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posted by martyb on Monday March 12 2018, @07:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the doo-dah-dee-dum-duum dept.

A group linked to Luis Elizondo, the former leader of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, as well as other former military and government officials, has released a video showing a 2015 UFO encounter involving U.S. Navy pilots:

A newly-released video which shows U.S. Navy pilots encountering an unidentified flying object (UFO) in 2015 has garnered calls for more research into what these mysterious objects could be. "What the f--- is that thing?" one pilot can be heard saying in the video. "Wow, what is that, man?" the pilot adds. "Look at that flying!"

The footage was released Friday by To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA), a private scientific research and media group. It is led by Dr. Hal Puthoff, a NASA and U.S. Department of Defense adviser and James Semivan, a former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency service member. The clip is said to be "an authentic DoD video that captures the high-speed flight of an unidentified aircraft at low altitude" and "reveals a previously undisclosed Navy encounter that occurred off the East Coast in 2015," according to a statement from TTSA.

Editorial by Christopher Mellon, deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations

From my work with To the Stars Academy, which seeks to raise private funds to investigate incidents like the 2004 Nimitz encounter, I know they continue to occur, because we are being approached by military personnel who are concerned about national security and frustrated by how the Defense Department is handling such reports. I am also familiar with the evidence as a former Pentagon intelligence official and a consultant who began researching the issue after the Nimitz incident was brought to my attention. On several occasions, I have met with senior Pentagon officials, and at least one followed up and obtained briefings confirming incidents such as the Nimitz case. But nobody wants to be "the alien guy" in the national security bureaucracy; nobody wants to be ridiculed or sidelined for drawing attention to the issue. This is true up and down the chain of command, and it is a serious and recurring impediment to progress.

Also at USA Today and NextBigFuture.

Related: UFO Existence 'Proven Beyond Reasonable Doubt': Former Head Of Pentagon Program


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  • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:52PM (11 children)

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:52PM (#651899) Homepage

    But at least we're making progress here. First, it was "why are there so many fewer sightings today" and we've at least now gotten to, "well, there are lots more sightings today but that's only because people weren't able to communicate before 1990".

    Again, you've overlooked the overwhelmingly important operative word here - reported sightings.

    For what it's worth, I don't agree that there are lots more sightings these days. I also never said or implied that people couldn't communicate before 1990. Stop being silly.

    Right, people didn't have access to electronic communications before 1990. MUFON has been collecting and investigating sightings since 1968...by telephone.

    And before that they could have done so by telegram, letter, smoke signal. The point is that the internet makes communication far, far easier. We've become much more used to communicating in this way. We'd never be having this discussion at all if not for the internet.

    The number of people that I communicate with in other countries has skyrocketed since the spread of the internet. It doesn't mean there are that many more people in those other countries than there were 20 years ago.

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  • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Tuesday March 13 2018, @06:55PM (10 children)

    by ilPapa (2366) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @06:55PM (#651932) Journal

    And before that they could have done so by telegram, letter, smoke signal. The point is that the internet makes communication far, far easier. We've become much more used to communicating in this way. We'd never be having this discussion at all if not for the internet.

    Ah, but the contention is not about "having this discussion", it's about reporting UFO sightings.

    How much easier is it to go to a website and fill out a rather extensive online form than it is to make a phone call? Is it easier by a factor of three?

    The easiest thing of all is to say "I'm a skeptic" and, "the number of UFO sightings has decreased even though we have cell phones!". Blind belief is always easier than doing a little research before making a pronouncement.

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    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday March 13 2018, @08:12PM (6 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 13 2018, @08:12PM (#651973) Journal

      How much easier is it to go to a website and fill out a rather extensive online form than it is to make a phone call?

      It would be cheaper, let us note. And how will you find the phone number? Look at the website for contact information.

      • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Tuesday March 13 2018, @09:23PM (5 children)

        by ilPapa (2366) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @09:23PM (#652009) Journal

        It would be cheaper, let us note. And how will you find the phone number? Look at the website for contact information.

        You're right, khallow. Prior to 1990, it was impossible for anyone to find a phone number. Too bad no one thought to create some sort of book, with pages, maybe make them yellow, and list phone numbers there.

        How did we even live before the internet?

        --
        You are still welcome on my lawn.
        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday March 13 2018, @11:21PM (4 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 13 2018, @11:21PM (#652048) Journal

          You're right, khallow. Prior to 1990, it was impossible for anyone to find a phone number.

