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Post by auntym on Jul 24, 2011 12:17:56 GMT -6
www.svherald.com/content/opinion/2011/07/24/214519Sun, 07/24/2011 A weekend spent with people who don’t believe, anything[/color] By Matt Hickman So I went to the international skeptics convention in Las Vegas last weekend looking for freedom from existential oppression and enlightenment divorced from superstition. Mostly what I found instead was a UFO convention where no one believed Earth has ever been visited, an alternative medicine convention where everyone thinks homeopathy is a scam, and a religious conference where no one believes in anything supernatural. Saddest of all, I found a movement that refuses to move because it’s so busy standing up against everything, it can’t stand for anything. “The Amazing Meeting 9,” gets its name from James “The Amazing” Randi, the famous debunker of tricks masquerading as magic and all things paranormal, who, now at a white-bearded 82, is a Moses figure of sorts to the more than 1,600 attendees. More than half of them were first-timers and most of those were under 30. All were extremely intelligent, though not as many as you’d think were stereotypical nerds. The conference draws big television celebrities including Bill Nye the Science Guy and astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson, who, speaking in a giant conference room at the South Point Hotel and Casino, decried scientific illiteracy in the U.S. in funny, yet ominous ways. Two-thirds through his speech, the host of PBS’ Nova gave the audience the red meat it craved. “I try to stay out of the religion thing,” he said. “But I know it’s what you want to hear.” Tyson brought up a news item from a couple years back when a New Jersey high school student recorded his science teacher telling the class that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s Ark and that each of them needed to give their lives to Jesus. This re-ignited the science vs. religion in the classroom debate and Tyson powerpointed a four paragraph letter to the editor he wrote for the New York Times. You could feel the inertia of a thousand salivary glands churning into motion as Tyson’s letter argued that the science vs. religion debate was beside the point. The bigger issue being ignored was that it was factually impossible for dinosaurs and humans to have co-existed. This drew gushing applause, but all I could think was, no, that, too is beside the point. The shocking story is that I’m watching 1,600 people with IQs over 130, including Tyson, who has the mass media appeal to do whatever he wants, let themselves be hijacked and consumed by some knuckle-dragging schoolteacher in New Jersey. Why give the opposition so much power? Why imagine they’re more indomitable than they are when the scientific analysis tells you their trend is sloping downward while yours is rising? Why so willfully let them keep you down? The consensus of TAMsters I talked to guffawed at the possibility of becoming a powerful cultural and political movement. Many cited an increase in fundamentalism among American Christians as a sign that the deck is still stacked against them immutably. To which I counter: “That means you’re winning! Your science is tearing down thousands of years of the very thing they raised their children by and entrusted their eternal souls to and you expect them to be cool and rational about your attack? You should be disappointed if they did go down without a fight.” What I realized is that most at the conference really don’t want power and really don’t want to lead. They would rather sit in their treehouse of ironic superiority and laugh at the ridiculous things the mortals do and then explain them away scientifically. CONTINUE READING: www.svherald.com/content/opinion/2011/07/24/214519
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Post by auntym on Aug 27, 2011 19:06:15 GMT -6
www.theufochronicles.com/2011/08/debunking-ufos-and-space-aliens-myth.htmlenglish.cri.cn/6909/2011/08/26/2561s655373.htmSaturday, August 27, 2011 Debunking the UFOs and Space Aliens' Myth [/color] By Tom McGregor english.cri.cn 8-26-11 Editors Note–We find it amusing that the author cites "scientific method," yet starts off by incorrectly defining Ufology. When explaining the unexplained, some people instinctively engage in telling tall tales, myth-making and hatching conspiracy theories. They observe or hear about a strange scientific phenomenon and draw conclusions that contradict logic and common sense. For instance, some people look at stars and cast themselves as astrologers, fortune tellers. Some claim they can study the alignment of the planets and stars to predict whether Barack Obama will get re-elected to the White House or if Texas Gov. Rick Perry will defeat him in the next U.S. presidential election. The so-called astrologers fail to consider that stars are inanimate cosmic objects that are incapable of even thinking about events that occur on Earth. Debunking fortune telling is easy when utilizing a scientific method. Hence, most people don't take this subject-matter seriously anymore. Nevertheless, the study of UFO-ology, the belief that aliens from outer space are frequent visitors of Earth, has now become the latest fad, especially in China. Many Chinese are looking at the night sky in search of evidence for outer space aliens. Some are speculating that extra-terrestrials or ETs are either preparing for an inter-galactic battle or pushing for peaceful diplomatic ties with human beings. CONTINUE READING: english.cri.cn/6909/2011/08/26/2561s655373.htm
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2011 19:29:58 GMT -6
Editors Note–We find it amusing that the author cites "scientific method," yet starts off by incorrectly defining Ufology. |
Pretty much says it all.
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Post by Steve on Aug 28, 2011 10:32:18 GMT -6
Who is this Tom McGregor? Lumping together astrologers, fortune tellers, with people with serious concerns about UFO's? There are unsubstantiated claims on both sides of the argument. It must be alarming for those of the likes of McGregor his rant is being drown out by those asking reasonable questions.
