From: Sean Jones <tedric@tedric.demon.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 22:35:20 +0100
Fwd Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 00:45:34 -0400
Subject: UK UFO Network Ezine 102 Part 1
------ / / // ____// /---------------------------------------
U K / / // ___/ / / / 29th June 1999
/ / // / / / / N E T W O R K Issue 102
--- (_____//__/ (_____/------------------------------------------
The United Kingdom UFO Network - a free electronic magazine with
subscribers in 58 countries.
This issue comes in 3 parts. If any part is missing please mail:
ufo@holodeck.demon.co.uk giving the issue number. The issue will
be reposted to you. Please put the details as below in the
subject section e.g. Repost {102} part 1, part 2 or part 3.
In this issue:
Editorial
-------------------
United Kingdom News
-------------------
[UK 1] Three Year UFO Mystery Exposed as a Hoax
[UK 2] News Release from Nick Redfern
[UK 3] US billionaire funds crop circle research
[UK 4] Cracking the crop circle mystery
[UK 5] Real Alien Life Forms Unlikely To Resemble E.T.
[UK 6] The Ministry of Defence takes the movie industry seriously
[UK 7] UFO Mystery As Pilots See Red
[UK 8] ET phones home again
World News
----------
[W 1] NASA Seeks E.T. At New Astrobiology Institute
[W 2] Earth to Aliens - Physicists Plan to Send Second Message
Into Space
[W 3] Is anybody out there?
[W 4] NASA Seeks E.T. At New Astrobiology Institute
[W 5] A signal from ET?
[W 6] 'Star Trek' Actor Deforest Kelley Dead At 79
Book serialisation
---------------------
#######
{Breaking News as it happens}
uk.ufo.nw now has a dedicated fax number. If you have a report
or photograph from a newspaper, magazine etc you can fax it
directly to us on the following telephone number. You only need
to dial 44 if you are outside of the United Kingdom:
(44) 0870 0883592
#######
First things first I must make an apology on behalf of all of us
of the UK-UFO-Network E-zine staff.
In all the years and all the issue that the e-zine has been
published we have never received a complaint now we have
received the first mail from an unhappy author. The mail speaks
for itself.
From: "JON PRATTY" <J_Pratty@email.msn.com>
To: "UFO Geezers" <ufo@holodeck.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Don't nick my stories
Date sent: Sat, 29 May 1999 03:39:43 -0000
In issue 99 of your esteemed ezine you proudly display my
article 'Mission Sets Out To Find Water on Mars' from the Daily
Telegraph.
Please remove it, forthwith, or I'll send round the extra
terrestrials WITH baseball bats.
Or you could send me a fee for publication, and damages for
breaking my copyright.
Get it sorted!
Jon Pratty, freelance technology writer, Daily Telegraph.
United Kingdom UFO Network would like to apologise to Mr Jon
Pratty, a freelance journalist for the unauthorized insertion of
an article penned by himself in issue 99 of the e-zine. This
article has been removed from the issue stored on our website.
---
I am personally sorry for the lateness of this issue but I have
moved house and its taken me a while to catch up. So in some
part to make up for it this is a bumper issue, chock full of
exciting news from the world of ufology.
Well it has been a busy few weeks, not just for me but for many
people out there in cyberspace. Many things always seem on the
verge of happening and indeed some things do happen, but on the
second seal being broken and the government of the good old US
of A coming clean on the UFO situation is unfortunately is not
one of them. I'm sure some of our American readers are currently
grinding their teeth over the situation which almost seems on
the verge of breaking but never quite does. All we can do is
support them and hope that one when the proverbial "flying
saucer" lands on Buckingham Palace lawn the American government
comes cleans and says something like "well we did know but…."
Will it be in our lifetime? Only time will tell, now how's that
for a bad pun?
