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A California witness at Landers reported that a group of people at a UFO conference watched and videotaped a military jet “chasing” two lights sources that may have been two independent objects, according to testimony in Case 84123 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database. The sighting occurred about 10 p.m. on May 21, 2017, at the conference in Joshua Tree, CA, that included one participant shooting video with night vision goggles.

By Roger Marsh www.OpenMinds.tv 7-13-17

“Luckily one of my participants caught this and many of our other sightings (from all three nights no less), with his black-and-white night vision video camera,” the witness stated. “His additional footage of some of the other incredible sightings will be posted at a future date once they are compiled.”

The witness described the event.

“At just before 10 p.m. (did not note exact time), some of my participants and I saw a large, amber-colored light low to the horizon just behind Giant Rock from where my whole group of about 50-plus people were gathered and using 15 pair of night vision goggles. A contingency of about 20 of us ran to get a better view of it. To the naked eye it appeared to be a large, orangish (amber) light, that, quoting some of the 20 people; ‘flew like a bumble bee.’”

One of the guests had a good look.


The group then heard the sound of a low flying jet from behind the hill.

“Suddenly clearing the top of the hill and right over our heads, came a very fast military jet chasing a faster, large, red-glowing light. The military jet had both red and white blinking strobe lights and glowing afterburners and was very loud as it flew directly above our heads. The large red light had no blinking lights and no sound at all. It became clear to all 50-plus witnesses, this was no jet. Those folks present who looked with the aid of the goggles said they were seeing either two lights, or one object with two light sources on it.”
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The purpose of CEFAE is to research the possible causes of unidentified flying object sightings, and publish a report with the conclusions of cases that have been solved.

On September 15, the head of the Aerospace Phenomena Study Commission (CEFAE), Commodore (R) Ruben Lianza, held a talk on the subject of "aerospace phenomena research methods" at the Centro Cultural de la Ciencia in Buenos Aires's Palermo district.

By Lic. Florencia Sosa Inxplicata 10-4-16

The purpose of CEFAE is to research the possible causes of unidentified flying object sightings, and publish a report with the conclusions of cases that have been solved.

During his presentation, Commodore Lianza described how he developed an interest in aerospace observations and mentioned that upon entering the Air Force, he devoted himself to unusual air traffic phenomena. He personally looked into cases involving ground marks, photographing a circle in the grass of a ranch and a "spot" on the Pajarillo Mountains.

According to the expert, Air Force files on the study of phenomena go back to 1968, and research fell under the Aeronautical Intelligence Service. Subsequently, in 1979, the National Space Investigation Commission was created with the aim of investing cases involving space junk. This commission operated until 1987. In 2011, the Air Force General High Command Created the Aerospace Phenomena Study Commission (CEFAE)

"CEFAE's problem consists in identifying an initially unidentified phenomenon. A case cannot be investigated if its two components are not present: the eyewitness report and the proof. This vital, because many ufologists have devoted their lives and millions of dollars to study cases only with eyewitness accounts and no evidence," he explained.

The importance of distinguishing between unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and identified flying objects (IFOs) was also stressed duirng the session. According to the official, identifying an object is due to the experience of the researchers who look into similar cases, along with the application of new computer tools.

"Research is absolutely necessary. The scientific method seeks to operate with relevant operation. If it is historic, it describes what it was; if it is descriptive, it interprets what it is, and if it is experimental, it describes what will be," explained Commodore Lianza.

He stated that research into the UFO phenomenon is descriptive, as it requires identifying the cause of the sighting.

Photos and videos go through an initial filter, in which the evidence is immediately identified as "an optical phenomenon, a camera effect, an astronomical, aeronautical, astronautical, meteorological or geological cause, or even a biological cause such as birds or insects, although there can also be unusual aerial phenomena that we are not aware of."

CEFAE's director explained that the method he recommends in finding an answer to these phenomena is composed of a hypothesis, initial causes, suspected causes and a conclusion. These reports are published at the official website of the Argentinean Air Force every year during the first week of December.

"Research is of critical importance, as it allows us to make contact with reality in order to understand it better," Commodore Lianza stated, adding: "Out of thousands of cases researched throughout the world, less than 5% remain unidentified."

"The research methodology causes us to make a double effort to ascertain not only what the UFO was, but also to find out what it wasn't. Therefore, a thorough knowledge of the identifiables, the IFOs, is essential to dismiss them," explained the officer, adding: "To be a good ufologist, you must first be a good ifologist."

He went on to add that human emotions, erroneous identification and optical illusions also come into play in the UFO phenomenon.

"To me, progress consists in going from UFO to IFO, even if it's an alien spaceship, because now it's identified with a name. What's regrettable about the past 69 years is that people use the acronym UFO as EFO (Extraordianry Flying Object). They use it as a synonym, when it isn't."

