|
DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE
Jan C. Harzan
A New Face To The World
Three years in the making and the new CMS front-end is finally ready for prime
time. As you know, CMS is our Case Management System we use to collect
UFO sighting reports from the public. It was developed more than 12 years ago,
in 2006, and is designed to collect UFO data. It was based on the latest technology
at the time and incorporated MySQL as the database manager and the
Perl programming language for the logic behind the screens. We also used it
to collect related information such as Entity Sightings, Alien Abductions, Animal
Mutilations and Crop Circle reports. But it was truly designed to collect UFO
reports. This is all changing now.
The changes are part of a bigger project that was needed for many reasons.
First, more than half of the visitors to the MUFON.com website use their mobile phones to look us up and report their UFO sightings to us.
The current implementation of CMS doesn't allow for an easy way to enter a report on one's phone. In fact, it is downright lousy. To do this right we needed a Responsive Design tool to allow the easy conversion of the data entry screens from platform to platform.
Read that as from your computer, to one's phone or tablet. So that regardless of what device one is using, it is easy to report a UFO sighting.
The second issue that needed addressing was the ability to report Abduction and Entity cases, especially ones that did not involve a UFO, without having to be presented with UFO sighting screens that are not relevant.
With a little magic and a lot of sweat, all of that is changing.
Now, when one signs onto MUFON.com and clicks "Report a UFO," the first question that will be asked is "What would you like to report?"
One will then be able to click one, two, or three options to report either a UFO, an Abduction, or an Entity sighting-or all three if desired.
Depending on what's selected on the front end, the question set will be tailored to the type of sighting encounter a person wishes to report.
Big thanks go out to the many people who made this possible.
First on the list is Tomas Karlsson, the primary programmer on the
project. Also, the late Craig Lang for his programming and design work on the front-end, and many others who have worked tirelessly to bring this about. Finally, thank-you's to the following people who helped beta test the site
prior to launch: Tom Bowden, Ruben Uriarte, Dinah Lechner, John Gagnon,
Tim Martin, Fred Kohler, Jeffrey MacMakin and Ken St.John.
MUFON is about teamwork, and this was a big team effort and one well worth it!
|
|
UPCOMING MUFON MEETINGS AROUND THE COUNTRY
Arizona:
PHOENIX MUFON meets Saturday, December 8, 12 noon-3 p.m., Arizona Historical Society Museum, Tempe, AZ.
Guest speaker George Knapp presenting "AATIP, AAWSAP, and Skinwalker
Ranch-A look at the connections between previously-secretive
Pentagon studies of UFOs and the infamous paranormal
hotspot known as Skinwalker Ranch."More at phoenixmufon.com.
NORTHERN
MUFON SOUTH BAY - San Jose Chapter meets 3rd Sunday every other
month, 1-4:30 p.m., Community of Infinite Spirit Center, 1540 Hicks Ave.,
San Jose. Speakers and MUFON case reports, $5 admission. Open to public. Contact Ruben Uriarte at ruben_uriarte@hotmail. com or go to northerncaliforniamufon.com.
MUFON SHASTA -Chapter meets in Redding, CA. Email Stacey at
MUFON MARIN-SONOMA - Chapter meets 1st Saturday monthly, 1-3 p.m.,
Petaluma Senior Center, 211 Novak Dr., Petaluma, CA. Open to public.
ROCKLIN MUFON - meets 2nd Saturday monthly, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.,
Round Table Pizza, back room, 4885 Granite Dr., Rocklin, CA. Learn about
and discuss UFOs, ETs, underground bases, government cover-up,
disclosure, conferences, reporting sightings, and everything ufology. Experiencers welcome. See meetup.com/Rocklin-UFO.
SACRAMENTO MUFON - meets last Saturday of every other month, 4-6
SOUTHERN
SAN DIEGO MUFON - meets 6-9 p.m., 3rd Sunday monthly, Denny's restaurant,4260 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., San Diego, CA.
Free admission. Come early for dinner.
ORANGE COUNTY MUFON - Wednesday December 19, presenting Preston Dennett: "Not from Here: The Weirder Side of UFO Encounters.
Connecticut:
CONNECTICUT MUFON meets 1st Saturday monthly,
11 a.m., AD's Pizzeria Restaurant & Lounge, 377 S. Center St., Windsor Locks, CT. Round-table discussions, self-purchase meals. Go to mufonct.com.
