Friday 5 July 2013

Scientists and international government officials gather to discuss UFOs (Video)



The Center for UFO Research held the 2013 Symposium on Official and Scientific Investigation of UAP (UFOs) this weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina. Open Minds was there to cover the event and got exclusive interviews with the scientists and government officials who were there to discuss their research and investigations.
The event was financed and organized by Kent Senter, who has researched the UFO phenomena for over 25 years. He was one of the founding members of the North Carolina chapter of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). Senter is battling an incurable cancer, and wanted to put together a credible conference as part of his “bucket list.” Early on his cancer was misdiagnosed, and with some of the money he was awarded in a settlement, he was able to bring in the best people from all over the world to accomplish his goal of elevating the credibility of UFO research.

Leslie Kean, Ken and Patty Senter
From left: Leslie Kean, Kent Senter and his wife Patty. (Credit: Alejandro Rojas)

In order to help him gather the most credible international group, he enlisted the help of Leslie Kean. Her book, UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record, was a New York Times best-seller, and has garnered positive attention from mainstream media and scientists.
Included among the international speakers were two representatives from official government UFO research organizations. One of those is Xavier Passot, the head of GEIPAN, a UFO investigative group that is part of France’s CNES (National Centre for Space Studies), which is the equivalent to NASA here in the US. The other official was Jose Lay, the international affairs director of Chile’s Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena (CEFAA). This organization is a branch of the General Administration of Civil Aeronautics, which is similar to our FAA.

Xavier Passot and Jose Lay
Xavier Passot of GEIPAN (left) and Jose Lay of CEFAA. (Credit: Alejandro Rojas)

Other international speakers included retired Major General Wilfried De Brouwer of the Belgium Air Force. He presided over the official investigation of 2000 reports of triangular shaped UFOs over Belgium from 1989 to 1991. He says the witnesses included highly credible individuals including pilots and police officials.
An incredible case involving the Unites States military was presented by retired Colonel Charles Halt, who in 1980 was the deputy base commander at RAF Bentwaters in England when he and other Air Force personnel witnessed UFO activity over the period of a few nights. Bentwaters was being leased by the US from the UK government, and the files on this case were included in the UK government’s recent release of UFO files.
Representatives from academia also spoke, such as Alexander Wendt, professor of International Security, who spoke on the UFO taboo. Similarly, emeritus professor of sociology, Ron Westrum spoke on how society deals with controversial discoveries. Astronomer and author, Jeffrey Bennett, presented on the scientific search for extraterrestrial life, and Dr. Richard Haines presented UFO investigations of reports from pilots.

Major General Wilfried De Brouwer
Major General Wilfried De Brouwer (Credit: Alejandro Rojas)

Finally, Nancy Talbott spoke on the science of crop circles, and Timothy Good, UK author and researcher, spoke on the history of UFO research.
The gathering was a once in a lifetime chance to visit with officials, military personnel, professors, and other credible researchers from around the world. We got a lot of great interviews and besides this video, will be posting several others focused on the work of some of these incredible people.


UFO Over Florenianopolis, Brazil - Multiple Witness Case (Video)

 
Published on 28 Jun 2013 By Antonio Urzi Simona Sibilla
 

Topic UFO: Laurie McDonald CCHT - Hypnotherapy and the Abduction Phenomenon

 
Rick welcomes certified hypnotherapist Laurie McDonald CCHT, for a discussion regarding the commonalities and traits of abductees and contactees. Laurie also discusses I.C.A.R., the International Community for Alien Research.
 