CEFAE has two areas of research that are pivot around intramural investigation (desk research) and extramural (field research). "Desk research involves a review of data, processing of eyewitness interviews and photographic analysis. This is what CEFAE does practically every day." In turn, the Commodore declared that several methods are employed in determining the cause of the object. In some cases, the distance between the object to the camera is computed, or its trajectory, or whether it is an internal optical reflection. Delivery of the original image, uncropped and without post-production is an indispensable requirement.

"The true challenge in observing space phenomena is to see what it was, whether or not it was extraterrestrial," remarks the expert. "We are obligated to give a sensible answer to the people. The idea is that CEFAE should not be perceived as a mere explainer, because explaining is the final stage of a process. It should be perceived as a clarifying organization."

[...]

Throughout the length of the presentation, he stressed the importance to make government officials and society at large aware of the need to create a contingency plan for cases involving falls of radioactive space junk.

Finally, he highlighted the importance of pursuing research into aerospace phenomena to facilitate its recognition and case analysis. In this regard, CEFAE is engaged in the inescapable task of training human resources, an initiative that is being achieved through Air Force courses under the Curso de Transcendencia del Poder Aeroespacial Nacional (CTPAN).

"To date, there exists no scientifically validated evidence that there are spaceships flying over our planet (...) but what we do have are the eyewitness accounts of UFOs, eyewitness reports that are real and deserve as factual and accurate a response as possible," concluded Commodore Lianza, adding: "Let us remember that when people see something at the far end of their visual field, the brain completes the information by resorting to imagination."

The chat ended with a round of questions in which those present indicated their interest in the subject, and went into detail about the work carried out by the Aerospace Phenomena Study Commission.
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London's Canonbury Masonic Research Centre presents its 13th annual international conference in October. This year's theme is "Freemasonry and Empire."

Saturday 22 October

9:00 Registration and coffee
9:50 Official opening

10:00 Keynote lecturer: Freemasonry across Empires
Dr. Jessica Harland-Jacobs, Associate Professor, University of Florida

10:45 Morning coffee

11:15 Chair: Professor Andrew Prescott, King’s College London

Empire, the Craft, culture and the Anglophone Caribbean
Dr. Allison Ramsay, University of the West Indies, Barbados

Western ideology meets Eastern promise: an archival view of the masonic relationship between Umdat ul Umrah (future Nawab of the Carnatic) and the Prince of Wales (future King George IV), Grand Master
Susan Snell, Archivist, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London

Freemasonry and the Indian Parsi Community: a late meeting on the level
Simon Deschamps, University of Bordeaux III

Uncharted masonic identities in British colonial amateur films, 1920 - 1940
Dr. Annamaria Motrescu, Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge

12:35 Panel discussion
13:00 Lunch

14:15 Keynote lecture: Freemasonry and slavery in the British Empire
Professor Cécile Revauger, University of Bordeaux III

15:00 Afternoon tea

15:30 Chair: Dr. Jim Daniel, University of Sheffield

Russian Freemasonry, imperial reform and utopianism in eighteenth and early nineteenth-century imperial Russia
Dr. Yuri Stoyanov, SOAS

Freemasonry in Egypt in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
Karim Wissa, Diplomat

Muslim reformers and the British Empire: the masonic affiliations of Jamal ad-din al-afghani and Mohammed Abduh
Said Chaaya, L’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EHPE), Paris

Freemasonry in the Congo, 1908-1914. Anti-masonic discourse of the Catholic missionaries
Jimmy Koppen, Free University of Brussels

16:50 Panel discussion
17:30 Close
19:00 Dinner


Sunday 23 October

10:00 Keynote: Anglo-American masonic relations, 1840 - 1890
Dr. Jim Daniel, University of Sheffield

10:45 Morning coffee

11:15 Chair: Dr. Jessica Harland-Jacobs, Associate Professor, University of Florida

Iconography of the Imperial lodges
Mark Dennis, Curator, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London

Setting the Empire in Stone: Richard, Earl Temple and the building of Stowe
Dr. Joan Coutu, Associate Professor, University of Waterloo

Eighteenth-century masonic halls and the British Empire
Harriet Sandvall, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London

'An Emblem of the Unity of the Empire': Freemasonry and the Imperial Institute, South Kensington
Frank Albo, Peterhouse, University of Cambridge

12:35 Panel discussion
13:00 Lunch

14:15 Keynote lecture: Curling with Cannonballs: Fratriotism and the negotiation of identity in Europe
Professor Andrew Prescott, King’s College London

15:00 Afternoon tea

15:30 Chair: Professor Cécile Revauger, University of Bordeaux III

The ‘great masonic Empire’ of Napoleon Bonaparte and the construction of masonic identities in Europe (1800-1815)
Dr. Eric Saunier, University of Le Havre

Freemasonry and the Central Powers: the 1918 Berlin conference
Reinhard Markner, Berlin

Regimes of territoriality: overseas conflicts and inner-European relations, c.1870-1930
Dr. Joachim Berger, Institute of European History (IEG), Mainz

16:30 Panel discussion
17:00 Close

Tickets for the conference are £100. Price includes entrance to the abovementioned film showing, as well as two buffet luncheons over the conference weekend. Tickets for the Saturday evening dinner are an additional £40.00.