Other news, I couldn't let it be if I didn't mention that 'Star
Trek's' actor Deforest Kelley who died at the age of 79. For
those of you unfortunate souls who are too young to remember the
original series, you have missed much, a TV series that was
truly years ahead of its time. (Another bad pun, I must be
getting good at this)
On behalf of all the staff of the E-zine, we would like to
extend many thanks to Bernhard Nahrgang for his stalwart
supplying of many of the articles that appear in this here
e-zine. Without Berhard's efforts the e-zine would often be much
slimmer, Many Thanks Bernhard, you've earnt them.
Well with no further ado I will let you have all the really
interesting stuff.
******
A note from Dave the Editor-in-Chief of the Ezine
We have had a lot of requests for customised versions of MIRC
which will enable users to join us in our weekly Saturday IRC
(internet relay chat) meetings. Due to time constraints we have
been unable to deliver the latest requests as yet.
However after a little research we have found a new java applet that
will allow Windows 95 & 98 users to join the meetings just using
their web browsers. Go to the following url:
http://irc.ircweb.com/javairc/
A web page will appear, then after some seconds (be patient) a
java window will open. It will ask you for a:
Nickname - Username - E-mail address
Enter these details and click 'Connect'
Shortly a screen full of text will scroll up the window. At the
bottom of the window type:
/join #ufo
You are now connected to the uk.ufo.nw IRC channel. Down the
right-hand side of the screen you will see yourself (nickname)
and any other people on the channel. The main window on the left
is where the conversation text appears. The window at the bottom
is where you type what you want to say, remembering to press
return at the end.
The window is fully resizable so if you want it to fill the
entire screen it can. Give it a go. It is very easy, very
enjoyable and that is what it's all about. You will be made most
welcome on the channel.
The meetings take place every Saturday starting at 11pm UK time.
A word of warning. Should you see the following two nicknames on
the channel:
@K9
Alien
These are channel bots and not real people. They are programs
that keep the channel open. They have a very weak form of
artificial intelligence, so don't be surprised if you talk to
them and get some weird replies.
------------
[UK 1] ***
Source: Yorkshire Evening Post (UK)
Publish Date: 15th May 1999
From: bernhard.nahrgang@ob.kamp.net (Bernhard Nahrgang)
Three Year UFO Mystery Exposed as a Hoax
A three-year UFO mystery involving a lump of rock and a bottle
of alcoholic lemonade has finally been exposed as a hoax.
X-files boffin Nigel Mortimer, who regularly leads enthusiasts
on UFO spotting missions on Ilkley Moor, received bizarre maps
telling him where to find supposed alien relics which would
become the Eighth Wonder of the World. He said: "As a UFO buff I
am constantly open to hoaxes and pranks but this has gone on for
far too long!"
The hoax began three years ago when Nigel received an anonymous
map with weird markings on it, relating to UFO mysteries. Last
August events took on a more sinister tone when a second map
making references to a mysterious alien relic, The Mog Stone,
arrived through Nigel's letterbox.
Although he suspected the map may have been a hoax, Nigel made
it a priority to find out if the truth really was out there. He
said: "I think anyone who believes their home is being watched
by someone unknown, or from outer space, would be concerned."
Further documents and letters about The Mog Stone arrived at
Nigel's home, one even claiming the stone would be the eighth
Wonder of the World.
Unconvinced, Nigel enlisted fellow ufologist, Jon Hurst, for
help in tracing the source. He set up a new UFO internet site as
a trap and almost immediately a message regarding the Mog Stone
appeared.
The message was traced back to the business address of Frazer
Irwin, an outspoken resident of Ilkley. When confronted he
admitted to the hoax.
He said: "The Mog Stone is a fake. It's actually a lump of rock,
named after alcoholic lemonade, which I have been hiding in my
wardrobe. I made it look like a head and intended to reveal it
as an April Fool!"
Nigel said Mr Irwin had overstepped the mark.
