-headed, “UFO could be top secret plane.

This presents something of an attractive –if incredibly unlikely- proposition, not least because the Scottish media has previously reported that the Aurora was landing and taking off from Machrihanish airbase on the Kintyre peninsula.

It has been alleged that air traffic controllers had seen aircraft on their radars vacating and accelerating to high Mach numbers but (again rather ominously and according to Wikipedia) none of the controllers has ever went on, “The record.”

Aurora Specs Image From WikiBut the speculation surrounding the, “Aurora” dates back to the early nineties when a series of unusual sonic booms was detected in Southern California by some U.S. Geological Survey sensors (mid to late 1991).

Then on 23 March, 1992 in Texas, Steven Douglas (Reported May ‘92, Aviation Week & Space Technology) photographed the now infamous, "Doughnuts on a rope" contrail and also stated that, “A deep pulsating rumble that vibrated the house and made the windows shake...similar to rocket engine noise, but deeper, with evenly timed pulses” was clearly audible. This has led to much speculation that the Aurora aircraft could utilise something called, “Pulse detonation propulsion technology” which was originally patented in the 1950 but has yet to make a public appearance.

Aurora Doughnuts on a rope contrails
Doughnuts on a rope contrail

Unfortunately as one would expect that these sonic booms may have been mentioned by the witnesses (or if activated further away at least registered on something, somewhere) it seems like the craft recently sighted in Great Gonerby remains a UFO, well for now at least…..

Source: Grantham Journal & Wikipedia/Aurora

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Monday, 24 March 2008

Farewell Sir Arthur Charles Clarke

Sir Arthur C. Clarke who is heralded as a scientific visionary and the acclaimed writer of, “2001: A Space Odyssey” was buried in his adopted country of Sri Lanka where he had lived (Colombo) for over fifty years on Saturday 22 March 2008.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke passed away after experiencing heart failure and respiratory problems at the grand old age of 90 on 19 March 2008.

Sir Arthur's brother, Fred Clarke, attended the funeral along with members of the Ekanayake family, with whom the writer had lived in recent years. A nationwide minute's silence was ordered by the Sri Lankan government to coincide with the ceremony and music from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was played at the funeral.

A Farewell To Sir Arthur Charles Clarke

"Here lies Arthur C Clarke. He never grew up and did not stop growing," his gravestone in Colombo is to read, in accordance with the author's wishes.

Tamara Ekanayake, who grew up at Sir Arthur's home in Colombo , paid tribute to him at the service, saying: "We feel so privileged that you left your mark on us…..Your footprint will never fade. If anything, it will only magnify what we do. "

Before the funeral, yellow roses were thrown on to Sir Arthur's body as a final gesture of respect as it lay on a white bed beneath curved elephant tusks. Clarke had left specific instructions for his funeral and was quoted as saying that religion was;

“A necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species.”

According to his spokesman Nalaka Gawardene, Sir Arthur's last three wishes were for conclusive proof of extraterrestrial life, clean energy to halt global warming and peace in Sri Lanka during his lifetime.

"Now unfortunately he didn't live long enough to see any of these last wishes come true…..And I think the challenge for all his fans and all his admirers is to make these three wishes come true as early and as comprehensively as possible”

Sir Arthur C. Clarke - Godfather Of The Telecommunications Satellite

A radar pioneer in the Royal Air Force during World War II, Clarke wrote a 1945 article in Wireless World magazine in which he outlined a worldwide communications network based on fixed satellites orbiting Earth at an altitude of 22,300 miles -- an orbital area now often referred to as the Clarke Orbit. His conceptual leap, outlined in a 1945 article in Wireless World magazine, was to propose using a set of satellites in geostationary orbit to form a global communications network

Clarke's seminal article (for which he received payment of $40!!) was published two decades before Syncom II became the world's first communications satellite put into geosynchronous orbit in 1963. And so Clarke is widely credited for pioneering the concept of communications satellites, Clarke received a number of honours, including the 1982 Marconi International Fellowship and the Charles A. Lindbergh Award. Clarke was also named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1986, won innumerable international awards for his fiction and scientific writing.