Cheques should be made payable to the ‘CMRC’ and sent to: Canonbury Masonic Research Centre, Canonbury Tower, Canonbury Place, London N1 2NQ. Please be sure to include your name and full contact details (including phone number and email address) with your payment and state if you have any special dietary requirements. Please also note that the CMRC does not accept credit card payment. BACS and IBAN transfer, as well as student reductions, are available on request.

For further information please contact the conference organiser Matthew Scanlan on tel: 00 44 (0)20 7226 6256 or email conference@canonbury.ac.uk

The 2nd Masonic Restoration Foundation Symposium will take place next weekend, August 19-20, 2011 at the George Washington National Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA.



Alexandria-Washington Lodge No 22 will host the event.



The Keynote Speaker will be Julian Rees, Past Junior Grand Deacon, UGLE and Contributing Editor of Freemasonry Today.



Featured Speakers include Robert G. Davis, Shawn Eyer, Andrew Hammer, Pierre G. Normand, Cliff Porter, Paul Jacob Roberts, Mark Tabbert and Douglas Wood.



Books, Regalia and more will be available from The Craftsman's Apron, Toye USA, and the GW Memorial Gift Shop.



Registration fee is $60 and can be handled online here.



The MRF was formed in 2001 and provides education and training to individuals, lodges and Grand Lodges on ways to establish quality programs, academic excellence and social relevance in their Masonic communities.

The Grand Lodge of California's Institute for Masonic Studies and the University of California, Los Angeles has announced the International Conference on American & Latin American Freemasonry: A New Past & A New Future.

December 3, 2011, CLA Faculty Center, 480 Charles Young Dr. East, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Guest Speakers:

Margaret Jacob, UCLA

José Antonio Ferrer Benimeli, Universidad de Zaragoza

Miguel Guzmán-Stein, Universidad de Costa Rica

Ricardo Martínez Esquivel, Universidad de Costa Rica

María Eugenia Vázquez Semadeni, UCLA

Guillermo de los Reyes Heredia, University of Houston.

Contact the Grand Lodge of California, Adam Kendall at 415/292-9137 or email at akendall@freemason.org.



From the UCLA Freemasonry and Civil Society website:

UCLA's History Department in collaboration of the Grand Lodge of the State of California and its Masonic Foundation have developed a working relationship that will permit a post-doctoral fellow, this year Maria Eugenia Vazquez-Semadini, and a research assistant, Jesse Sadler, to develop two courses on the history of freemasonry within the context of civil society. One course is offered in the winter quarter, 2011, and the other in the spring quarter, 2011. Among the topics to be addressed in these courses: the role of civil society in the formation of modern political systems, the origins of Anglo-American civil society and of freemasonry, the Enlightenment and freemasonry, The American and French Revolutions contrasted, the emergence of anti-masonry in Europe and America in the early 19th century, with many more topics to follow.

The history of Freemasonry in Louisiana is as colorful and rich as everything else about that incredible region, with influences from France, Spain, England and the Caribbean. In celebration of the bicentennial of the creation of the Grand Consistory of Louisiana, the New Orleans Scottish Rite History & Research Symposium will be held in New Orleans June 1-4, 2011. Some of the world’s leading scholars and historians will present papers on the history and development of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, as well as high grade Scottish Rite Masonry in New Orleans.

The Masonic Society is a proud sponsor of this event.

This is designed as a public event. No paper or material will be offered or presented in a public setting which should be reserved for Masons only. This conference welcomes the non-Masonic academic community and recognizes the contributions to Masonic history which have been made by non-Masonic academics.

The Symposium will be held at the The Royal Sonesta Hotel, which is conveniently located in the historic French Quarter.

Registration is $125.00 per person, including the banquet and conference events. Registration can be accomplished online, along with hotel reservations, at http://www.neworleansaasr.info

MAY 4th IS THE LAST DAY THE HOTEL DISCOUNT PRICE WILL BE AVAILABLE. If you have not yet registered with the hotel to reserve your room, you MUST do so before May 4th.