***
[UK 2] ***
Source: Nick Redfern (UK UFO author)
From: "Mark Hall" capn_black@msn.com
Release Date: 16th May 1999
News Release from Nick Redfern
UFOs, The Official Secrets Act and The Joint Intelligence
Committee - A Breakthrough
Has the British Government ever employed the use of the Official
Secrets Act to silence those implicated in the UFO subject? To
those armchair researchers who proclaim that such an idea is
absurd, I say: 'Think again.'In my first book, A Covert Agenda,
I presented clear evidence via officially-released documents now
available at the Public Record Office at Kew, that in both 1953
and 1956 orders were circulated throughout the RAF warning
personnel not to talk about the UFO issue outside of official
channels; however, the records which had been declassified at
the time I wrote the book did not directly reference the OSA or
its potential use from a ufological perspective. Nevertheless, I
was also able to present the testimony of a number of
individuals (some with media ties) who asserted that the OSA had
been used to keep the truth surrounding UFOs under wraps.Via a
file that I secured only days ago from the PRO, however, I am
now able to prove conclusively that UFOs and the Official
Secrets Act go hand in hand. Exactly why the Government has
chosen to release this file is a mystery in itself, given that
it sharply contradicts past assertions.
The file in question (titled 'UFO Policy') covers the period
1958 to 1963 and revolves around UFO investigations undertaken
by various Air Ministry departments during that time frame.
Contained within the file is a 6-page document dating from
December 1960 and circulated at 'Secret' level throughout the
Royal Air Force. Like earlier papers, it details the procedures
to be followed in the event that military radar operators, RAF
pilots, civil pilots or members of the public should report a
UFO. Interestingly, however, the paper in question contains two
eye- opening revelations. First, it states that in situations
where UFOs were tracked on radar, any military aircraft in the
vicinity were to be diverted from their normal flight to
'investigate the phenomena'. Second, and far more significant,
is the Air Ministry's overwhelming desire to prevent the media
and the public learning about such intrusions, trackings and
interceptions.
I quote from the paper in question:
'The Press are never to be given information about unusual radar
sightings. Unauthorised disclosures of this type will be viewed
as offences under the Official Secrets Act.'
Although brief in nature, this document (which remained in use
until the formation of the MoD on 1 April 1964 - how
appropriate) makes it abundantly clear that the UFO issue was
indeed covered by the OSA.
On another - but equally important - matter, the file in
question also makes a very brief reference to a pre-1959 study
of the UFO mystery carried out by none other than the British
Government's Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC)! Certainly, it
has long been recognised that at various times since the late
1940s investigations into UFO encounters have been undertaken by
the Royal Air Force, the Air Ministry and the Ministry of
Defence. However, the revelation that the JIC also carried out
an investigation more than 40 years ago is of great
significance. Why so?
First, the membership of the JIC includes not just elite
personnel from the MoD, the Treasury and the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office, but also the heads of MI5, MI6 and the
Government Communications Headquarters at Cheltenham - GCHQ!
Second, the fact that (to my knowledge) no rumours have ever
circulated to the effect that the JIC undertook its own UFO
investigation programme in the late 1940s or 1950s, is an
indication of the level of secrecy that surrounded the project.
The files at the Public Record Office concerning the JIC make no
reference to a 1940s/50s UFO investigation; however, I am now
actively looking to resolve this issue via several methods and
hope ultimately to reveal further findings at a later date. At
this stage, the extent to which any of this may have a bearing
on the allegations of direct UFO studies undertaken by GCHQ, MI5
and MI6 both decades ago and in the present day, can only be
guessed at.
NOTE: Permission is granted to reproduce the above in journals,
magazines, newsletters, internet sites, books etc.
*******
[UK 3] ***
uk.ufo.nw says: We would like to thank the BBC for placing a
link to our home page next to the below report. It's amazing was
a well placed link can so.
Source: BBC Online
Publish Date: Wednesday 19th May 1999
US billionaire funds crop circle research
US billionaire Laurance Rockefeller is to fund the UK's biggest
survey of crop circles.