"Rendezvous with Rama," his 1973 novel about a space probe sent to explore an enormous celestial object speeding through the solar system that turns out to be a mysterious alien spacecraft, was one of Clarke's greatest critical successes. It won the prestigious Nebula, Hugo and John W. Campbell awards for best novel, as well as the British Science Fiction Associate Award, the Locus Award and the Jupiter Award.

"My God, it's full of stars!!”

Among his best-known science-fiction novels are "Childhood's End," "Rendezvous With Rama," "Imperial Earth" and, most famously, "2001: A Space Odyssey."

"It's better to be recognized for one thing, especially something of which I'm quite proud, than not to be recognized at all ," Clarke told The LA Times in 1982. And what a legacy, “2001: A Space Odyssey” was, with its mysterious monoliths, psychopathic Hal 9000 computer and a final sequence which left many cinema-goers confused has since became frequently-referenced icons of modern cinema.

Clarke also foretold an array of technological notions in his works such as space stations, moon landings using a mother ship and a landing pod, cellular phones and the Internet.

"Nobody has done more in the way of enlightened prediction ," science fiction author Isaac Asimov once wrote.

A Farewell To Sir Arthur Charles ClarkeArthur Charles Clarke was born in Minehead, a town in Somerset in the south-west of England , on 16 December 1917, peered into the heavens with a homemade telescope as a boy. A farmer's son, he was educated at Huish's Grammar School in Taunton before joining the civil service, Clarke grew up to become a visionary titan of science fiction and was knighted for his contributions to literature.


Clarke wrote more than 80 fiction and non-fiction books and more than 100 short stories as well as hundreds of articles and essays. A seer of the modern age, Sir Arthur was an original thinker, a scientific expert whose tales combined technology and good old-fashioned storytelling and whose influence went far beyond the written page.

As well as pioneering works of science fiction, Clarke also appeared on television, most notably in, “Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World.” The Mysterious World episode on UFOs which was first shown on ITV in 1980 is still relevant today featuring rare interviews with Ken Arnold, Jessie Roestenburg and Bob Taylor.

Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World - UFO

I'll leave you with Sir Arthur C. Clarke's own words via a BBC report, who while marking his 90th birthday last year, told fans:

"I want to be remembered most as a writer. I want to entertain readers and hopefully stretch their imaginations as well.”



"If I have given you delight by aught that I have done, let me lie quiet in that night, which shall be yours anon."

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Sunday, 23 March 2008

Capitola Dragonfly Drone UFOs Spotted On Prime Time!!

A couple of days ago, I made a Blog post on the Drone UFOs, “Dragonfly Drone Hunters – The Search For Rajinder/Rajman1977” which described how a group of members at the Open Minds Forum have paid to enlist the help of a couple of Private Investigators to try and locate the utility pole which is located in the, “Rajman1977” Drone images and subsequently locate the witness himself.

Well this story ran on the 18th March and the History Channels new UFO Flagship, “UFO-Hunters” heavily featured the Drone UFO images. I personally feel the UFO-Hunters presented the Drones with little in the way of middle ground, it appears that the UFO-Hunters team thought that they were either proof of reverse engineering of alien technology or a hoax.

The possibility that the Drones themselves could be manufactured or controlled by an extraterrestrial entity was strangely omitted, I say strangely as I feel the UFO Hunters (by definition if nothing else) should have at least of entertained this possibility. Bruce Maccabee was interviewed briefly and drew attention to the lack of any kind of aerodynamics present in the structure and design of the Drones yet still the investigation centred on the reverse engineering theory. If you are approaching the Drones from an evidence based perspective then after a quick browse the Isaac documents (which they possessed and discussed) it should be evident or at least very unlikely that the Drones were manufactured by human hands.

What follows is an excerpt from the Isaac documents under the, “Some Explanation for the Recent Sightings ” heading:

“I should first be clear that I'm not directly familiar with any of the crafts seen in the photos in their entirety. I've never seen them in a hangar or worked on them myself or seen aliens zipping around in them. However, I have worked with and seen many of the parts visible in these crafts…..These crafts have probably existed in their current form for decades, and I can say for sure that the technology behind them has existed for decades before that…..The technology itself isn't ours, or at least it wasn't in the 80's. Much like the technology in these crafts themselves .”