Myths, swamp gas, they are just planes, flares, Venus? All true, 95% of UFO reports can be reasonably explained. It is the 5% unexplained that should be the focus of Ufology as Leslie Kean has shown by example. Focus on these substantiated cases.
A clear difference between the objective and non objective in the UFO field McGregor is critical of - objective Ufologists will not use 'extraterrestrial', but answer 'we do not know'. It is not a cop out, that answer is just the most scientifically honest one available at present.
Steve
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Post by skywalker on Aug 28, 2011 23:02:46 GMT -6
I never heard of this McGregor guy. Sounds like a typical uninformed journalist who thinks he knows everything.
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Post by swamprat on Feb 20, 2012 12:58:55 GMT -6
Good comments from Billy on Philip Klass. For years, I found Klass to be a frustrating accomplice to the fight against the search for truth. I have two of his books (UFOs Explained and UFO Abductions) because I wanted to understand the "opposition". What I found was a man with a closed mind, prone to distortion, omission, and assumption. (Unfortunately not unlike some "pro-UFO" folks!) I WILL say this; I think Klass firmly believed the crap he generated. He was so convinced that he had to be right, that he had to be right! If he DID offer the bribe, he probably thought that he was just "soliciting the truth"! Whether he had any "coaching" from the sidelines is open to question..... Swamp The Sarasota Herald-Tribune
De Void
Klass act, no principlesMonday, February 20, 2012 by Billy Cox A blast from the past animated the blogosphere earlier this month when a buddy of famed “Fire in the Sky” UFO abductee Travis Walton accused a dead debunker of attempted bribery. Steve Pierce said he — Pierce — had been offered $10k to say Walton had hoaxed the whole thing back in 1975. De Void has no insight into this moot and meaningless kerfuffle. But De Void knew Phil Klass, the target of the allegation. Or rather, De Void talked to Klass on a number of occasions, because Klass was always the go-to guy journos contacted whenever they drew the short straw and had to write about UFOs. He seemed the logical choice. As senior editor for Aviation Week & Space Technology, Klass was Mr. Insider, the establishment’s sensible “reality check” authority you could always count on for “balance.” Klass never met a UFO he couldn’t explain, and he made it his life’s calling to reassure the Fourth Estate they were wasting their time, that they’d be better served chasing rocs and griffins. Klass was a prolific writer who dismissed the Walton controversy as confabulation in his 1983 book UFOs: The Public Deceived. De Void was just beginning this forlorn and dreary journey back then. No reason for a newbie to doubt him. Except for, well, maybe this one case in Klass’ book concerning three people who suffered acute UFO radiation burns in Texas in 1980. Klass’ take on what became known as the Cash-Landrum incident stopped me cold. Because I’d actually done my homework on that one. And that’s when I got that first queasy feeling that the American press was routinely quoting a man who had a pathological disregard for truth. I’d gone to Texas and interviewed the victims — Betty Cash, Vicki and Colby Landrum — as well as other witnesses who’d seen the military helicopters that were either escorting or pursuing the UFO. Cash and the Landrums authorized MUFON investigator John Schuessler to share their medical records with me, which he did. The story was complex and gruesome. For years, Klass had badgered the victims, and Schuessler, for access to their hospital records. Aware of his proclivities, they refused to comply. “I said, look Phil, why don’t you come up with what you think happened, publish it, and after you do that, we’ll be happy to supply you with the records,” recalls Schuessler from his home in Colorado. Klass condensed Cash-Landrum into a single page. Rather than posit an alternative scenario, he simply ascribed the whole thing to a hoax founded upon pre-existing medical conditions. Even the Army’s own Inspector General investigation specifically cited a lack of evidence for a hoax. “Klass was a low-life and a bully who used his Aviation Week credentials to hold himself up as an expert,” says Schuessler, retired project manager for space shuttle flight operations at Johnson Space Center. “He just made up stories any way he saw fit.” De Void had one face-to-face encounter with Klass in 1987, during a MUFON symposium at American University. Whitley Strieber’s first-person abduction epic, Communion, had just rolled and was making bestseller lists in the nonfiction category. Klass, who attended Strieber’s keynote speech, had written that Strieber was probably suffering from brain damage. The next day, I met Klass at a deli for lunch. He repeated his assertion that Strieber was plagued with frontal lobe epilepsy. Then he lowered his voice, drawing yet another reporter into his sage confidence, and said he wanted to go off the record. “Whitley Strieber is a troubled man,” he said. He produced a sad smile, like some wise old avuncular Yoda. “Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to take his own life.” Goosebumps. We know the rest of the story. Klass died in 2005. Whitley Strieber is alive, well and continues to write. But one thing we’ll never know is the full extent of the damage Phil Klass did to American journalism’s tepid inquiry into The Great Taboo. The first word that comes to mind: Irreparable. devoid.blogs.heraldtribune.com/12797/klass-act-no-principles/
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2012 13:25:08 GMT -6
Sometimes I think it's fear bordering on paranoia that gives birth to the ones like Klass. Such a deep fear of 'monsters' doing monstrous things to 'earthlings' How dare they..can't be..cannot possibly be true or happening. These people MUST at all costs..be delusional or ill or hoaxers. Beware of extremes in any direction (my personal philosophy) and the 'over-the-top' ufo believers have done a lot to make us all look stupid and to provoke others into disproving at all costs. I feel the same way about religion...get in my face with it and I'll run the other way like the devil himself is after me. I think I'm probably not alone in that.
