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UFOreports Grey Joined: 04 Mar 2010 Total posts: 3 Gender: Unknown |
 Posted: 07-03-2010 19:09 Post subject: MoD decision not to record UFO reports... |
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I have enjoyed reading these forums for many years, but this is the first time I've posted.
The reason I'm posting now is that the recent MoD/ UK government decision to cease recording UK UFO reports - and indeed to simply destroy those that they do still receive after a period of 30 days - has rather incensed me.
Hence, I have set-up a simple, straight forward, website (http://www.UFOreports.co.uk/) designed explicitly to record UK UFO reports.
One of the reasons I feel so strongly about this, is that this new attitude to UFO reports seems potentially indicative of their [the government's] attitude to the Freedom of Information Act itself; which surely can be of no value what-so-ever if it can simply be circumvented by the destruction of data!
Last edited by UFOreports on 07-03-2010 20:08; edited 1 time in total |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-03-2010 19:25 Post subject: |
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Fair enough, but I'm not happy about this condition:
| Quote: | | By supplying your report you agree that you relinquish all ownership, inclusive of copyright, of the report - and any associated media - to us [UFOreports.co.uk] (this is necessary for us to publish your report and/ or publicise it via any other media). |
I can have photographs published on the BBC or in the press without relinquishing copyright. Only if there is a commercial transaction (ie, someone pays me for my work) might I have to relinquish copyright.
I assume you're not offering to pay for reports. That would be rather foolish in any case, as it would only increase the number of hoax reports.
Last edited by rynner2 on 10-03-2010 22:52; edited 1 time in total |
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| UFOreports Grey Joined: 04 Mar 2010 Total posts: 3 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 07-03-2010 19:51 Post subject: |
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rynner2,
The text you refer to is part of the - I admit, rather detailed (maybe overly so in retrospect) - privacy policy.
FYI - I have worked in the Internet sector for over a decade and believe that a clear privacy policy is important (most UFO related sites exhibit no privacy policy at all). The text is primarily designed to reassure of our privacy policy, more than anything else. It is also designed to ensure that http://www.UFOreports.co.uk/ can be referenced by third-parties without any fear of copyright infringements.
However, I do appreciate the concerns that you have raised and may revisit/ revise the text in future.
Comments are appreciated and I take yours on-board.
As stated on the site itself, this is still 'early days'. My main focus has been on putting the site 'live'.
My aim is to produce a site which those whom have seen UK UFOs will regard as trustworthy, and will hopefully encourage reports from those whom might previously only have considered the MoD a worthwhile avenue of pursuit. |
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| UFOreports Grey Joined: 04 Mar 2010 Total posts: 3 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 10-03-2010 21:00 Post subject: UFOreports.co.uk |
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Comments taken on-board (and hopefully addressed)...
Much more friendly (less corporate) policy now in place. The section referenced now reads 'By supplying your report you agree that you allow us to publish it and any associated media.'
Hope this helps to assure all of the intended nature of the site. |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 10-03-2010 22:59 Post subject: |
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Now all I have to do is sight a UFO.
Happily, the local council has replaced our old yellow sodium street lighting with new state-of-the-art white lighting, which gives far less glare and sky-glow.  |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-07-2010 09:33 Post subject: |
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I don't think this is worth a searate thread - unless it actually happens!
(Although it's just the sort of thing that would appeal to anally-retentive EU bureaucrats...  )
EU call for 'X Files' archive of UFO sightings
A European Union lawmaker has called on member governments to open their secret files on UFOs, saying people need to know about close encounters of the third kind.
Published: 5:58PM BST 06 Jul 2010
Mario Borghezio, an Italian member of the European Parliament, said that the EU needed its own "X Files" archive where anyone could see information on UFOs – including data gathered by the military.
Mr Borghezio said all European governments should go public and stop what he called a "systematic cover-up."
Opening the files is not unprecedented. Last year, Britain published 4,000 pages online on 800 alleged encounters with aliens during the 1980s and 1990s. And over the past three years the Ministry of Defence has been gradually releasing previously secret UFO papers after facing Freedom of Information demands.
Mr Borghezio also said it was essential to have a scientific centre to research unidentified flying objects. Its investigations could have "major scientific and technological spin-offs," he said.
"I think that, under the principle of transparency, the EU member states have a duty to make public and available to all scientific data on UFOs which today are partially or wholly withheld," he said.