I probably should point out at this juncture that I personally believe the entire Drone phenomenon to be a complete fabrication but I still believe that any Drone investigation should have at least been conducted in a way that allowed for the possibility that the Drones weren't a result of human engineering or under human control.

Anyway, here's the relevant section/s from the recent UFO-Hunters (7th) episode, including Bruce Maccabee and James Carrion (head of Mufon).

Back to the Private Investigators and it's turning out to be money well spent if purely for raising the profile of the Drone reports and informing the public of their existence and the search for witnesses. They even made it to Fox News recently, here's a short Fox News Report on the two Private Investigators charged with locating the utility pole and commissioned by OMF.

After no news for nearly a year we no have the LA-Times story on the 18th, UFO-Hunters appearance on the 19th and the Fox News segment on the 20th March!! Perhaps the end is nearing for a collection of some of the most intriguing UFO images and UFO reports of recent times.

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Friday, 21 March 2008

Elizabeth Kucinich Intervew: UFO's and Alien Life (exopolitik.org)

Elizabeth Kucinich: “I am concerned that ET disclosure might be used to weaponize space, to create more fear and government control "

Robert Fleischer attended the International Iraq Conference in Berlin last weekend and had the chance to interview Dennis Kucinich' wife Elizabeth. This is what she revealed concerning her husband's UFO experience and her opinion on official ET disclosure. Note that she is concerned that ET disclosure might be, “Used as a means to weaponize space, to create more fear and government control ”.



Transcript of video interview Elisabeth Kucinich on her husband's UFO experience and ET disclosure, interviewed by Robert Fleischer/German Exopolitics Initiative in Berlin (March 9, 2008) at the International Iraq Conference.

(RF = Robert Fleischer, EK = Elizabeth Kucinich)

RF : I was really impressed by the fact that your husband went public saying he actually saw a UFO and it touched him in his heart. That is something that people who had contact, who had similar experiences, can really understand. What did it feel like for him? Did he ever talk to you about this?

EK : No, we haven't had this discussion. Actually, Dennis didn't reveal that story that something happened 25 years ago with some friends that he was with, and one of the friends actually wrote in her book about the experience. So Dennis tried not to talk about it publicly because it was something that he just decided to stay away from. "UFO" is unidentified flying object, so it could be an alien craft or it could be something else.

RF : I understand that for political reasons, we have to speak hypothetically of this. You know, I agree with you, but as far as I'm informed, Daniel Sheehan was the legal advisor for the Disclosure Project, military people who want hearings in front of Congress...

EK : Well, you know, I think Ronald Reagan and President Carter both said that they saw UFOs. I think it is a very arrogant position for the human race to think that in the multitude of planets and stars that are out there we should be the only place in the universe where there is life.

RF : Do you think that the two of us, we will ever experience the moment when the governments officially disclose the truth?

EK : I don't know. My understanding of that is that I don't need the world to believe or disbelieve in aliens. It's just not anything that I worry about or anything. I would suggest though that if governments did start to understand or want to make public that there may be extraterrestrial life or if they have the evidence, to show the evidence, I have a cynical mind that it might be used actually as a means to weaponize space, to create more fear, to create more control through government control as opposed to liberating the human experience in understanding that there is life elsewhere. Do you see, I think that it would be used negatively? So I keep that out of my consciousness and it doesn't matter to me either way.

Source: Exopolitik.org

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Tuesday, 18 March 2008

Dragonfly Drone Hunters – The Search For Rajinder/Rajman1977

Regular readers of this UFO-Blog and indeed anyone who has been remotely interested in UFO reports over the last few months will already be well aware of the, “Drone” phenomenon and the feverish pursuit of anything Drone-like that occupied the majority of the online UFO community last summer and even went so far as to inspire a music video!!

OMF Members (SaladFingers & Droneonline) Drone Music Video.