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Post by auntym on Feb 20, 2012 13:45:56 GMT -6
his name alone is enough to bring up all kinds of nasty thoughts & feelings in me....soooo since my mom always said ... if you don't have anything nice to say about a person, don't say anything at all.... so i won't .... thanks mom...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2012 14:37:39 GMT -6
I know paulette is the "resident counselor" , but if uf04peace by chance was/is the son of Mr. Klass (as I'm thinking), . . . . uh, what auntym said.
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Post by Steve on Feb 20, 2012 15:10:32 GMT -6
It crossed my mind about Klass from time to time if U4P was associated somehow with that scumbag. U4P uses the name Klass in his user-name on other UFO websites. U4P seems to go around the Internet being disruptive. If not related to Klass, he certainly used the same illogical tactics. He would bate and then get into a completely illogical rant. He would make flippant remarks short of libel. If that creep isn't the son, or illegitimate son of P Klass, he should be. U4P = disinformation. The funny thing about Klass was he was not even good science, as much as he sold that to others pretending to be. An off the cuff answer before even knowing the facts being one of many examples. The day Phillip Klass died, I was so happy I ordered a pizza to celebrate. I always welcome opposing views too, but to personally attack and ruin peoples professional careers. Klass IMO was personally responsible for Dr. James MacDonald's suicide in my personal opinion. Blood is on Klass's hands. MacDonald was one of the most impressive UFO researchers of his time, and his scientific credentials was so impressive, his views could not be ignored. That is why Klass targeted him. 'McDonald engaged in an often savagely adversarial relationship with aviation journalist and skeptic Philip J. Klass, who argued in his first book that nearly all UFOs can be explained by ball lightning. At first, the duo exchanged cordial letters on the subject. Klass was rather guarded in his application of the plasma theory at the time, and McDonald agreed that it might explain a small portion of UFO reports. However, Klass quickly expanded his hypothesis arguing that most if not all UFOs, and even cases of alleged alien abduction, could be explained as plasmas. McDonald thought this was absurd, and offered a detailed rebuttal against Klass's thesis.
In late 1967, McDonald secured a modest grant from the Office of Naval Research in order to study cloud formations in Australia. While in Australia, McDonald conducted some UFO research on his own time. Klass mounted an extended, concerted campaign against McDonald, arguing that he had squandered government funds. The ONR responded by announcing that they knew of McDonald's UFO interests and had no objections to his personal hobbies. The University of Arizona came to McDonald's defense, announcing that McDonald's UFO research was done on his own time, and had no adverse impact on his regular teaching and research duties at the university.
Klass then demonstrated that McDonald was spending at least small sums of government research funds on UFO research, and the ONR, apparently fearing controversy, decided to no longer fund McDonald's cloud research.'en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._McDonaldIf U4P is of that same ilk, no wonder he has such a reputation around the Internet for being booted off UFO websites. Steve
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Post by paulette on Feb 20, 2012 15:23:04 GMT -6
Wow! Strong stuff.
BTW: I am a counsellor (at work) and I am a participant here (playfully exchanging of info). In that I know about some psychological stuff I talk about it. But I am not the resident counsellor. Please. I feel like I need one of those one poorly written package warnings:
the following information is advice or personal opinion or some stupid thing I half-remember. I am not serving as a counsellor here and if I seem to be then everyone or anyone has the right to say get stuffed. Or think that. Ok? Thank you.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2012 16:01:56 GMT -6
Sorry paulette! I'm just still "haunted" by uf04peace when he talked about HIS father making comments about missile silos (here on teor), IF his father IS Klass. great minds gone bad, obsessive, . . . really scary stuff. . . I couldn't be a counselor. I analyze (or whatever) way, way too much.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2012 22:20:19 GMT -6
Troubled souls..and insecure ones too...you have to have felt that in UFO4peace..he projected it. The dead..is dead but apparently the hurt lives on. It's a helpful thing to release the feelings and Steve I'm not surprised to find you more upset for someone else. I'm used to people picking and nit picking and making snide little innuendos..it goes with the whole abduction/psychic thing but that doesn't mean it doesn't on occasion draw blood..we're only human. We'll always have a teeter totter of balance just hopefully less extremes as time goes by.
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Post by Steve on Feb 20, 2012 23:34:30 GMT -6
Thanks Jokelly, but to be honest if I gave the wrong impression, U4P was just annoying as he was for others here. Sad to be remembered that way, and what I found sad was how anyone could spend so much effort and time in one's life being so negative and suspicious about so many things about others. That seems suffocating to me. I forgot all about him till the reference to Phil Klass surfaced.