Texas:
HOUSTON MUFON meets 1st Saturday monthly, 4-6 p.m., 7026 Old Katy Rd., Suite 264, Houston, TX. HoustonMUFON.org.
SAN ANTONIO MUFON meets 4th Tuesday monthly 6:30
p.m. Luby's, 4541 Fredericksburg Rd., San Antonio, TX.
Free to public, livestreamed on Facebook with interactive chat.
Illinois:
ILLINOIS MUFON (Rockford, IL, area) meets 4th Saturday monthly, 10 a.m.-12:15 p.m., Rockford Public Library East Branch,
community room, 6685 E. State St., Rockford, IL.
Minnesota:
MINNESOTA MUFON meets 2nd Saturday monthly, 2-5 p.m.,
New Brighton Community Center, 400 10th St. NW, New Brighton, MN.
$3 for MUFON members, $5 non-members.
Missouri:
MISSOURI MUFON meets monthly, St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia, and Joplin, starting soon in Branson and Cape Girardeau.
New Jersey:
NEW JERSEY MUFON meets Saturday December 15th, 2-4:30 p.m.,
Monmouth County Library, Atlantic Highlands Branch,
100 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716. Organized by Joe Foster
and featuring Frank Chille, presenting "Becoming a Cosmic Citizen."
UFOeventsNewJersey.com.
New York:
NEW YORK STATE MUFON (SYRACUSE) meets Saturday, December 15th,
11 a.m.- 1 p.m., DeWitt Library, Syracuse, NY, featuring guest speaker
Linda Zimmerman discussing UFO sightings in the Hudson Valley area.
|
|
FROM MUFON STORE
Out of this World Christmas Holiday Card (5)
_______________________________
Mouse Pad
$8.00
_______________________________
UFO Cases of Interest: 2018 Edition
241 case overviews from January to December 2017, by Roger Marsh
|
|
Featured movie: UFO Secrecy
Filmmaker Tim Crawford and Historian Richard Dolan tackle an enormous subject. After explaining why UFOs are taken seriously in national security circles around the world, this film provides the best analysis to date as to how the secrecy on UFOs has taken form, how it has corroded our society, and how it works internationally. This film includes a fresh analysis on the black budget breakaway civilization, on the weaponization of secret technologies, the intelligence behind the UFO phenomenon, and the global UFO cover-up.
Considered one of the most informative films of 2018. Destined to be a classic.
See the movie trailer HERE
|
SAVE THE DATE!!!!!
The 50th MUFON SYMPOSIUM
Irvine, CA - July 26-28, 2019
|
Betty & Barney Hill Abduction - 1961
Betty and Barney Hill were an American couple who claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural portion of New Hampshire on September 19-20, 1961.
The couple's story, called the Hill Abduction, and occasionally the Zeta Reticuli Incident, was that they had been kidnapped for a short time by a UFO. Theirs was the first widely publicized claim of alien abduction, adapted into the best-selling 1966 book The Interrupted Journey and the 1975 television movie The UFO Incident.
Many of Betty Hill's notes, tapes, and other items have been placed in a permanent collection at the University of New Hampshire, her alma mater. As of July 2011, the site of the alleged craft's first close approach is marked by a state historical marker.
The Hills lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Barney (1922-1969) was employed by the U.S. Postal Service, while Betty (1919-2004) was a social worker. Active in a Unitarian congregation, the Hills were also members of the NAACP and community leaders, and Barney sat on a local board of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
They were an interracial couple at a time when it was particularly unusual in the United States; Barney was black and Betty was white.
According to a variety of reports given by the Hills, the alleged UFO sighting happened on September 19, 1961, at around 10:30 p.m. The Hills were driving back to Portsmouth from a vacation in Niagara Falls and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. There were only a few other cars on the road as they made their way home to New Hampshire's seacoast. Just south of Lancaster, New Hampshire, Betty claimed to have observed a bright point of light in the sky that moved from below the moon and the planet Jupiter, upward to the west of the moon. While Barney navigated U.S. Route 3, Betty reasoned that she was observing a falling star, only it moved upward, like a plane or a satellite. Since it moved erratically and grew bigger and brighter, Betty urged Barney to stop the car for a closer look, as well as to walk their dog, Delsey. Barney stopped at a scenic picnic area just south of Twin Mountain. Worried about the presence of bears, Barney retrieved a pistol that he had concealed in the trunk of the car.
|
|