I hold my hands up that I was as involved in this pursuit as anybody was, however I was one of the skeptics and still adhere to this belief (or more appropriately disbelief!!) In fact I've spent many, many thoroughly enjoyable hours/days/weeks (and yes even months) thrashing out the finer points of the reports with the rest of the, “Dronies.” To even briefly allude to any of the factors discussed without going into any great detail is to do a disservice to the Drones and all who have been involved in researching them, so I'll refrain from doing so.

I probably should however mention that MUFON declared the Drones as a hoax after handing the images over for digital analysis. Although in defence of the Drones Mufon initially only passed the Chad images over for analysis as they were the only ones available.

PICT17 - “Rajman1977” Drone Image Featuring Utility Pole

(Click On Image To Enlarge)

Whether new to the Drone phenomenon or if you'd merely like a refresher on the Drones then please check out the, “Drone Sighting History 2007” .PDF file that I compiled just after the release of the Isaac documentation last year. It's all there, a couple of earlier sightings as well as what is now classed as the, “Original” sightings. Also included is all of the Isaac documents (claimed to be a whistle-blower with stolen documents and strangely coherent explanations for the Drones and the technology they allegedly implement).

To view the Drone History PDF document (complete with ALL images)
then click anywhere on this text.

Alleged Isaac, “Antigravity” Device
Alleged Isaac, “Antigravity” Device



Now, back to the reason for this post, the following article was recently posted online by the LA Times…..

[START OF ARTICLE]

Private eyes Frankie Dixon, left, and T.K. Davis at a park in Capitola , Calif. , where they're investigating reports that a UFO was photographed by a man with the Internet name of Raji, who later vanished into cyberspace.

Where's that power pole? And the guy who said he photographed a flying saucer above it? Two down-to-earth private eyes want to know.

Private eye T.K. Davis has worked his share of oddball cases. Once he tracked down a one-armed woman wanted for child endangerment. He staked out a backyard to catch a guy throwing dirt clods into a pool. When you make your living answering life's mysterious questions at $100 an hour, you take a few calls out of the blue.

He works the streets of this suburban town near Santa Cruz , where dog-walking mothers and aging hippies compete for beach time. Oh, sure, it might seem innocent enough, but it can get a little creepy if you let it. People might see things -- unusual objects in the sky, for instance -- and not say a thing for fear of being ridiculed.

At times like that, a private eye comes in handy. He can look around, ask a few hard questions -- even if it means risking his reputation built over 30 years as a deputy sheriff. That's more or less where Davis finds himself now, behind the wheel of his blue Ford Explorer, with his partner Frankie Dixon. They're cruising down streets, looking at utility poles and trying to figure out: Is that the one in these three pictures, the pictures with the unidentified flying object?

The photographs came from -- surprise! -- the Internet. In May, someone using the name Raji posted them on Craigslist. All three show a lone wooden power pole with its jumble of crossbeams and wires. Hovering just above it is some kind of flying saucer.

The thing looks part campy " Star Trek " prop, part slapdash collection of handyman tools, with metallic limbs jutting from a cylindrical sphere. Examined closely, one of the arms bears some kind of writing.

Raji told people he took the photos in Capitola.

Then he vanished into cyberspace.

UFO hunters around the world started buzzing. Apparently, Raji wasn't alone. Elsewhere, other alleged eyewitnesses posted pictures and video of the quirky little craft. It became known as the, "California drone" because it was clear from the photos that no human could have fit inside to fly the thing.

Soon, the mystery became too tantalizing to be left to Internet speculators. Somebody who knew what he was doing had to be hired to locate that pole, which might lead to finding the elusive Raji.

Enter Davis, 62, and Dixon, 60.

Men in Black they're not. To cover his middle-age paunch, Davis prefers windbreakers and blue jeans to the crisp suits of Hollywood 's extraterrestrial sleuths. Dixon is more Man in White. On this day, he's wearing a Vegas-bright white sweater suitable for the first tee at the golf course -- which is where he spends most of this time since retiring from police work seven years ago.

"See how close that one is ?" Dixon says of one power pole, comparing it with a photo. Their SUV is easing along a shady street, its cab cloudy with smoke from Davis ' cheap Hav-A-Tampa cigars.