I did some research and found Phillip J. Klass was survived when he died in 2005 by a wife, a sister, and two step sons. So any assertion or rumor U4P was somehow related to Klass, it would be one of his two stepsons I suppose. Like U4P himself, a waste of effort which could be more productive spent helping others instead.
Steve
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2012 23:43:37 GMT -6
Troubled souls..and insecure ones too...you have to have felt that in UFO4peace..he projected it. The dead..is dead but apparently the hurt lives on. It's a helpful thing to release the feelings and Steve I'm not surprised to find you more upset for someone else. I'm used to people picking and nit picking and making snide little innuendos..it goes with the whole abduction/psychic thing but that doesn't mean it doesn't on occasion draw blood..we're only human. We'll always have a teeter totter of balance just hopefully less extremes as time goes by. ~nods~ ~hugz Jo, Steve, JC, and Paulette~ ~hugz Swampy too cuz he started this thread~ ;D By the way, a little off topic, but "Klasse" is the German word for "Class". Just sayin'. That's all I know about "Klass". My contribution
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Post by auntym on Apr 13, 2012 12:14:46 GMT -6
www.examiner.com/paranormal-hauntings-in-toledo/ufos-philip-klass-and-the-debate-about-debunking April 12, 2012 UFOs, Philip Klass, and the debate about debunking[/color] Jason Korbus Toledo Paranormal & Hauntings Examiner I am skeptical that any of the unidentified flying objects people report seeing are extraterrestrial spacecrafts piloted by aliens. Now, I'm no denier, I just haven't seen any good evidence, that's all. Though the vast amount of UFO reports have been explained by good scientific investigation and common sense, there are many folks who cling to the belief based on a few as-yet unidentified cases or personal anecdotes. But it is typical in the paranormal community to forget what that U stands for in Unidentified. Just because there is something we haven't explained yet is no good reason to put forth the belief that the blurry image in so many photographs is a Little Green Man on a late-night cruise. Recently, I've decided to dig deeper into the body of skeptical literature about UFOs. In my years of researching and exploring the paranormal, I've come to the conclusion that, by and large, skeptics know their respective subject matter better than the believers. So in this quest I've decided to start with the Dean of UFO Skeptics, the late Philip J. Klass. I received one of his books by mail just today. Klass was an interesting guy. His earliest writing on UFO reports strangely seem to indicate that he thought a lot of cases were misidentifications of "ball lightning" or an unknown plasma caused by power lines. Explaining one unknown with another? Weak sauce, dude. Weak as water. But he did progress into quite a solid investigator, it seems. I've read some of his case studies before, and his work on the Travis Walton "Fire in the Sky" incident is legendary in skeptical circles. He was a guy who was relentless in his pursuit of the truth but, it seems, also quite unethical at times. His penchant for personal attacks and other underhanded tactics against some of his critics are not something to be admired. CONTINUE READING: www.examiner.com/paranormal-hauntings-in-toledo/ufos-philip-klass-and-the-debate-about-debunking
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Post by auntym on Oct 22, 2012 22:41:27 GMT -6
www.ufodigest.com/article/when-it-comes-ufos-why-do-debunkers-do-debunking-thing-they-doOctober 23, 2012 When It Comes To UFOs, Why Do Debunkers Do That Debunking Thing They Do?By Regan Lee I was asked today why I think UFO debunkers (and so-called UFO "skeptics" which really, are one and the same) do what they do. Why do they care so damn much about proving UFOs don't exist? (They've gotten lazy; they don't even bother. The subject isn't even worth their time to mock, much. But still, they have at it, as any journey into the JREF will reveal.) After all these years, I still don't have an answer. It's easy to say "Because they're afraid." No doubt that's true in many cases, at some level. At the same time, it's too simplistic and breezy a response; to dismiss their pathological denials with that answer. I used the example today, to my questioner, that, while I'm not a Christian (or a religious Jew or a Muslim, etc.) it's not because I'm "afraid." That's what many a believer of anything will say of the non-believer. "They're afraid." Somewhere in there these UFO deniers are afraid, I suppose, but there's more going on to their blind denials than just that. Sometimes these crazy debunkers are paid shills. Sure that' s paranoid conspiracy talk, but we know what they say: "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not watching you..." Sometimes the debunkers are deeply invested in their egos and paychecks. If they're tenured, if they want to continue getting published by peer reviewed journals, if they want to move on up in the academic and scientific world, bashing the topic of UFOs is an easy way to ensure good standing. I suspect a good number of these debunker types have an idea that there really is something to UFOs, but... but... well, they just can't bring themselves to be honest. Too much at risk. Careers, salaries, reputations. It's also intellectually easy. Who has the time to read all of Richard Dolan's books, or delve into Vallee, or the history of, say, the Contactee era (which is not over by the way.) Who has the time to be authentic and explore even just one aspect of the whole messy, complicated, rich, confusing world of UFOs? Easier to just say "UFOs?! Feh, man, don't waste my time!" As my questioner earlier today said, "UFOs means Unidentified Flying Object." What's so threatening about that? I see something in the sky that's unidentifiable; what, we're supposed to ignore it? Many a UFO I've seen I decided, after reflection, that they were probably man made objects and nothing to get much excited about. But some, well, some, remain mysterious indeed. And I'm not even beginning to talk aliens yet. ]CONTINUE READING: www.ufodigest.com/article/when-it-comes-ufos-why-do-debunkers-do-debunking-thing-they-do