He is seeking the support of other lawmakers from the 736-member assembly for a statement calling on governments to act.
So far, though, he's collected only 18 signatures.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/7875617/EU-call-for-X-Files-archive-of-UFO-sightings.html |
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| linesmachine Great Old One Joined: 23 Aug 2003 Total posts: 1002 Location: Oxfordia UK Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 07-07-2010 10:50 Post subject: |
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| I wish him the best of luck. I'd love to be able to surf through all the European UFO reports, just to see how they differ between countries. For me, that's half the fun. |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
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| Heckler20 The Sockpuppet of
Cthulhu's Prodigal Son Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Total posts: 4702 Location: In the Nostril of The Crawling Chaos Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 05-08-2010 09:55 Post subject: |
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Timothy Good was on the Breakfast telly (along with a representative from BUFORA) discussing this and everything was going well with a discussion on the mundanity of the releases, general public reports and inter-office memos when all of a sudden out of the blue Good drops in an anecdote about a royal equerry and Deputy Commander in Chief of RAF Strike Command (Peter Horsley) who wrote about meeting a humanoid Extra-terrestrial who could read his mind. 
Needless to say the rep from BUFORA looked embarrassed and I'm sure Joe Public's perception of Ufology just dropped a couple of notches.
Nice anecdote Tim, wrong forum to bring it up. |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 05-08-2010 10:02 Post subject: |
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The foo fighter story involving Churchill seems quite interesting.  |
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| Heckler20 The Sockpuppet of
Cthulhu's Prodigal Son Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Total posts: 4702 Location: In the Nostril of The Crawling Chaos Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 05-08-2010 10:06 Post subject: |
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| Pietro_Mercurios wrote: | | The foo fighter story involving Churchill seems quite interesting. |
Although a bit tenuous being a foafoaf type tale. |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 09:45 Post subject: |
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| Heckler20 wrote: | | Pietro_Mercurios wrote: | | The foo fighter story involving Churchill seems quite interesting. |
Although a bit tenuous being a foafoaf type tale. |
The bookies are taking it seriously!
UFO files: bookmakers slash betting odds that 'aliens exist' after Churchill claims
Bookmakers have been forced to slash the odds on bets that aliens exist after it emerged Winston Churchill ordered a cover-up of a Second World War encounter between a UFO and a RAF bomber.
By Andrew Hough
Published: 7:30AM BST 06 Aug 2010
William Hill reported a surge of people placing bets on whether there was extraterrestrial life after claims were published about the former Prime Minister fearing public "panic" and loss of faith in religion about the war incident.
Betting officials on Thursday said they slashed the odds that David Cameron, the Prime Minister or Barack Obama, the US President, would admit the existence of aliens within a year from 100/1 to 80/1.
One gambler even placed a bet that will see them win more than a million pounds if any such claims are proved.
"We have had loads of calls. There are thousands of believers out there many of whom are putting their money on an imminent announcement," said a Hill's spokesman.
According to newly declassified files on UFOs, released on Thursday online by the National Archives, Churchill allegedly banned reporting of the “bizarre” incident, off the east coast of England, for half a century amid fears disclosures about unidentified flying objects would create public hysteria.
He is said to have made the orders during a secret war meeting with US General Dwight Eisenhower, the then commander of the Allied Forces, at an undisclosed location in America during the latter part of the conflict.
The allegations involving Churchill were made by the grandson of one his personal bodyguards, an RAF officer who overheard the discussion, who wrote to the Ministry of Defence in 1999 inquiring about the incident after his grandfather disclosed details to his family.
After investigating the claims, an MoD official said there was no evidence to support the claims as all “UFO files before 1967 were destroyed after five years” due to insufficient public interest. This was supported by a Cabinet Office official.
The UFO files also disclosed that the MoD intervened in a dispute between a gambler and Ladbrokes, after the betting agency refused to pay out a bet that aliens existed.
The gambler, whose details were redacted, placed a 100-1 bet with the bookmakers that “aliens would be found on earth (dead or alive) before the end of the century”.
He placed the wager in 1990 as part of double "paired" bet on that year's football World Cup with the bookmaker's Lower Briggate branch in Leeds.
