MUFON to receive major funding from billionaire backer

reply to post by _BoneZ_


Please can you say what state, and more about this? Good to know these things first hand. I'll follow up with headquarters.

ZG

Originally posted by shortywarn
the only negative to this could be


hopefully they don't lie or embelish finding to procure extended funding to keep ther project on track

i think mufon is above this,,, however ,,,when more money depends on findings,,,,i think that can cause some funky things to occur

so,,, we shall see

however in any event this is awersome


i think that may have always been the gov't,shadow gov't's trump card,,,that no one had the money, funding to seriously attack or prove ufo theories,,,or long term,,,highly scientific investigation

they felt safe,,, however now they may be scared sh-tless

That would be unfortunate, but as an F.I. I can say that would be very unlikely. Mufon is dead set against such. Not impossible but highly improbable.

There is only a few months to show how effective this idea actually is and some cases are already under investigation. We'll see.

I hope this flys!

ZG

How the billionaire accumulated his fortune has nothing to do with MUFON or UFOs.

What do you say is the "...reason why he got that way"?

Originally posted by Jay-in-AR
LearHoag,

Of course you are entitled to your opinions.
However, if I were a betting man, I would side with the billionaire.
There is a reason why he got that way.

reply to post by Learhoag


I figured that much would be self-evident.

He is obviously a very savvy investor. Meaning, he is not likely to hedge bets that fail.
He knows something we don't.
That's why we (I'm assuming here about you) aren't billionaires and he is.

Paul Allen funding sustains SETI

Well, with billionaires like Robert Bigelow & Paul Allen dropping pallet loads of cash money on MUFON & SETI we ought to be seeing some pretty interesting results in 2009 I hope.

I'm still not sure if I don't agree with Stanton Friedman that SETI is a waste of time and money though. Mountains of evidence point to ET already being here.

My criticism is based on what I've experienced since my first MUFON meeting in Los Angeles in the early 1980s until today based on many TV documentaries and many articles I've read. It is just an information gathering group and some of the individuals featured performing this function are just not the sharpest tacks in the pile and some behave like wannabe-movie stars.

My being a UFO enthusiast and former investigator for a few years, plus an ex-editor of a couple of UFO magazines in the 1970s, etc., etc., gives me the insight to criticize what I see as nothing more than a useless cause.

No one in MUFON has any idea what UFOs are or where they're from or anything out of the ordinary that the average Joe couldn't learn in a few minutes.

Do you really believe than an influx of money is going to give MUFON anything that they don't have now? UFOs cannot be studied, they don't sit around waiting for MUFON "experts" to ask their questions.

Even NIDS research methods have been criticized. Money buys knowledge but only knowledge that we humans create. We don't create UFOs so nothing is going to be gained by MUFON having access to more money.

No one on planet Earth has any knowledge about UFOs, not Uncle Sam, no world government. All we have are reports of sightings, photos/films/videos. That's the way it's always been and money has never been a factor in getting more than that. And, frankly, we already have too many reports filling file cabinets and computer hard drives. Accumulating more is not going to benefit anyone.

Originally posted by ZeroGhost

Originally posted by Learhoag
In my opinion, a major waste of money! MUFON is a joke. What do MUFONers do? The accumulate data and make themselves look important. In the meantime, nothing they get involved in or with results in any real useful knowledge. The last thing that any MUFON effort is going to achieve is what Bigelow expects. No one in MUFON will achieve anything worth bothering with.


reply to post by ZeroGhost

 

I would very much appreciate specific constructive criticisms. You need to be more detailed. We can't change Mufon without good suggestions. Can you tell us why your opinion is such?

One of the very practical reasons Bigelo is doing this is that he is smart. He wants the same information our military would. For materials and energy research and more. One item could revolutionize the technologies he needs to develop. In stead of weaponizing or hardening offensive technology he is putting it into the public world, not dark secret bases. Allow him to make a profit and then license to industry. Progressive capitalism!

Instead of re-inventing the wheel he knows that Mufon F.Is. are already trained and deployed all over the world. He provides incentives, scientific resources and people. Cool idea.

Love to here why you have issues with this.

ZG

[edit on 7-3-2009 by Learhoag]

I could have been a contender! :-(

Originally posted by Jay-in-AR
reply to post by Learhoag

 

I figured that much would be self-evident.

He is obviously a very savvy investor. Meaning, he is not likely to hedge bets that fail.
He knows something we don't.
That's why we (I'm assuming here about you) aren't billionaires and he is.