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Post by auntym on Oct 24, 2012 12:08:15 GMT -6
www.ibtimes.com/paul-kurtz-ufo-debunker-skeptic-secular-humanist-dies-86-851525 Paul Kurtz, UFO Debunker, Skeptic And Secular Humanist, Dies At 86 [/color] BY Charles Poladian | October 22 2012 Paul Kurtz, a skeptic, philosopher and secular humanist as well as UFO and psychic debunker, has passed away at the age of 86. Kurtz died at his home in Amherst, N.Y., Saturday of natural causes, reports The Associated Press. Kurtz founded the Center for Inquiry in 1991 to debunk psychics and UFOs and promote reason and scientific inquiry. Kurtz also founded the magazines Skeptical Inquirer and Free Inquiry. He was a popular skeptic who applied scientific reasoning to supposed paranormal activity as well as the claims of homeopathic medicine, psychics, UFOs fans and various healers. Kurtz had a prominent role in the secular humanist movement of philosophy, which focuses on science and reason while rejecting religion. Among Kurtz’ contributions to secular humanism was the term “eupraxsophy.” According to Kurtz, eupraxsophy refers to a way of living life following a moral and ethical code based on scientific inquiry and reason that did not require religion or the supernatural aspects involved with religious beliefs. Kurtz’ contributions to philosophy are widespread. In addition to publishing and editing 50 books, he taught at several universities including Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and was professor emeritus of philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. According to Sonja Eggerickx, current president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, “He was a doer, an achiever; making things happen. We will still be picking the fruits of his labors for many years. We cannot underestimate his achievements in Humanism, science, and critical thinking.” Kurtz was a co-chairman of the IHEU from 1986 to 1994. Kurtz also founded Prometheus Books in 1969. Prometheus Books has published works by Friedrich Nietzsche, Isaac Asimov, economist John Maynard Keynes, political cartoonist Tom Toole and Dr. Jack Kevorkian. CONTINUE READING: www.ibtimes.com/paul-kurtz-ufo-debunker-skeptic-secular-humanist-dies-86-851525
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2012 12:42:42 GMT -6
86 is a pretty long life..I wish him fair travels
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DEADnGONE
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Still have this damn illness to put up with. Not terminal,can be seen as good or bad, depending
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Post by DEADnGONE on Oct 25, 2012 22:04:45 GMT -6
Being a Ph.D. Psychologist, has long ago taught me that not everything appears as it really is, no idea what that has to do with UFOs but I have never seen one but I can honestly say I'll listen to what is out there and try to draw conclusions that are fact based and not simply on an emotional response.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2012 23:13:09 GMT -6
That's really good to hear. Too many take these stories as verbatim without looking for other possibilities because it's what they want to believe. As you say...things are not always what they seem..but then again..sometimes they are exactly that.
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Post by plutronus on Oct 26, 2012 18:57:15 GMT -6
Being a Ph.D. Psychologist, has long ago taught me that not everything appears as it really is, no idea what that has to do with UFOs but I have never seen one but I can honestly say I'll listen to what is out there and try to draw conclusions that are fact based and not simply on an emotional response. What in your opinion would constitute fact based UFO information? (I mean, when you are not chasing ghosts).
plutronus ET investigator
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2012 1:59:26 GMT -6
Being a Ph.D. Psychologist, has long ago taught me that not everything appears as it really is, no idea what that has to do with UFOs but I have never seen one but I can honestly say I'll listen to what is out there and try to draw conclusions that are fact based and not simply on an emotional response. Here's a fact for you: I saw aliens in my living room when I was eight years old. One of them touched my forehead and made me hear a voice in my head then I passed out. I regained consciousness in bed. That's a fact. I unfortunately have no proof nor do I have any witnesses because everyone else in the house was asleep at the time. My parents (who are now in their 60s) have no memory of me waking up the following morning and babbling at them about what had happened to me either. No memory whatsoever- because they thought it was just another nightmare. It wasn't a big deal to them. I however remember the incident vividly... and I don't remember any other nightmares I had when I was that age. That's because it really happened.