"I like that one ," Davis says. "No ," Dixon says, " it's turned the wrong way."

They motor on, scanning the sky.

A onetime captain in the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, Davis considers himself an expert in scam artists and nut cases. So his radar went up in January when he got the call from a woman in London .

She said she was from the Open Minds Forum, an Internet group specializing in "UFOlogy." She said she represented people who were interested in the drone and wanted to contact Raji and others who claimed in Web postings to have seen the craft. There was the guy in Bakersfield who called himself Chad . There was the hiker and the bicyclist, both from the San Jose area. Nobody used last names. So far, nobody could be found. Before calling Davis , the Open Minds group had e-mailed Raji. He told them he snapped the picture from his fiancée's parents' home. They hoped to ask more questions, but he suddenly closed his e-mail account. They spent months looking for him before deciding to hire a professional.

Find the power pole in the photo, the woman told Davis , and you'll find the house. And Raji. Oh, and one more thing: She didn't want to be identified.

[END OF ARTICLE]

Source: LA Times



And here's the original account that Rajinder (Raji) first posted along with the images (to Craigslist):

"This week I was visting my fiance's parents in Capitola (we were actually there to tell them about our engagement, in fact). We were eating dinner on the back porch when we noticed this "object" sort of hovering in the sky. The camera was still out from earlier so I grabbed it and tried to get some clear shots of it. It took off over the roof shortly after, so I ran into the street in front of the house to follow, trying to get more shots without wobbling around too much (which was harder than it sounds). It then came in lower over a telephone pole, where I was able to get a few more pictures, before it finally took off into the distance pretty fast. I thought it was gone but noticed it was still visible, so I grabbed a few more pictures.

At one point a car stopped to look as well. No one had any idea what this thing was but everyone in the car was visibly freaked out by it. Once it was gone they told me to call the news and drove off. I'm not sure who else saw it in the neighborhood since I don't live down there, but I'm sure at least a few others must have noticed it. It was way too werid and way too close to go unnoticed. Once it was gone and I caught my breath I could barely stop my hands from shaking for the next hour or so. Needless to say, this is all we talked about for the rest of the night. None of us can figure out what it was (and that's saying something, because my fiance's dad is a mechanical engineer).

We sent a copy of the photos to their newspaper but haven't heard back yet. I dunno how long that kind of thing takes.

There's also some writing on this thing, which I didn't recognize (and I read both English and Hindi). You can see it in a few of the pictures.

Anyway, I created this Flickr account for the best of these pictures. I have no clue what this thing is so I'm putting it out there to see if anyone else saw it."

PICT16 - “Rajman1977” Drone Image Featuring Utility Pole

(Click On Image To Enlarge)



Previous "UFO-Blog.com" Posts Regarding The Strange Craft:


Image by SaladFingers

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Monday, 17 March 2008

(UK) Great Gonerby UFO Surfaces In Canada

Gonerby UFO sighted over Saskatchewan - A UFO sighted over Great Gonerby repeatedly over the last four years has also been spotted in Saskatchewan, Canada. The Grantham Journal recently reported five sightings by Allan Spick, who provided a drawing of the mysterious flying object he has seen from his home at Belvoir Gardens as well as Mike Repin's UFO sketch which can be seen below.

Mike Repin's UFO drawing
Mike Repin's UFO drawing

Now an anonymous UFO spotter has got in touch to say he saw the very same object over Saskatoon in November or December 2005, saying:

"It was about 50 feet off the ground and not more than a city block away from me. I saw what appeared to be a craft that looked almost tear-shaped but sideways. I slowed down to a crawl and watched it hovering for about 10 seconds…..I could only see the outline by its multi-coloured lights that surrounded the object…..After around 20 seconds the object banked to the right a flew slowly away…..I do feel that when I slowed down more that maybe they took notice of me observing this and that caused the object to start its sharp bank and then slowly disappear…..It was all very weird to me."

Gonerby UFO sighted over Saskatchewan

Source: Grantham Journal
(13 March 2008)

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