Mysterious Radio Signals Detected From 11 Billion Light Years Away


By Soldier4Peace

An international team of researchers have detected mysterious bursts of radio waves originating from billions of light years away.
Six years ago, a single burst lasting less than a tenth of an eye blink had been reported. It was so ephemeral that scientists were unsure whether it actually took place or not. But this time round, the 64 metre Parkes radio telescope in Australia recorded 4 such bursts of very high energy radio waves coming from a very long distance.
The scientists also think that the findings suggest that there should be one of these signals going off every 10 seconds if the whole sky is observed through ‘radio eyes’, that is, through telescopes that detect radio waves.
The findings are reported on Friday in the journal Science. The research team was made up of scientists from the University of Manchester, the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn, and from various institutions in Australia, US and Italy.
The scientists studied the energy of these bursts and concluded that they originate from an extreme astrophysical event involving relativistic objects such as neutron stars or black holes. They ruled out terrestrial sources for the fast radio bursts and say their brightness and distance suggest they come from cosmological distances when the universe was just half its current age.
Study lead Dan Thornton of the University of Manchester and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, said the findings pointed to some extreme events involving large amounts of mass or energy as the source of the radio bursts, a statement from the university said.
He said: “A single burst of radio emission of unknown origin was detected outside our galaxy about six years ago but no one was certain what it was or even if it was real, so we have spent the last four years searching for more of these explosive, short-duration radio bursts. This paper describes four more bursts, removing any doubt that they are real. The radio bursts last for just a few milliseconds and the furthest one that we detected was 11 billion light years away.”
“The bursts last only a tenth of the blink of an eye. With current telescopes we need to be lucky to look at the right spot at the right time. But if we could view the sky with ‘radio eyes’ there would be flashes going off all over the sky every day,” explained Max-Planck institute director and Manchester professor, Michael Kramer, the statement said.
Co-author Professor Matthew Bailes, from the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, thinks the origin of these explosive bursts may be from magnetic neutron stars, known as ‘magnetars’. He said: “Magnetars can give off more energy in a millisecond than our sun does in 300,000 years and are a leading candidate for the burst.”
The researchers say their results will also provide a way of finding out the properties of space between the Earth and where the bursts occurred.
Author Dr Ben Stappers, from Manchester’s School of Physics and Astronomy, said: “We are still not sure about what makes up the space between galaxies, so we will be able to use these radio bursts like probes in order to understand more about some of the missing matter in the universe. We are now starting to use Parkes and other telescopes, like the Lovell Telescope of the University of Manchester, to look for these bursts in real time.”

UFO TV: UFO SECRET - The Friendship Case / Untold History of the Disclosure Project

 
 
    UFO SECRET - The Friendship Case
 
It caused a great media sensation. Mass UFO sightings. Humans working together with extraterrestrials in secret. Hundreds of people were involved. The public wanted to know what was happening but no one could penetrate the mystery. Now after 50 years of silence, insider witnesses have decided to speak. A UFO contact case that has been kept secret for decades is now revealed. Countless pieces of evidence remain. Only now can the truth be known. This is the unbelievable true story about The Friendship Case.




    Untold History of the Disclosure Project - Steven Greer

The Untold History of the Disclosure Project - The X-Conference is pleased to welcome Physician and Exopolitical Activist - Dr. Steven Greer MD.

The X-Conference is produced by X-PPAC (Extraterrestrial Phenomena Political Action Committee) and The Paradigm Research Group, who's mission is to educate Congress, the Press and the Public about the Government imposed "Truth Embargo" and to bring about formal acknowledgment by the U. S. Government of an Extraterrestrial presence engaging the Human Race - Full Disclosure. UFOTV is pleased to present all of the presentations that were given by all the invited speakers at each of the X-Conference events over the years.



UFO over Flippin Airport in Arkansas on July 16, 1969 (Video)


By Open Minds

This little-known photo showing a Learjet with a cylindrical object apparently flying above it comes from the files of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), which published the basic facts in the September/October 1969 issue of the APRO Bulletin. The picture was taken at the Marion County Regional Airport in Flippin, Arkansas and was given to APRO by Lawrence Willett, the manager of the airport.