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Post by auntym on Dec 29, 2012 16:18:13 GMT -6
kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2012/12/philip-klass-and-fbi.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitterSaturday, December 29, 2012 Philip Klass and the FBIPosted by KRandle A while back we discussed Phil Klass’ habit of writing to the employees of those who thought they had seen a UFO, or who investigated them, or just disagreed with him. He seemed outraged that there were people who didn’t accept everything he said, and took great offense at that. He would express his disappointment with those by creating a little trouble for them. A few skeptics who visit here thought I was being overly harsh and a little unfair to Klass. They thought several examples were needed. But even with some acts I thought were over the top, those skeptics thought Klass had done nothing wrong. With Klass it seems to have been an on-going thing. While going through the FBI files that dealt with UFOs, I came across a series of letters that Klass had sent to them. Apparently Klass was offended by an article written by Dr. J. Allen Hynek that had appeared in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. It was an article that didn’t actually advocate any particular position but suggested that UFO sightings reported to law enforcement entities would be of interest to those at Hynek’s new Center for UFO studies. It provided a way for law enforcement to respond to the concerns of the citizens without having to actually do anything. A sort of win - win. Law enforcement cleared the report and the CUFOS received it for further investigation, if necessary. According to a Memorandum dated February 21, 1975, Mr. Heim, reported that Klass had called the editor of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. According to that document, Klass, “In strong terms laced with sarcasm, he derided our publication of the article by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, ‘The UFO Mystery,’ in the February, 1975, issue of the LEB. Klass suggested that by publishing this article, the FBI had given its endorsement to a hoax (that UFOs are extra-terrestrial in origin) and to a fraud (Dr. J. Allen Hynek).” Importantly, according to the memorandum, “Mr. Klass was politely reminded that nowhere in Dr. Hynek’s article appearing in the Bulletin, or in numerous other of his writings which were examined by us, does Hynek suggest UFOs are extra-terrestrial in origin…” (Remember, this is 1975, about the time he was establishing CUFOS). A letter dated June 14, 1975, written to then FBI Director Clarence Kelly, Klass renewed his assault. He wrote, “The enclosed photo-copy of a headline and feature story in the recent issue of ‘The National Tattler’ is a portent of the sort of ‘FBI endorsement’ for the flying-saucer myth that you can expect to see, repeatedly, as a result of an article about UFOs carried by the February issue of The Law Enforcement Bulletin.” While his source for this claim of FBI endorsement outrage is The National Tattler, hardly the pinnacle of journalistic excellence, that didn’t matter all that much to Klass, he quoted it anyway. CONTINUE READING: kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2012/12/philip-klass-and-fbi.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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Post by auntym on Jan 30, 2013 12:34:14 GMT -6
kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2013/01/philip-klass-explains-it-all-loring-afb.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitterWednesday, January 30, 2013 Philip Klass Explains it All... Loring AFB[/color] Posted by KRandle I hate to keep picking on Philip Klass, but I’ve just stumbled on another of his solutions and thought we might look at it. Back in 1975, at Loring Air Force Base in Maine, Sergeant Steven Eichner, was working with Sergeant R. Jones, when Jones saw a red and orange object over the flight line. To both of them the object looked like a “stretched out football” that hovered and then seemed to disappear as the lights went out. It reappeared over the north end of the runway, moving in what they described as “jerky motions.” They began to give chase, maybe just get closer for a better look, and when they turned onto the road that led to the weapons storage area, they saw the UFO some 300 feet in front of them. It was about five feet off the ground and the air around it seemed wavy, such as heat coming off a desert highway. They saw no doors, hatches or windows on it. It wasn’t long before sirens sounded and Eichner said that he saw many flashing blue lights on the Air Force security team coming at them, or rather toward the weapons storage area. They didn’t want to be close by as the Air Police tried to identify the lights and find out what was happening. That is a quick rundown of what Eichner and his buddy saw that night. I mention it only because in the newspaper column that we’re going to talk about, Eichner was mentioned and his story recounted. This gives us all a view of what happened without getting into a discussion of whether it was something from space or something from Earth. Philip Klass decided to see what he could learn about this and investigated. He told John Day of the Bangor Daily News, that “…he investigated the 1975 Loring incident. Among other things, he was given access to base Telex communications during the four or five nights when the mysterious object repeatedly hovered over Loring’s nuclear storage facility. According to Klass, the cable traffic shows that Loring officers had strong evidence that the mysterious object cited by Eicher was a helicopter. Their concern was not that the SAC base was being penetrated by spacemen, but that a radical anti-Vietnam group had rented a helicopter and was trying to steal a nuclear warhead.” I will only note here that any messages that might have affected national security would have been highly classified, even five or six years after the event and I doubt that Klass had access to them. He certainly would have seen the regular traffic, but in this case, with someone or something attempting to penetrate the nuclear weapons storage facility, the classification of the communications would have been increased. Day wrote, “According to Klass, the cable traffic he obtained pertaining to the Loring UFO incident indicated that authorities established that a well-financed crew operating out of a motel near Moosehead Lake, was flying on the nights the mysterious object was observed hovering over Loring’s nuclear stockpile. “Klass has no proof that the Moosehead Lake helicopter was the object which buzzed Loring. He says it is unfortunate that the Air Force never followed up on their suspicions, or made public the results of their investigations.” CONTINUE READING: kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2013/01/philip-klass-explains-it-all-loring-afb.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2013 13:52:51 GMT -6
Throughout history there have been 'debunkers' and for many reasons. People don't want to accept change, they don't want to face frightening realities, they don't want what they have always believed in..to be wrong...because being wrong is the most terrible thing to many people. There were early concepts that were not popular..the world being round (OH MY GOD) the earth..not being the center of the universe...look at the number of people who debunk God...on a daily basis. It's not bad...to be skeptical. A lot of UFO reports ARE hoaxes or if not swamp gas..having other explanations. If we believe in every darn thing without questioning it..who is the fool when proved wrong? We have to examine..question..seek alternatives...then...having sifted through those...celebrate what we cannot disprove because..proving this stuff is relatively impossible at the moment. What do we have in our favor? The reports of eye witnesses...the reports from abducts...rumor (area 51 aliens) (Roswell)...conjecture and leaps of faith. It works for those of us who've been face up on it..but not for those who have not. They want to feel safe from the horror of something alien to their understanding. They don't want..doomsday or independence day or nuclear day. I'd have liked for it to stay that way in my world too. Was not to be. So...don't be too upset with the debunks and the skeptics..they have legitimate reasons for being as they are. Someday maybe we'll all have that validation we're hunting. We already know we're right..we already know it happened..someday everyone else will too. I'm not so sure that's going to be a happy day...or time of celebration.