I am a big if not the biggest critic of Friedman but for once I agree with him, SETI has got to be the biggest waste of time and money. I once told Shostak he ought to shup up publicly because he is fortunate to be making a good living and he doesn't have to produce anything!

SETI is a waste because logic and common sense dictate that if you want to find out if any signals are arriving at earth that the whole planet become a receiving antenna and not some dinky small antenna regardless of what we call the big dish at Arecibo. In order to send signals equally earth has to be a transmitter, not some dinky single or collection of dish antennas.

Look at it this way: what SETI is doing is the equivalent of using a small flashlight compared to those lights (klieg?) that you see in big Hollywood events. Even though those lights are still restricted in coverage, I'm talking only about relative size. Anything SETI does, they do with a flashlight. Maybe if Tesla had lived to see it, he could have turned Earth into a radiating body, equally out to all directions.

Seth Shostak must be related to Stanton Friedman in that both are big, loud anal cavities.

Originally posted by Rek2008
Paul Allen funding sustains SETI

Well, with billionaires like Robert Bigelow & Paul Allen dropping pallet loads of cash money on MUFON & SETI we ought to be seeing some pretty interesting results in 2009 I hope.

I'm still not sure if I don't agree with Stanton Friedman that SETI is a waste of time and money though. Mountains of evidence point to ET already being here.

reply to post by Learhoag


You make a valid point in stating that MUFON cannot possibly understand why they are here or who builds them.

That is unless we are contacted by them officially and they give that information freely.
But there is also another possibility.
That being that the US Government DID confiscate one of their craft in Roswell and possibly other places as well and they know more than we do.

Now IF the Government is actually about to release their information, and I believe they are, then groups like SETI and MUFON will *immediately* become VERY, VERY popular with the General Population...
And then the Billionaire has his ROI.

I am not naive enough to think that billionaires don't get insider info. I also firmly believe that official disclosure is well underway.

reply to post by Learhoag


"Seth Shostak must be related to Stanton Friedman in that both are big, loud anal cavities."




I agree with you here. Anyone ever notice how Friedman makes a habit of discrediting everyone in the field except for himself.
"Hey, I'm a nuclear physicist, I'm the ONLY MAN ALIVE who could POSSIBLY know what is going on."

reply to post by ZeroGhost


Well, I guess that's it. We should have alien propulsion for use by the masses in a year or two.

How do I sign up as an investigator? I could use some cash.

On one hand i am happy about this although i am not sure this is for common good. I would suppose its most of personal interest. ( economic?)

On the other hand it may be another conspiracy tactic to manage information as they wish in one more level.......

Will we ever know?????????????????

What i know is that there is yet another bit of smoke yielding a more to conclusions that there is a case...

So after all the fire behind the smoke seems more likely to be...

I cannot conceive a reason why "aliens" (assuming they exist and are willing to contact humans to explain themselves) would select anyone from MUFON to explain themselves and their reason for being here. We think, or wish, that aliens would contact some important person such as the President of the U.S. (natch, we're proud Americans!), or any country. But the reality is they haven't.

A UFO did not crash near Roswel nor anywhere on planet Earth. This is a continuing fantasy since there is no evidence for it. And what is offered for evidence suffers also in reality.

I don't accept that the U.S. Gov't nor any government knows any more about UFOs than you or I.

The (U.S.) gov't has no information to release and even if it did have information they would not release it. What kind of information? Where did it come from? Who gathered it. How many would know about this information? How could it be kept suppressed?

"Official disclosure"? Doesn't exist. The only disclosure is what people know and what they think they know is not always what really happened. Many people with personal agendas out there.

Originally posted by Jay-in-AR
reply to post by Learhoag

 

You make a valid point in stating that MUFON cannot possibly understand why they are here or who builds them.

That is unless we are contacted by them officially and they give that information freely.
But there is also another possibility.
That being that the US Government DID confiscate one of their craft in Roswell and possibly other places as well and they know more than we do.

Now IF the Government is actually about to release their information, and I believe they are, then groups like SETI and MUFON will *immediately* become VERY, VERY popular with the General Population...
And then the Billionaire has his ROI.

I am not naive enough to think that billionaires don't get insider info. I also firmly believe that official disclosure is well underway.