UFO Movie News Round Up


'Europa Report': the reviews and the science

By Robbie Graham

Europa Report – a blend of documentary, alternative history and science fiction thriller– has received generally positive reviews from critics following its June 27 release on VOD and iTunes, scoring 70% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film follows a contemporary mission to Jupiter's moon Europa to investigate the possible existence of alien life within our solar system. When unmanned probes suggest that a hidden ocean could exist underneath Europa's icy surface and may contain single-celled life, Europa Ventures, a privately funded space exploration company, sends six of the best astronauts from around the world to confirm the data and explore the revolutionary discoveries that may lie in the Europan ocean.
Veteran film critic Kirk Honeycutt is impressed with Europa Report, writing: “In this film, when an astronaut gazes out a portal at the infinity of space, you sense the amazement that fills his heart.”
Scott Weinberg of FEAR.net is also a fan, suggesting that Europa Report is “Maybe the best indie sci-fi film since Moon,” calling it “smart, suspenseful, and fascinating.”
io9’s Meredith Woerner was similarly enthusiastic, declaring that “Europa Report is hands down the most painstakingly accurate space movie we've seen in ages. You want some semblance of realism in the story of a three-year journey to Jupiter's Moon Europa? AND a gripping narrative, you got it.”
Witney Seibold of CraveOnline was slightly less enamored, noting that Europa Report’s “scientific accuracy leaves the film feeling a bit dry and procedural... but the heft and thrills are just enough to recommend it.”
Europa Report is released theatrically on August 2 this year. io9 recently conducted a fascinating interview with the film’s screenwriter, Philip Gelatt, in which the real science of the story is discussed in detail. Read it here.
 

Roswell UFO Crash: 66 Years Of Unanswered Questions


By Lee Speigel

When the last of the 4th of July fireworks have exploded, festivities at Roswell will just be starting.
A three-day Roswell UFO Festival marks the 66th anniversary of a flying saucer legend that made the New Mexico town forever synonymous with paranormal conspiracies.
In early July 1947 -- the exact date isn't known -- something fell out of the sky and crashed on a ranch near Roswell, leaving scattered debris. The ranch foreman was the first to see the material and he eventually told the Roswell sheriff, who then alerted the military at nearby Roswell Army Air Field, home of the 509th Bomb Group.
Intelligence officer Maj. Jesse Marcel was assigned the initial task of heading to the debris field to collect some of the material, which was described as shiny wreckage, including pieces of rubber, super-resistant tinfoil, wooden sticks and metallic-looking I-beams. See image below of Marcel posing with the alleged debris.
 
jessemarcelufo

One of the speakers at this weekend's Roswell celebration is Jesse Marcel Jr., who was 11 years old in 1947 and who, along with his mother, was shown pieces of the UFO material by his father.
"There were these I-beams about 12 to 18 inches long, and the most unusual part of that was the symbols or writing on the inner surface," Marcel Jr. previously told this reporter. "I thought, at first, it was like Egyptian hieroglyphics, but when I looked closer, it seemed more like geometric symbols of some kind -- it was very strange."
roswellheadline
On July 8, 1947, the Roswell Army Air Field issued a press release (see image at right) indicating that the military had recovered a crashed flying saucer. Just as quickly as that story emerged, it was deflated when a second press release claimed that the debris was, in fact, from a weather balloon.
As the story grew over the years, it included tales of multiple crash sites and the recovery of alien bodies. In the 1990s, the Air Force issued two reports, concluding that the material recovered in 1947 was from Project Mogul, a secret program of atmospheric balloons used to detect Soviet nuclear tests.
The alien bodies were officially explained as misidentifications of crash test dummies used in military experiments.
But each year, all are welcome -- skeptics and believers -- to join in the Roswell festivities and, of course, to bring in some revenue for the city. While disputes continue between flying saucer skeptics and advocates, Roswell probably won't lose its stature as the UFO capital of the world anytime soon.
 
Watch this 2013 Roswell UFO Festival promo:



The schedule for the UFO festival indicates that, among the many activities, you can be shown how to "build an alien hat to ward off the aliens from scanning your brain!" A useful enough tool.
Many speakers will offer their take on subjects as diverse as:
  • UFOs and Aliens
  • Flying Saucers and Science
  • Alien Abduction Files
  • International UFO Cases
  • Crop Circles
  • UFOs and Secret Societies
  • The Real Area 51: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
  • Paranormal Pop Culture
The weekend will also be sprinkled with live stage entertainment, an alien chase 10K and 5K run/walk, alien pet contest, alien costume contest, an electric light parade and an amusement carnival.
While the UFO debris is long gone and the dust long settled over the town of Roswell, the reverberations have never stopped. Was it an alien spaceship that crashed 66 years ago -- or just a high-flying military device?
There are more than enough stories, claims, accusations and allegations to keep the legend alive. Not to mention all the alien souvenirs, crystals, necklaces and ice cream to keep people coming back for more.
The Roswell UFO Festival runs from July 5 to 7.