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Post by auntym on Apr 9, 2013 11:21:57 GMT -6
stevevolk.com/Spanking the Skepticsby Steve Volk Posted on February 25, 2013 How the folks at The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe got it all wrong. And why James Randi’s Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge remains an impediment to progress. If you read Fringe-ology, or heard me interviewed on the radio, you know I think the value of paranormal stories often lies in what our reactions to such tales reveals about us. In researching subjects like telepathy, UFOs, ghosts and consciousness, for instance, I found that the people most vocal about the paranormal tend to resist the unexplained. That statement probably sounds counter-intuitive, but allow me to explain: To the most ardent believers, a UFO report is evidence of alien visitation. To passionate skeptics, a UFO report is evidence of how readily people misidentify Earth-bound phenomenon as exotic technology. The truth, of course, is that an Unidentified Flying Object is just that—unidentified—and nothing more. It should go without saying that a UFO, once identified, ceases to be a UFO. UFOetIn these terms, skeptics and believers should be able to rally around a common set of cases. After all, listen to alien-visitation advocate Stanton Friedman or arch-skeptic James Randi speak on the subject and both will acknowledge the vast majority of UFO reports can be explained as mis-identified but well-known phenomena. Only a small handful of cases remain unexplained. But even when the data runs out, skeptics and believers go on arguing for their point of view. Friedman advances the E.T. hypothesis. Randi, or the like, explains that these unsolved cases will likely be answered by Earth-bound explanations—and in any case there is no evidence that aliens have visited; and so this is not a possible explanation we should take very seriously; and—may I add?—harrumph. In my opinion the conversation about any of these unresolved cases should conclude in the exact geolocation where we really sit: at the edge of a mystery, which might be solved by any number of possible explanations—from the prosaic to the powerfully strange—and which cuts right to the heart of one of the deepest existential questions humankind has yet to answer: Are we alone in the universe? But as I mentioned at the outset, mystery—even if it is reality—is less appealing to the blinkered believer or dogmatic skeptic than the answer they have presupposed. This is a natural phenomenon—as natural as aliens (if they exist). We all bring some bias to the conversation. We view new information through the lens of what we already believe. And we tend to notice or give greater weight to information that confirms our beliefs, or to interpret the data in some way that leaves us feeling more secure about our worldview. This phenomenon, dubbed confirmation bias, operates within us all—and overcoming it requires a willful effort. In politics, we either assume our favorite candidate will withstand every scandal or we just flat-out ignore any salacious information that emerges. But we are far less gracious toward our political opponents. Consider: To the farthest right republicans, every facet of Democratic President Barack Obama’s biography seems to hint at his real status as a secret Muslim who hates America. To democrats situated most dramatically left, republican president George W. Bush was a dry drunk with daddy issues who allowed 9/11 to happen so he could invade Iraq. I argue, in Fringe-ology, that such biases prove particularly destructive in conversations about the paranormal. But I now hold a more intimate understanding of how confirmation bias operates. Because in mid-January, I got to see how I look through the eyes of skeptics disinterested in looking past their own worldviews. CONTINUE READING: stevevolk.com/[/color]
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2013 10:04:59 GMT -6
I'm not sure why people think skeptics are a bad thing. We need the balance of skeptics and debunkers if for no other reason than to make people find proof. There are extremists who want to believe EVERYTHING that comes along with the box marked 'paranormal'..like they look for things to believe in that takes them as far away from the reality they know as possible. "See? I believe in God..and that trees fly and that aliens visited and knitted my favorite blanket and sasquatch likes my home made strawberry ice cream." There HAS to be balance. If I see a flying horse and report it..I want someone saying.."wait..are you sure it wasn't one of those new planes that look like flying horses?" That makes ME want to find out which it was and THAT is how it should be. IMO
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Post by auntym on May 24, 2013 10:50:33 GMT -6
ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/addressing-doubters-5-keys-to.html UFOs - scientific research[/color] An examination of aspects of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) from a scientific perspective.Friday, May 24, 2013 Addressing the Doubters - 5 Keys To Presenting Scientific Research of UFOs A guest post by Jessica Reynolds she writes for www.postersession.com/, Scientific research and evidence that UFOs could exist have been presented for years with the majority of the population still holding on to the thought that these findings are just “Hollywood tricks” or coincidence. When presenting legitimate evidence that UFOs may have made an appearance somewhere at some time it is important not to come out guns blazing but to gradually let idea of UFOs sink in to the audience’s mind. Here are 5 very important keys to presenting evidence of UFOs that I have found to