206 lines
9.6 KiB
Plaintext
206 lines
9.6 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: UFO DESCRIPTION FROM COMPUSERVE LIBRARY FILE: UFO1171
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CompuServe Information Service
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16:23 MST Thursday 25-Jan-90 P
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Last access: 18:32 24-Jan-90
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Copyright (c) 1990
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CompuServe Incorporated
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All Rights Reserved
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GO RATES for current information
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What's New This Week
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1 Celebrate Valentine's Day in The Mall
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8 Last Chance to Try Grolier's AAE Special
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(Above Articles are Free)
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10 Online Today
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Y[ JEnter choice !8
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H jWhat's New This Week Y i NEW-40
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LAST CHANCE TO TRY AAE SPECIAL
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(Jan. 25)
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CompuServe members can try Grolier's Academic American Encyclopedia during
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January without purchasing a subscription.
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Updated quarterly, AAE is the most current online encyclopedia available for
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students, researchers and trivia buffs. It features more than 31,000 articles
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with fact boxes, tables and bibliographies.
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Type GO AAE at any CompuServe ! prompt to take advantage of Grolier's Academic
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American Encyclopedia.
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Y[ JLast page !GO AAE
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One moment please...
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H jCompuServe Y j AAE-1
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Y8 The Online Edition of
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GROLIER'S ACADEMIC AMERICAN
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Encyclopedia
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Copyright @ 1990
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Grolier Electronic Publishing
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1 Subscribe to Encyclopedia
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2 Access Online Encyclopedia *January Special*
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3 AAE User's Guide
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4 Grolier Talk-Back
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5 Demo the Encyclopedia
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6 Topics in the News at Grolier
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Y[ JEnter choice !2
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H j
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Welcome to the Online Edition of Grolier's Academic American Encyclopedia
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(AAE), the premier online encyclopedia with more than 31,000 articles and ten
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million words. The AAE is now updated quarterly, providing you with the most
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up-to-date database of encyclopedic information currently available.
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To gain unlimited access to the AAE and search as much as you want whenever you
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want, you must order one of these money-saving subscriptions listed on the next
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page. Once you have subscribed, the options will not be presented until the
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expiration of the subscription period.
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During January you may use this encyclopedia without incurring subscription
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charges. Take this opportunity to explore the encyclopedia, and see how
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valuable it can be. Choose option 1 "Use Without Subscription in January" from
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the next page. All connect-time charges remain in effect.
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Press <CR> for more !
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PLEASE NOTE: SUBSCRIPTIONS
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CANNOT BE CANCELLED ONCE THEY
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HAVE BEEN ENTERED. YOU ARE
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RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL CHARGES
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INCURRED THROUGH SUBSCRIBING.
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1 Use Without Subscription in January
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2 Twelve Month Subscription ($49.95)
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3 Six Month Subscription ($29.95)
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4 No Subscription At This Time
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Y[ JEnter choice !1
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H jCompuServe
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Welcome to
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GROLIER'S ACADEMIC AMERICAN
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Online Encyclopedia
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For more information on how to search the encyclopedia or to view the Academic
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American User's Guide, enter GO AAE-110 at any ! prompt. To begin a search,
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press <CR> at the end of this message. Note: You will be given the prompt
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"Search Term:" only once. After that, you must enter "SE" followed by your
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search term at any ! prompt to start another search.
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Y[ JPress <CR> for more !
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Y[ JSearch term: UFO
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H jCompuServe
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UFO:
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--------------------------------
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see UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT.
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Y[ JLast page !SE
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Y[ JSearch term: UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT
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H jCompuServe
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unidentified flying object
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--------------------------------
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An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an unusual aerial or potentia-
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lly airborne object that cannot be readily identified even after
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expert analysis of the available data in the report of the object.
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Approximately 90% of raw UFO reports are interpreted as misperceptions
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of conventional objects, hoaxes, or hallucinations. The remaining 10%
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constitute the UFO enigma.
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The date of the earliest UFO sighting is unknown. Some UFO researchers
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believe that there were UFO sightings in ancient times. The evidence
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for such sightings, however, is scanty and therefore purely specula-
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tive. Most UFO researchers date the beginning of the UFO phenomenon
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with the sighting of dirigiblelike "mystery airships" over the United
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States during 1896-97. The next significant group of reports came
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during World War II from Allied and Axis pilots who reported seeing
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strange metallike objects, which they called "foo fighters," in
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controlled flight around their planes. In 1946 people in Europe, part-
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icularly Scandinavia, reported large-scale sightings of silent "ghost
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rockets." None of these phenomena has been satisfactorily explained.