The bet was never paid.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/7929052/UFO-files-bookmakers-slash-betting-odds-that-aliens-exist-after-Churchill-claims.html |
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| Timble2 Imaginary person Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Total posts: 7114 Location: Practically in Narnia Age: 58 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 10:01 Post subject: |
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| With Churchill being involved, it's looking like Victory of the Daleks, in the last series of Doctor Who might be a documentary... |
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| Analis Great Old One Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Total posts: 851 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 17:10 Post subject: |
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| The part with Churchill seems anachronistic. His remark (that is, if he told it at all) implies that he thought of aliens, which is unlikely for any ruler in the Second World War. |
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| Mal_Content Great Old One Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Total posts: 779 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2010 20:55 Post subject: |
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oh look what I found
| Quote: | Churchill 'borrowed' famous lines from books by HG Wells
By Sarah Cassidy
Monday, 27 November 2006
Winston Churchill was a closet science fiction fan who borrowed the lines for one of his most famous speeches from HG Wells, says new research.
Dr Richard Toye, a history lecturer at Cambridge University, has discovered that the phrase "the gathering storm" - used by Churchill to describe the rise of Nazi Germany - had been written by Wells decades earlier in The War of the Worlds, which depicts an attack on Britain by Martians. Dr Toye also identified similarities between a speech Churchill made 100 years ago and Wells's book A Modern Utopia, published in 1905.
Tellingly, just two days before Churchill delivered the speech in Glasgow on 9 October 1906, he wrote to Wells to enthuse about the book, admitting: "I owe you a great debt."
"It's a bit like Tony Blair borrowing phrases from Star Trek or Doctor Who," Dr Toye said.
Dr Toye made the discoveries while researching a book on Churchill. He identified several points at which Churchill appeared to borrow Wells's ideas.
"People look at politicians in the 20th century and presume their influences were big theorists and philosophers," Dr Toye said. "What we forget is that Churchill and others were probably not interested in reading that stuff when they got home after a hard day in the House of Commons. They wanted to read a book that was full of ideas but was also going to be fun. HG Wells was perfect for that.
"Churchill was definitely a closet science-fiction fan. In fact, one of his criticisms of A Modern Utopia was that there was too much thought-provoking stuff and not enough action."
Dr Toye argues that Wells was an important intellectual influence on Churchill during the formative period of his career.
In 1901, having already written some of his best-known works, including The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, Wells wrote Anticipations, a book of predictions about the future calling for the establishment of a scientifically organised New Republic.
His publisher sent a copy to Churchill, and the future prime minister wrote a long letter to the author, in which he told Wells: "I read everything you write" - adding that he agreed with many of his ideas.
Churchill and Wells first met in 1902. They kept in touch in person and by letter until Wells died in 1946.
Wells wrote A Modern Utopia in 1905. The book was an attempted update of Thomas More's Utopia, which championed radical ideas including basic state support for citizens. Churchill, then a junior minister in the Colonial Office, did not get around to reading it until his holidays the following year.
Two days after writing to Wells, Churchill gave an address to the Scottish Liberal Council in Glasgow in which he said the state should support its "left out millions". Historians now regard this as a landmark speech of Churchill's career.
In 1908, Wells supported Churchill when he stood in a by-election for the seat of Manchester North-West.
In 1931, Churchill admitted that he knew Wells's work so well he could pass an exam in it. "We need to remember that there was a time when Churchill was a radical liberal who believed these things," Dr Toye explained. "Wells is often seen as a socialist, but he also saw himself as a liberal, and he saw Churchill as someone whose views were moving in the right direction."
A meeting of minds
* On the state:
Like Wells, Churchill said the state should support its citizens, providing pensions, insurance and child welfare.
* On Utopia:
Wells entitled his book A Modern Utopia.
Churchill, two days after expressing his "debt" to Wells, described his own vision of the supportive state as a "Utopia".
* On selective breeding:
Wells advocated the idea of selective breeding, arguing that people should only be able to have children if they met certain conditions such as physical fitness and financial independence.
Churchill told Wells he particularly admired "the skill and courage with which the questions of marriage and population were discussed". Churchill was then described by a friend as "a strong eugenist".
* On English-speaking peoples:
Wells predicted the political unification of "the English-speaking states" into "a great fed eration of white English-speaking peoples". Churchill often argued for to the "fraternal association" or "unity" of the English-speaking peoples, and even wrote a four- volume his |
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/churchill-borrowed-famous-lines-from-books-by-hg-wells-426031.html |
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