Scientists will be carrying out aerial research over Wiltshire
next month in the hope of finding out once and for all whether
the mysterious patterns are genuine or the work of hoaxers.
Some believe they are created by UFOs during nocturnal visits.
Others say they are connected to ancient "ley lines", or put it
down to natural phenomena such as unusual forms of lightning.
The first few crop circles of the season have already appeared
in several West Country fields. The area has long been the focal
point of those in Britain who believe that the circles are the
work of extra terrestrial forces.
Last year a US Website advertised week-long tours of UK crop
circles priced at $2,199 per person.
Until now research has been carried out by amateurs and
enthusiasts, known as croppies. But there is a growing
scientific discipline based around the study, known as
cereology.
Mr Rockefeller has given his financial backing to the UK's
largest and most scientific study.
One of Mr Rockefeller's areas for charitable giving is what he
calls "spirituality", which includes research into UFOs and
other unexplained phenomena.
Work funded by the billionaire has already built up the biggest
crop circle database.
Many farmers believe crop circles are the work of hoaxers, and
say they cause thousands of pounds of damage every year. Several
people have come forward to claim responsibility.
In 1991 two landscape painters, David Chorley and Douglas Bower,
claimed they started the hoax in 1978, after drinking in a pub.
They said for the past 13 years they had been sneaking around
southern England at night, fashioning as many as 25 to 30 new
circles each growing season.
In a BBC CountryFile special in January, Mr Bower, 74, showed
how his patterns were made with planks of wood, lengths of rope
and a ball of string. He said he was amazed that many followers
of crop circles still refused to believe they were a hoax.
But it seems there remain unexplained factors, such as the lack
or tracks or footsteps.
[UK 4] ***
Source: London Evening Standard / This is London
Date Posted: 24th May 1999
From: bernhard.nahrgang@ob.kamp.net (Bernhard Nahrgang)
Cracking the crop circle mystery
by Julian Champkin
Laurence Rockefeller, the American millionaire and
phil-anthropist, is funding scientific research into crop
circles, it emerged yesterday. Why? After all, this is a problem
that everyone thought had been solved.
The Crop Circle Mystery caused headlines and arguments nearly
every summer for 20 years. Strange shapes were appearing in
cornfields in Wiltshire and other counties. From the ground, the
corn was seen to be beaten down, amazingly regular. From the
air, the patterns appeared.
They came first as simple circles. Later, there were circles
within circles, then more intricate patterns still - circles
radiating spiral arms, circles joined by straight lines, circles
arranged in squares, even snowflake patterns of amazing
intricacy and beauty.
For 20 years arguments raged. Were they caused by circular
winds? Or were mysterious forces at work? The obvious solution
was human hoax. But if so, how?
In 1992, two Southampton men, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley,
confessed to making corn circles: every summer night for 20
years. Their method was simple: rakes and planks of wood to bash
down the crop, ropes to guide them to a perfect circle, loops of
wire on hats to guide straight lines.
It began as fun but, as UFO theories snowballed, they wanted to
see how credulous people could be.
Dave Chorley died in 1996. The pair had retired from
circle-making some time before. That should have been the end of
the mystery. Yet corn circles continued to appear.
'They are worldwide,' says Michael Green, President of the
Centre for Crop Circle Studies. And this week, the first of this
season's British crop, 12 of them, have been seen in fields of
oil-seed rape in Hampshire and at Milk Hill, Wiltshire.
Andrew Thomas, author of the crop-circle book, Vital Signs,
claims that the Bower-Chorley 'confession' was itself a hoax:
'They could not explain how they laid the stalks so perfectly;
nor why the circles have continued to appear.'
And now Laurence Rockefeller, brother of the late Nelson
Rockefeller, is funding a researcher to re-investigate the
phenomenon.