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The UFO phenomenon entered public consciousness on June 24, 1947, when
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private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported sighting nine circular objects
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flying across his airplane's path in the skies over the state of
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Washington. He described their movements as being like "saucers
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skipping over water" and the term flying saucer was born.
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Since 1947 there have been UFO sightings in nearly every country.
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Occasionally the number of sightings rapidly increases and a UFO wave
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ensues. For instance, UFO waves occurred in France and Italy in 1954,
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in New Guinea in 1958, and in the USSR in 1967. In the United States,
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waves occurred in 1947, 1952, 1957, 1965-67, and 1973. UFO researchers
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have been unable to predict or explain UFO waves. Attempts to link
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them to media publicity about UFOs, hysterical contagion, or "societal
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stress" have proved unsuccessful. Although intensive publicity has
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prompted people to report sightings they had previously made, such
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publicity is not considered responsible for new reports.
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The number of UFO sightings is great. In 1973 a Gallup poll indicated
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that 11 percent of the adult population in the United States had seen
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what they thought was a UFO. So far more than 50,000 worldwide sight-
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ing reports have been computerized. A study of these reports suggests
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that UFO sightings are random, and no pattern of UFO witnesses has
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been found. Witnesses cut across economic, class, racial, and educa-
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tional lines. A greater percentage of reports, however, have come from
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people living in rural areas than from those living in urban areas.
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The reasons for this disparity are unknown. Witnesses report a great
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variety of sizes and shapes of UFOs, including amorphous and changing-
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shape objects. The classic "two bowls joined at the rim"shape is
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reported often, but reports of objects shaped like cigars, squares,
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balls, triangles, rings, and hats are also common.
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The majority of reports are of objects seen at great distance, but
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reports of close observations also exist. Some of the most intriguing
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reports are of objects seen on or near the ground. Often the person
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claims that the object left a residue or mark on the ground. Such a
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sighting is called a "trace case."Sometimes the object is claimed to
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have had a physical effect on an electrical or mechanical device,
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causing television interference or automobile engines to stall.
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Claims of witnessing the occupants of a UFO have come from sober,
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reputable, reliable people. These reports must, however, be separated
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from those of the infamous "contactees," who in the 1950s claimed
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ongoing contact with "space brothers" who often gave them flying-
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saucer "rides" to other planets. UFO researchers regard contactee
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claims as spurious.
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The U.S. Air Force attempted to study the UFO phenomenon from 1948 to
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1969 through its Project Blue Book. After collecting reports for 21
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years, it concluded that UFOs did not represent a threat to the nat-
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ional security, and it could find no evidence that UFOs were of
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extraterrestrial origin. In 1953, however, the Central Intelligence
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Agency suggested that the USSR might be able to use "flying-saucer
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hysteria" as a psychological warfare weapon against the United States.
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Therefore, from 1953 to 1969, the U.S. Air Force was concerned mainly
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with the incidence of UFO reports and never seriously considered the
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idea that UFOs per se might represent anomalous or unique phenomena.
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Other institutions and scientists have also confronted the phenomenon.
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A 1953 study by the Battelle Memorial Institute resulted in inconclu-
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sive findings. From 1966 to 1969 the University of Colorado conducted
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an extensive study of UFOs. The project director, physicist Edward U.
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Condon, concluded that UFOs did not represent a threat to the national
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security and were not anomalous; several of the staff scientists,
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however, strongly disagreed with his conclusions.
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In recent years scientific interest in the subject has grown, but
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adequate funding for another scientific inquiry has not yet material-
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ized. Scientists and academicians have used their own time and funds
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to study UFOs, but progress has been slow and difficult. Until a syst-
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ematic, impartial, and long-term study of the problem can be develop-
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ed, UFOs are likely to remain one of the most puzzling mysteries of
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our times. DAVID M. JACOBS
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Bibliography:
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Hendry, Allan, The UFO Handbook (1979); Hynek, J. Allen, The UFO
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Experience: A Scientific Inquiry (1972); Jacobs, David M., The UFO
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Controversy in America (1975); Sagan, Carl, and Page, Thornton, eds.,
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UFOs: A Scientific Debate (1973).
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Y[ JLast page !OFF
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Thank you for using CompuServe!
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Off at 16:31 MST 25-Jan-90
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Connect time = 0:08
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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