
The '80s Public Access Films Produced by a California UFO Cult - prismatic
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-fascinating-80s-public-access-films-produced-by-a-california-ufo-cult
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Animats
The USAF set up a sizable UFO detection network in the 1980s, called GEODSS,
the Ground-based_Electro-Optical_Deep_Space_Surveillance System. It's a set of
pairs of large (40-inch) computerized telescopes which watch the sky
automatically. The system has a star catalog and knows what should normally be
visible. This includes noticing dark objects which occlude stars. It was
intended to look for USSR satellites and space debris, but it can detect just
about anything in near-Earth space. There are three active installations of
this system. Most near-earth asteroid detections come from a former GEODSS
station now operated by MIT's Lincoln Labs.

Unlike most astronomical telescopes, the GEODSS stations have a pair of
telescopes some distance apart, under common control. They can range near-
earth objects by parallax. One of the less-publicized features of the system
is that one of the telescopes has a laser, so dark targets can be illuminated.

(In my aerospace days, the specs for this system crossed my desk. Our company
had bid on the system, but lost.)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Surveillan...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Surveillance_Network#Ground-
based_Electro-Optical_Deep_Space_Surveillance)

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ChristianGeek
I'm betting you didn't read the linked article.

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dcmininni
The person interviewed in the article downplays the dangers of cults in
general, without really talking about any of there activities aside from the
films (which are the focal point of the article). Just saying kids, many cults
are dangerous and many do a real good job seeming innocuous . Look up the BITE
model, learn it and recognize it.
[https://www.freedomofmind.com/Info/BITE/bitemodel.php](https://www.freedomofmind.com/Info/BITE/bitemodel.php)

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M_Grey
That article sounds like it was written by a member of that cult... going on
about how warm and nurturing 'Ruth' appeared to be.

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matt_wulfeck
I think part of that is to answer questions like "why would some believe this
maniac?"

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gscott
Unarius is located in El Cajon, CA I drive by there business building pretty
often. In the yearly local mother goose parade this is the car they drive

[http://media.lajollalight.com/img/photos/2014/12/11/Christma...](http://media.lajollalight.com/img/photos/2014/12/11/Christmas_Parade_UFO_r620x419.JPG?d86a08e3d8be7604da3f6269b9cbf74cdc5e085c)

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justbees
I watched a documentary about this group a couple of years ago. I don't
remember the film itself very well, but the story is interesting and the
videos that the group makes are something else! I'm pretty fascinated by cults
in general, probably because I tend to not want to join things.

[http://www.childrenofthestarsfilm.com/](http://www.childrenofthestarsfilm.com/)

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_0ffh
I practically can't believe they're not just taking the piss and having a good
belly laugh about it in private! =)

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blhack
Does anybody see a place to watch these films? I would absolutely love to see
these.

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PKop
Here's something:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TphNS93ebqU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TphNS93ebqU)

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Animats
Mandatory XKCD: [https://xkcd.com/1235/](https://xkcd.com/1235/)

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anentropic
Reminds me of Sun Ra