He is paying Connecticut-based Colin Andrews to engage staff and
they have flown reconnaissance flights over Wiltshire and
Hampshire. Andrews has a database of 10,000 crop circles. With
computers and satellites, the research and debate has re-
opened. So what could cause them?
'First theories were circular winds, mini-cyclones or
"dust-devilsi [tiny tornadoes], says Montague Keen, scientific
adviser to the Centre for Crop-Circle Studies for three years.
'A meteorologist devised a theory of "plasma vortexes",
spiralling winds of electrically-charged air.'
Ball lightning was another possibility - again circular, again
involving powerful and little-understood forces of electricity.
'But straight lines do not come from natural phenomena,' says
Keen. 'The patterns became increasingly complex and no natural
phenomenon can change and evolve like that. There were too many
for them all to be hoaxes.'
A U.S. physicist found evidence that corn inside the circles
under-goes chemical and biological changes. It takes up more
nitrates than corn outside, and microscopic holes form in the
stem tissue. These changes seem to argue for a sudden, sharp
infusion of energy into the circle - far more than could come
from men with planks or rollers.
'I was never quite convinced that his research was sufficiently
rigorous' says Mr Keen, 'but there were certainly
electromagnetic changes within circles. Compasses behaved
strangely; people felt either distress or euphoria inside the
circles; and batteries went flat unaccountably often.
'All this seems to point away from hoax towards something very
strange, indeed. There is clearly some kind of intelligence
behind them.'
And if it is not natural intelligence? 'Well, then you are
thrown back to imagining some wholly unnatural intelligence.'
As, for example, some form of psychic projection from human
beings - dead or alive.
'Some shapes of the early Eighties seemed similar to shapes
carved into rocks by Palaeolithic man,' said Michael Green,
President of the Centre for Crop Circle Studies.
Were mental energies of past minds being channelled into
cornfields?
The first corn-circle for which evidence is claimed appeared in
Hertfordshire in 1678. A pamphlet shows a woodcut of a circle
mown in a field of oats, and the devil mowing.
The pamphlet describes the sky over the field that night as
being 'all of a flame'; so here, too, for those who are willing
to believe, is a link with flying saucers and UFOs.
For, of course, there are the aliens as the final theory of crop
circles. Michael Green does not believe that little green men
are responsible - but he believes some kind of non-human
intelligence is behind them.
He points to a succession of shapes, from simple to complex to
very complex indeed. Can these be messages to be read by all of
mankind?
'These are written large on the landscape. They are there to be
seen. There is a non-human intelligence behind them,' says Mr
Green. 'That's what points one towards thinking the
unthinkable.'
******
[UK 5 ]***
ource: Reuters
Date Sent: 24th May 1999
From: bernhard.nahrgang@ob.kamp.net (Bernhard Nahrgang)
Real Alien Life Forms Unlikely To Resemble E.T.
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON - They may not look like E.T. but the possibility that
life forms exist beyond our planet is very real, scientists said
Friday.
Although he was just a loveable creature in a 1982 Hollywood
blockbuster, E.T. the extraterrestrial gave a less threatening
face to creatures from outer space.
Nearly 20 years after he hit the big screen, scientists have
still not found any real-life equivalent but they believe
conditions exist on other planets to support life.
``There are good reasons to think, as biologists, that there are
organisms that exist elsewhere,'' Dr Don Cowan, of University
College London, told The Royal Astronomical Society.
But life on other planets is more likely to be a single organism
capable of living under extreme conditions than the three-eyed
creatures depicted in many science fiction films.
``Life will be evolutionarily primitive,'' he added.
Even the simplest creatures, Cowan said, need liquid water, the
right temperatures, a nutrient supply and other essential
conditions to survive.
He described the biological ``envelope,'' or boundaries of life,
at upper and lower temperature levels and the places where such
primitive forms of life could thrive.