          Because something is either easy or impossible, amirite?

          Let's consider the workflow here. Pre-1990, one would bug an operator or a librarian to get said long distance number. Maybe they'd have access to one of the USENET groups and post their question there. Eventually after consider effort and luck, they'd get the phone number and then pay a few bucks to call in.

          Post-1990? Yahoo's hierarchy system and probably eventually Geocities. Now, they just google it and either drop an email or fill out a web form.

          • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Wednesday March 14 2018, @12:57AM (3 children)

            by ilPapa (2366) on Wednesday March 14 2018, @12:57AM (#652089) Journal

            Let's consider the workflow here. Pre-1990, one would bug an operator or a librarian to get said long distance number.

            Actually, no. The pre-1990 workflow started with looking in a great big book that everybody had. It was called a "phone book", and yes, MUFON was in the phone book.

            --
            You are still welcome on my lawn.
            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 14 2018, @03:57AM (2 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 14 2018, @03:57AM (#652144) Journal

              MUFON was in the phone book

              There was no "the" phone book, but many phone books unique to each region and municipality. MUFON would not be in every phone book.

              • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Wednesday March 14 2018, @04:55AM (1 child)

                by ilPapa (2366) on Wednesday March 14 2018, @04:55AM (#652155) Journal

                There was no "the" phone book, but many phone books unique to each region and municipality. MUFON would not be in every phone book.

                Believe it or not, it was in most phone books in the 800- section (there actually was one).

                But generally, people who reported UFOs back then called their local police, who didn't want to deal with it so they passed the calls on to MUFON by giving out their phone number. One of the first things that MUFON after they were formed was liaise with local law enforcement down to county sheriff's and local municipal police.

                Even the extremely popular "real" UFO TV shows of the 1980s and early 90s would show the MUFON number at the end of every episode.

                --
                You are still welcome on my lawn.
                • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 14 2018, @07:26AM

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 14 2018, @07:26AM (#652196) Journal

                  But generally, people who reported UFOs back then called their local police, who didn't want to deal with it so they passed the calls on to MUFON by giving out their phone number. One of the first things that MUFON after they were formed was liaise with local law enforcement down to county sheriff's and local municipal police.

                  Definitely just as simple as googling for their website.

    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday March 13 2018, @09:29PM (2 children)

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @09:29PM (#652012) Homepage

      Ah, but the contention is not about "having this discussion", it's about reporting UFO sightings.

      Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise perfectly valid and useful analogies weren't allowed.

      How much easier is it to go to a website and fill out a rather extensive online form than it is to make a phone call? Is it easier by a factor of three?

      Before the internet, a lot of people wouldn't even have known where to look to find out who to report a UFO sighting to. It would just have become a weird tale told down at the bar.

      The easiest thing of all is to say "I'm a skeptic" and, "the number of UFO sightings has decreased even though we have cell phones!". Blind belief is always easier than doing a little research before making a pronouncement.

      I didn't say either of those things. The point I'm discussing is whether sightings - as opposed to reports of sightings, and reports to one specific organisation at that* - have risen.

      What the poster who mentioned cell phones was saying was not said altogether clearly by his own admission, but as long as you're not a zealous pedant (and I say that as a pretty zealous pedant myself) it's pretty obvious what was meant and that it is a sage observation.

      ------------

      *To somewhat reiterate a point further up, the rise in reports to this one particular organisation could be solely down to the rise of said organisation's visibility (self-promoted or otherwise). If, say, a fast food chain reports that they've got 10 times as many customers as they did last year, do you assume it's because of a change in eating habits, or might you instead consider that it's because the chain opened 9 more locations?

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk
      • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Tuesday March 13 2018, @11:11PM (1 child)

        by ilPapa (2366) on Tuesday March 13 2018, @11:11PM (#652043) Journal

        Before the internet, a lot of people wouldn't even have known where to look to find out who to report a UFO sighting to.

        The 1980s were something of a golden age for ufo data collection. With the 1977 release of Close Encounters and E.T. in 1982, there was no decade with a higher awareness of UFOs among the general public. I'll bet more people knew what MUFON was in the 1980s than know about it today.

        I didn't say either of those things. The point I'm discussing is whether sightings - as opposed to reports of sightings, and reports to one specific organisation at that* - have risen.

        If they're not reported, then how are you going to count them? How do you go about comparing unreported sightings by decade? Telepathy? I thought you were a skeptic.

        --
        You are still welcome on my lawn.