Better than "UFO" was a search for "Unidentified" AND "Flying" AND "Object". I'd estimate that about 95% of results after 1947 were result. However, there were surprisingly lots of results prior to 1947, only about 10% of which were relevant. One possibility would be devising searches that use terms combined with date restrictions e.g. "Unidentified" AND "Flying" AND "Object" but only in relation to articles dating from, say, 1947 or later.
Isaac Koi - New Uploads
Monday, November 20, 2023
Thousands of Australian UFO newsclippings - downloaded, organised and assimilated into wider collection using AI-generated code [AI assisted ufology]
Better than "UFO" was a search for "Unidentified" AND "Flying" AND "Object". I'd estimate that about 95% of results after 1947 were result. However, there were surprisingly lots of results prior to 1947, only about 10% of which were relevant. One possibility would be devising searches that use terms combined with date restrictions e.g. "Unidentified" AND "Flying" AND "Object" but only in relation to articles dating from, say, 1947 or later.
Thursday, November 16, 2023
ATS (AboveTopSecret.com) - 411 selected UFO threads archived as PDFs - some thousands of pages long
I've now archived as PDFs over 400 selected UFO threads from ATS as searchable PDFs.
I have checked the total number of pages in the 411 PDFs uploaded so far, but one thread is over 3,000 pages long in PDF format.
ATS (AboveTopSecret.com) was a popular forum until the last few years. Recently, all users were unable to login until some volunteers (particularly "Djarums") worked to re-admit at least some ATS members (including me). The new owner of ATS did not appear to be able to [or even attempt to] solve the problem, which seems to cast considerable doubt on the future viability of ATS.
Several other fellow members of ATS are working on archiving at least the text of numerous threads on ATS. I don't plan on uploading such an archive, at least unless and until ATS does go offline - but at least the material should be preserved. ATS had some of the most extensive online discussions regarding UFOs and conspiracy theories in the period from, oh, about 2000-2015 (prior to the current popularity of Facebook and Twitter).
(I'd estimate the total number of pages from ATS archived so far, if I converted them all to PDFs, would be at least several million pages of material).
Saturday, November 4, 2023
ATS ("AboveTopSecret") dying? Threads by Karl12 - PDFs added to online archive
ATS ("AboveTopSecret") was a very popular UFO / conspiracy discussion forum until the rise of Facebook, Twitter and other modern social media. ATS has been in a downward trajectory for a few years due to that competition. During the last week or two, ATS has appeared to teeter on the brink of collapse. All users were locked out of their accounts. The current owner appears to have disappeared and failed to sort things out. It seems that it's only due to the work of a few active volunteers on ATS, particularly "Djarums", that access has been restored for some members.
It's rather unclear if ATS will survive for much longer.
I've archived about 100 of my more substantial UFO threads from ATS as searchable PDF documents. I've also archived over 60 UFO threads by Karl12 after he gave me permission to do the same with his UFO threads.
I'm tempted to widen the archiving effort of UFO threads from ATS given the recent failures in relation to ATS and the risk that it may go down permanently, possibly soon. I did want permission from the new owner (and I've requested permission on ATS several times during the last few years, without any objection but no clear consent - although some of the moderators of ATS have helped me develop code to archive ATS threads as searchable PDFs...).