Hydrothermal pools, steam vents, boiling mud pools and
underwater hydrothermal vents, where life on Earth is thought to
have begun, are the ideal environments for simple life forms on
other planets.
``In that environment you would have all the requirements for
microbial life,'' he added.
Dr Monica Grady, of the Natural History Museum in London,
supported his arguments and went a step further, suggesting
planets such as Mars and the moons of Jupiter have areas on or
just below the surface where life could be sustained.
``There is the potential for life to have existed in many
inhospitable niches in the solar system,'' she told the meeting.
Mars and Europa, one of four moons closest to Jupiter, are the
most likely candidates because of the amount of water, a basic
precondition for life, they both have.
The surface of Europa is covered with an icy crust and
scientists know that the poles on Mars contain water and there
could also be possible water under the surface.
Grady expressed the hope that one day scientists would locate
extraterrestrial life on another planet.
``Hopefully it will look like this,'' she said, pointing to a
drawing of a green alien.
``But it will probably resemble that,'' she added as she turned
toward what looked like a large worm.
******
[UK 6 ]******
Source: BBC News
Publish Date: 26th April 1999
The Ministry of Defence takes the movie industry seriously
The British film industry is, it would seem, on the up and up.
After winning a healthy dose of praise at this year's Oscars,
its latest offering, Notting Hill, looks set to be another box
office winner.
And on the sun-kissed Riviera, British films are said to feature
heavily at this year's film festival in Cannes.
Among those keen to make sure that the UK's celluloid success is
not just a flash in the pan is the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Despite the pressing duties of coordinating the country's armed
forces, the MoD has now asked its senior communications officer
to lend the "luvvies" a helping hand.
"We recognise the value of the film industry to the country in
terms of culture, revenue and encouraging tourism, and are doing
our best to help," said a ministry spokesman.
Learning from mistakes
The officer in question is Una Muirhead, Director of Information
Communication and Strategy.
As the head of a 200-strong department, Ms Muirhead already has
a lot on her plate. Now she must also deal with film and TV
makers' requests for anything from tanks and fighter planes to
soldiers.
There are now about 100 projects under consideration from both
film and TV.
Among recent completed successes is the new James Bond film, The
World is not Enough, for which the navy supplied HMS Westminster
and personnel as extras.
The Royal Air Force also found locations for the BBC TV Sci-Fi
drama series, Invasion Earth, and advised on scenes involving
RAF jets shooting down a UFO.
"All senior communications officers of the UK's army, navy and
airforce have been advised of the value of helping with these
projects. We are also making the ministry's services known in
producers' directories and our own PR directory," said the
ministry.
The MoD's move is part of a wider government campaign to
encourage film- making in the UK, among both homegrown producers
and those from abroad.
It wants to stop the repetition of situations similar to that
faced by the makers of Saving Private Ryan. They had to move
filming from Britain to Ireland when the MoD refused to supply
troops as extras.
Early indications would seem to show that the strategy is paying
off, with the ministry noting an increase in calls from
producers since Ms Muirhead's appointment.
Calling in the troops
Operational requirements allowing, military equipment and the
troops to operate it - or act as extras - are supplied on a
tax-free, cost basis. But there are strings attached.
Despite being all for the demystification of the armed forces
through film and TV, the MoD will only become involved with
productions which show it in a good light.
BBC TV's Invasion Earth benefitted from the RAF's wisdom
"If a film is obviously fantasy, then we do not expect people to
think the portrayal of the navy, for example, to be realistic.
But, otherwise, we have to be very careful that a false and
damaging impression is not given," said a navy spokesman.
Nonetheless, plenty of projects look set to go further than the
drawing board, which will no doubt please a lot of people,
including some of the troops.
"If there are any budding Cary Grants in the forces they will no
doubt jump at the chance to get involved," said the MoD.
"But they are to do their jobs. When it comes to driving a tank
or behaving like a soldier, there is no room for method acting."
---continued in part 2 ------
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