[edit on 7-3-2009 by Learhoag]

LearHoag,

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

You present yourself as the editor of UFO magazines with over 30 years active in the field.
I guess it shouldn't surprise me that you don't qualify your statements with the possibility that you could be wrong.

PS - Actually, you do, at times... But only in a manner that contradicts what appears to be your life's work.
Sounds like you must be feeling as if you are chasing a goose.

I don't buy your story.

[edit on 7-3-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

I've known Seth since I worked for him on a SETI media project in 1990. I always had a better idea for a search than radio waves in the Hydrogen band. Sounds cool to astronomers and bureaucrats, but NASA tossed it out like extra baggage. I remember asking if other EM or beyond might be a better shot. Gravity waves (so far no bead on them) or other forms of emissions. I read once a sci fi book where a race was modulating a neutron star as a broadcasting station. But radio waves seemed as technologically pedantic as smoke signals are to a fiber optic cable. Allen is footing the bill though. Who knows, we might get alien sit-coms in a few years.

But Seth is a great guy. I like him. I just saw him at that bogus Bigfoot News conference last year, and asked him what he was doing there. Reporting. It was just a few miles from the SETI offices and he gets asked about this wacked subject area from news people. At least he is listening.

I can't say I have met many Mufon investigators outside my state, but a few very great and smart guys are on our teams.

The F.I. test is not a walk in the park, but I can see how you could pass without knowing everything. You need an 80% passing score and it goes into everything from physics to psychology and media relations. Covers radar, radiological and biological protocols. Jedidiah Jode would need an education or be pretty sharp. No idiots, but many do want to be stars. Thats not isolated to Mufon Field Investigators though. Many professions have such. Law enforcement, political positions, managers and more.

Bigelo is not only giving incentives, but also top notch field research equipment deployed in rapid response, and full materials & bio labs aplus world class scientists to do the research. Can't say much, but already some things are in play that just happened. So, Mufon is hitting the ground running.

I think this might bear fruit. These F.I.s got more motivation than a government worker. F.I.s do it for free now. Stop a government employee's check and see what happens.

ZG

No I didn't present myself as the editor of UFO magazines with over 30 years active in the field. You misread.

I started with UFOs in 1957. My statements stand. I am not wrong. My life's work? What is my life's work? I don't feel as if I'm chasing a goose. What I am chasing, if you want to phrase it that way, is ignorance. When it comes to UFOs, ignorance rules.

I originally said that giving money to MUFON is a waste. I stand by my comments.

Originally posted by Jay-in-AR
LearHoag,

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

You present yourself as the editor of UFO magazines with over 30 years active in the field.
I guess it shouldn't surprise me that you don't qualify your statements with the possibility that you could be wrong.

PS - Actually, you do, at times... But only in a manner that contradicts what appears to be your life's work.
Sounds like you must be feeling as if you are chasing a goose.

I don't buy your story.

[edit on 7-3-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

reply to post by Learhoag


"plus an ex-editor of a couple of UFO magazines in the 1970s, etc., etc., gives me the insight to criticize what I see as nothing more than a useless cause. "

Are these not your words from this very thread? This very PAGE on this very thread?

Yes, you claim to be an editor of UFO magazines with over thirty years active in the field. Of ufology, that is. In fact, it appears that you have many more than thirty years in the field. 52, to be exact.

Considering the fact that you were an editor for a published magazine, combined with the fact you have been in the field for 52 years, I would consider that a life's work. If not your major work.

And as I said, you appeal to this experience as if you cannot possibly be incorrect because of it.
Eh, I don't want to argue.
As I said, we'll agree to disagree.

The Government DID, *in my opinion* recover a crashed craft in Roswell all those years ago and they know MUCH in regards to this phenomenon.

We will know soon enough.

More on.

reply to post by Jay-in-AR

reply to post by Learhoag


Is that your attempt to be witty... or clever?

Why not address my points?
Instead you break two rules to insult me?
One line post. Insult.
Seriously dude, you have to be the worst debunker I've seen on this site to date. Nice use of "lear" in your handle.



[edit on 7-3-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

Anyhow folks, back to the subject, eh?

I think it is great news that MUFON will be able to pay its investigators now.

That, in and of itself, should be able to help clear up our esteemed UFO editor's main beef with MUFON. That being that they don't ever get to the bottom of anything.

Well, if they are now being paid to do their work, they will be able to employ competant researchers who have justifiable enthusiasm to do a good job.

We'll see where it goes.

[edit on 7-3-2009 by Jay-in-AR]