be at least somewhat effective in a presentation or argument: 1. Be Professional in Your Presentation A bad stigma UFO enthusiasts have is that we are individuals that just want attention. It is slightly annoying when people are so surprised when they see someone in a suit, tie, and with well-constructed research poster or PowerPoint presentation. Show class when you present your findings and you will find that having the respect of your audience makes them more likely to put stock in what you say. 2. State the Official Report of An Event That You Find Suspicious Never dive head first into saying such and such was a UFO sighting or something was left by a UFO landing. Acknowledge what the official story is and start asking questions about questionable circumstances. For example, if symbols appeared in the middle of a plain in Asia, state the official story and ask glaring questions such as who, how, when. Approach it as if you believed it to be to be done by people and you are just pointing out potential flaws in the story. 3. Use Numbers, It’s Harder For Them To Lie Exact dates, measurements, locations, and names are all very pivotal evidence to have. If a man saw a UFO sixty years ago in the sky and it was fake, what exactly did he use to fabricate his picture or video evidence? If kids drew symbols in a field, what did they use to cut or carve them, when did they do it, why? CONTINUE READING: ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/addressing-doubters-5-keys-to.html
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Post by auntym on Jul 21, 2013 1:10:30 GMT -6
www.newsworks.org/index.php/health-science/item/57492-what-magicians-can-teach-scientists-about-skepticism- What magicians can teach scientists about skepticismJuly 19, 2013 By Faye Flam @fayeflam The Amazing Randi has shown that even s scientists can be fooled. Since I'm a journalist by profession, I think of skepticism as a job requirement – essential for those of us who work in media outlets that cater to educated consumers. NewsWorks readers would be outraged if I suddenly started writing credulously about psychics, palm readers or homeopaths. But for some people, skepticism is a movement, and last week I had a chance to learn a lot more about it at an annual gathering called The Amazing Meeting. It's a fundraiser for the James Randi Educational Foundation, James Randi being a magician and investigator of paranormal or supernatural claims. This year TAM drew 1100 people – mostly non-gamblers - to Las Vegas in July. I was asked to give a talk, and since the theme was "Fighting the Fakers", I chose to discuss some of the cranks and quacks I'd exposed though my columns and stories. I gave examples of the kinds of claims we journalists investigate, what we get right and why we sometimes go wrong. But I was, as always, gathering material for new stories. Writing about the meeting, I believe, abides by journalistic ethics because there was no hoannarium for speakers and while the foundation offered to pay some of my travel expenses, we are talking about Vegas in July, a setting that had the unintended consequence of leaving me with one more religious-type belief than I'd come in with – hell. What intrigued me about the skeptics' movement was the central role of magicians, especially James Randi, 85. His name became a household word in the scientific community after 1988, when he helped investigate the claims of Jacques Benveniste, a French immunologist who managed to get a strikingly improbable result published in the prestigious journal Nature. The experiments described in Benveniste's Nature paper purported to show that water could remember the presence of an antibody that was no longer there – it had been diluted to zero concentration. That's a claim quite similar to the discredited mechanism behind the discredited practice of homeopathy. The editors at Nature could find nothing wrong with the methodology. Benvensite seemed to be following the scientific method. Randi and the other investigators devised a clever follow-up test. Benveniste said he could distinguish water that had once held the antibody from water that had not. So the investigators asked him to try it again with samples labeled only by a secret code, thereby making Benveniste blind to whether he was testing a "real" sample or a control. According to Wikipedia, Randi taped the key to the samples' identity on the ceiling. Lo and behold, Benveniste couldn't tell the difference when he didn't know ahead of time. A follow up paper was published in Nature, with Randi as an author. The episode shows how human fallibility can lead scientists astray, even when they appear to be conducting valid experiments. And why not look to magicians for insights into the blind spot in our perceptions? Many of them are experts on ways people can be fooled. As Benvensite showed the world, an advanced degree in something like immunology does not make one immune to self-delusion. As the famous Richard Feynman quote about science goes: "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool." One of the highlights of the meeting for me was a glimpse of an in-progress documentary about Randi's career, showing clips of his escape artistry and an image of the magician in a straitjacket suspended upside down over Niagra Falls. We also saw clips of Randi's investigation into faith healer Peter Popoff, who impressed adoring followers with what appeared to be psychic powers. In fact, Popoff had a hidden earpiece, through which his wife could feed him information gleaned from working the crowd. CONTINUE READING: www.newsworks.org/index.php/health-science/item/57492-what-magicians-can-teach-scientists-about-skepticism-
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