The archiving code that I've developed (with help from ChatGPT and some other members of ATS, particularly "Drewlander") iterates through a list saved in a file called "thread_details.csv" and creates a PDF of each thread in that list (as in the samples at the link above). That file listing threads can be used to store a list of relevant threads, in the format:
THREADNUMBER,NUMBER OF PAGES,AUTHOR - BRIEF TITLE [with no spaces after each comma]
e.g. :
1308154,14,Karl12 - New And Revised UFO Quote Directory
1278525,3,Karl12 - Highly Dubious USAF UFO Explanations
1231535,4,Karl12 - Early UFO Saucer Reports
841422,5,Karl12 - UFOs and falling leaf or pendulum motion
1171896,3,Karl12 - UFOs and Colour Change
878723,7,Karl12 - Electromagnetic Effects Associated with UFOS
460705,4,Karl12 - UFO OVNI Shapes
1233389,6,Karl12 - UFO Time Anomaly Research
505080,9,Karl12 - Unusual reports of UFOs taking on water
1261532,7,Karl12 - UFO Faerie Lore Connection
1273353,3,Karl12 - UFOs And Stopped Clocks
1271101,2,Karl12 - UFO Animal Reaction Research
1263051,3,Karl12 - UFO Cryptid Research
898220,6,Karl12 - UFO Light Beam Cases
1286201,3,Karl12 - UFO Pilot Under-Reporting Bias
900175,5,Karl12 - Missing Gun Camera UFO Footage
513308,10,Karl12 - UFO Government Documentary Evidence - Greenewald
I posted the relevant code and a brief bit of background in a blog post a while ago (before the most recent technical/hacking problems with ATS):
https://isaackoiup.blogspot.com/2023/04/some-abovetopsecret-ufo-threads.html
If other members of ATS want (and, ideally, give their permission), I can expand this archive. If anyone wants particular threads added, it would be helpful if they provided their list of requests in the same format as that used to list threads above (since I can then quickly paste that list into a file to be iterated by the code I've developed).
Sunday, September 24, 2023
PDF: "UFOs - A British Viewpoint" - book by Jenny Randles and Peter Warrington
This was the first book written by Jenny Randles. It was written in 1976 to 1978 and published in August 1979.
It was also the first book in which Jenny Randles (with Peter Warrington) stated that we "really ought to redefine our terms and speak of a UAP" and then define UAPs. Jenny recently stated to me that using "UAP" instead of "UFO" was literally the first thing they wrote about in this book as "definition of the terms of what you are investigating is always the most important starting point of research".
As indicated by the title of the book, it is focused on British sightings, but the analysis of different categories of UFO reports and of different theories regarding them is more general.
(I have a particular soft spot for this book as it was one of the first sensible books about UFOs that I bought...).
Jenny Randles and Peter Warrington, photographed in 1976 when they had just started writing this book:
Monday, September 18, 2023
Dozens more files from Grant Cameron's UFO research archives - Bob Pratt / National Enquirer, Frank Scully, Charlie Red Star, Donald Keyhoe, Roswell, Rahma and more
Grant Cameron has been busy scanning his UFO research files and has allowed me to upload them to my online archive, in a folder in his name.
The latest upload contains over 60 further files provided by Grant, including correspondence, research notes and other material relating to Bob Pratt / National Enquirer, Frank Scully, Charlie Red Star, Donald Keyhoe, Roswell, Rahma and more.
More from Grant's archives will be online in the next few days (together with, if I have a bit of luck confirming relevant permissions, further documents from other archives in the USA and Russia, and publications from skeptical organisations across Europe).
Friday, September 15, 2023
PDFs - "The Skeptic" (UK), first 100 issues : Largest single upload of skeptical material?
I think this may be the largest single upload by me so far (or anyone else, for that matter...) of material by prominent skeptics from Britain and around the world.
I have now uploaded the first 100 issues of the British magazine "The Skeptic", thanks to scanning by our friends at the AFU in Sweden. After my pestering some of "The Skeptic" team since 2018 (politely, I hope), the current and former editors of "The Skeptic" (i.e. Michael Marshall, Wendy Grossman, Deborah Hyde and Chris French) kindly indicated this year that they had no objection to this upload.
As summarised on the website of "The Skeptic", that publication is "the UK’s longest-running publication offering skeptical analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal". It was founded in 1987 and continues to be published. It "has become an invaluable resource for journalists, teachers, psychologists, and inquisitive people of all ages who yearn to discover the truth behind the many extraordinary claims of paranormal and unusual phenomena".
This sizeable upload joins a host of skeptical material in my online archive hosted by the AFU.