Anomalous Meteors and Nebulous Nature Behind the UFO Phenomenon


By Micah Hanks

For serious scientific researchers of unexplained aerial phenomenon, one thing that cannot be overlooked is the possibility–no, the likelihood–that certain phenomenon of a very natural variety can often account for the seemingly inexplicable. Time and time again I have been watching the sky on a clear, starry night, to look up and behold something that I felt may have been extraordinary at first glance, only to find out later that what I had been observing was not what it seemed.
With a sky full of metallic bits of debris from leftover space operations, satellites in orbit, the International Space Station, and an entire host of other things, it becomes easy to see just how full of junk the space of our planet’s near-Earth orbit really is. I can only imagine what it must have been like hundreds of years ago, before humankind had populated the heavens with technological devices and bits of junk that contribute to a variety of illuminated phenomena in our night skies… would people of these previous eras have reported as much UFO activity as we do today?
 
meteor

To say probably not is the simple answer, although as is often the case, there is more to the equation here than just the appearances of manmade objects that must be considered. To say that there have been some UFO sightings in early times that were of actual extraterrestrial origin is difficult to say… but without question, there have been a number of strange things appearing in the night sky of yesteryear that seemed more difficult to explain in conventional ways.
A personal favorite among the instances where strange things were reported prior to the twentieth century was recounted by American Physicist William R. Corliss, which he had initially described as being an “erratic meteor.” In 1871 over Marseilles, France, a strange, slow moving “meteor” was observed moving through the sky on the night of August 1. The object “moved east, stopped, moved north, stopped again, and returned to its easterly course.” This strange, slow moving “meteor” remained in view for about 20 minutes as it changed course numerous times in this way. Writing about this in his Scientific Sourcebook collection, Corliss noted that such “apparitions” are often described as “High-Level Nocturnal Lights, so named in UFO literatures.”
Whatever the object may have actually been, this did not seem to be a meteor, though there is always the possibility that a plasma of some variety had been responsible for the odd aerial display of 1872, a theory employed both by hopeful UFO researchers as well as by skeptics seeking to detract from the notion that extraterrestrial technologies might be behind some UFO reports. However, there are actually a number of other kinds of phenomenon that might constitute similar late-night aerial mysteries.
 
geminid

At the site of amateur astronomer Adam Marsh, a number of different kinds of astronomical oddities are featured, ranging from parallel or “double” meteors flying together side by side, as well as the theory that electromagnetic propagation could cause the appearance of sound as a meteor passes through the sky. Other varieties of phenomenon include “Black Meteors,” believed to be a trick of light or possibly even eye fatigue, as well as “fuzzy” meteors and those that fly along kinked or otherwise irregular paths (the most similar, perhaps, to the “erratic” meteors Corliss describes). To review a listing of these different celestial phenomenon, you can visit Marsh’s page here.
To reiterate something I mentioned earlier–and despite my persistent interest in reports of seemingly valid UFO phenomenon–I have on many occasions witnessed things that fascinated me in the night sky, some of which have appeared to remain inexplicable. I have never, on the other hand, managed to convince myself that these were truly “UFOs” in the sense that they were technologically controlled objects of some variety. Thinking back, I can recall seeing everything from the moon diffused through clouds and atmospheric phenomena, to double iridium flares and, yes, meteors behaving in an odd or inconsistent fashion.
Had I ever seen anything that really stirred my curiosity enough for me to consider extraterrestrials, I might feel differently about the UFO phenomenon in general; but this is not to say that I base my entire perspective on the phenomenon solely on what I alone have experienced, or that I dismiss what others have seen out of hand either. Instead, I merely wonder if there aren’t varieties of natural phenomena that could account for strange instances of UAP. To assume that we know all there is to know about nature and the cosmos is the height of arrogance; but to leap to conclusions about the nature of unexplained phenomenon based on a lack of data is also a problem… and hence, we are left pondering what the real unknown quantities are in relation to UFO reports.