For ease of reference, the skeptical material currently in my online archive is listed below (this material being in addition, of course, to the mass of ufological / Fortean material from other viewpoints that I have uploaded to that archive in recent years with the help of well over 100 UFO groups / researchers around the world and, of course, permission from the relevant individuals:
(1) "Skeptic UFO Newsletter" by Philip Klass
(2) John Rimmer's "Magonia"
(3) Ian Mrzyglod's "Probe"
(5) "Tampa Bay Skeptics Report"
(6) "North Texas Skeptic"
(7) "South Shore Skeptic"
(8) "Arizona Skeptic"
(9) "Phoenix Skeptics News"
(10) "Georgia Skeptics" newsletter
(11) "Bay Area Skeptics Information Sheet"
(12) "Cincinnati Skeptic"
(13) "REALL News" (Rational Examination Association of Lincoln Land)
(14) "Skeptical Eye" (National Capital Area Skeptics, NCAS)
(15) "Shadow of a Doubt" (National Capital Area Skeptics, NCAS)
(16) The book "Flying Saucerers" by David Clarke and Andy Roberts ("A social history of Ufology")
(17) The book "The UFOs That Never Were" by Jenny Randles, Andy Roberts and David Clarke (in my view arguably the best UFO book in the last 50 years...)
(18) a PDF archive of about 10,000 pages of Tweets by skeptics Mick West and Charlie Wiser
Incidentally, after I uploaded one of the skeptical newsletters mentioned above, I was blocked by one or two UFOtwitter users that I had never interacted with (or mentioned and, frankly, rarely heard of). This large upload of further skeptical material is, in part, my response to those individuals... :)
Saturday, September 9, 2023
Canadian section of Grant Cameron's archives
Grant Cameron has kindly provided me with scans of numerous UFO documents, articles and notes relating to Canada.
I have added searchable copies of those scans to the folder I created for material from Grant's research archives.
The Canadian government documents in this upload overlap with the large set of PDFs that I uploaded in 2011-2012 (outlined in my items at that time on AboveTopSecret.com entitled "Canadian disclosure: “UFO Found” and other documents/photos" and "Canadian PDFs – “At no time should it be made available to the public” + more official memos") and my subsequent items / uploads.
Grant's collection complements the official Canadian files previously available, since his research archives includes further Canadian documents, press articles, research notes, and other material.
The scans I have currently added to that folder from Grant's collection are:
1976 Ontario Triangles.pdf
1976 Triangles Case.pdf
1991 Canadian UFO survey pilots.pdf
1991 Canadian UFO survey.pdf
2023-07-25 CSiS Five Eyes letter.pdf
Arthur Bray Adamski.pdf
Brian Parks Arthur Bray.pdf
Canadian Embassy correspondence.pdf
Canadian Government Documents 1.pdf
Canadian Government Documents 2.pdf
Canadian Government Documents 3.pdf
Canadian Government Documents 4.pdf
Canadian Government Documents 5.pdf
Canadian Government Documents 6.pdf
Donald Keyhoe Wilbert Smith.pdf
Inside circle member Arthur bray phone notes.pdf
Manitoba UFO polls.pdf
Manitoba Cases and Notes 1.pdf
Manitoba Shirtliffe Sighting.pdf
Manitoba UFO Material 2.pdf
Manitoba UFO Material 1.pdf
Manitoba UFO Stuff.pdf
Musgrave RCMP quote.pdf
My Father-s sighting.pdf
Ottawa Flying Saucer interplanetary society.pdf
Project Magnet 1.pdf
Project Magnet 2.pdf
Project Magnet 3.pdf
Project Magnet 4.pdf
Project Magnet Official Status 1.pdf
Project Magnet official status 2.pdf
Smith contactee.pdf
Smith contactee_page_5.pdf
Wilbert Smith draft article.pdf
Wilbert Smith GeBauer Correspondence.pdf
Wilbert Smith Mrs Swan Project Magnet_page_3.pdf
Wilbert Smith Quotes.pdf
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