The Danger of "Seeing is believing"

One of the problems and dangers for ufologists, or people who believe in alternative theories, is taking certain photographic evidence at face value. The adage, "Seeing is believing" isn't necessarily true concerning photographic evidence, and for those who do believe, or who are open to the extreme possibilities, they should allow for a degree of skepticism. There are two examples I will site, to illustrate my point. The first is a controversy that brewed in the summer of 2007, in various locations throughout California, the alien "Drone" ship(s) flap.



Photos were taken of various drone objects between April and May 2007, the most circulated were from Capitola in May 2007.



As well as evening photo’s in Lake Tahoe May 2007, and Big Basin.





To complicate matters, there were earlier reports of similar objects in Birmingham, Alabama in 2006, and allegedly Georgia (Russia, assumed) in 1996.



There we’re also claims in a disclosure from someone named "Issac", who worked in Palo Alto, California in the eighties. That he was working on a project to reverse engineer UFO technology. And had documentation to prove these "drone" ships were real.

Mufon has investigated the "Drone" issue and issued a report, determining is was an elaborate hoax, as well as the claims from "Issac" and this can be found at the following PDF file (you will need Adobe Reader to pull).

Mufon report

To any objective eye, the photos should have looked suspect. They looked a little too pristine, and looked like the construction of CGI modeling. It was probably due to some on-line viral marketing campaign. Yet, as I recall, some of these pictures went out to the national media. The problem lies with Ufologists who mistakenly took this at face value.

The second example of the problem of "seeing is believing" has to with Richard C. Hoagland, a former science curator and advisor to CBS news during the Apollo missions of the 60s and 70s. This is problematic for a great many who follow his work. He has argued that advanced civilizations exist or once existed on the Moon, as well as Mars, and some of the Moons of Jupiter. That the American government and NASA collaborated to keep these facts a secret, he has published a book titled "Dark Mission: The Secret History of NASA."



He was interviewed in a program titled: "Project Camelot", which featured his claims that the Apollo NASA missions were executed to secretly uncover evidence of ancient glass domes on the surface of the moon, as well as evidence of the head of an android that can be seen in one of the landscape photos. Mr. Hoagland makes the standard argument that the discovery of extra-terrestrial life would trigger a crisis of global faith. An argument I never personally understood for the following reason: Why couldn’t God create life on this world and life in other worlds in the universe? and why would such a possibility be a conflict?

Indeed, is it hard to know what to accept with Mr. Hoagland. He seemed founded in the principle of scientific research, yet it is possible somewhere along the line, he went astray in his scientific pursuits. Regarding his claim of a droid face on the moon? It is human nature to find patterns in nature and objects. Examples would be shapes found in a cloudy day, or a face that can be found in the shrubs of a tree: "Seeing isn't always believing".

Then there is his other assertions later in the interview, that NASA astronauts photographed evidence of glass domes, and that these domes we’re twenty times stronger than steel, he argued generally, if you mix the glass with various minerals and metals, there are various things that could be done with glass.

He basically argues that if you turn up the brightness of certain photos from the Apollo missions, you find various hidden patterns, grid work, structures, scaffolding and buttresses, as well as evidence that support the argument for glass domes because of light prisms in some of the photos. These discoveries were made based on image processing that was analyzed by architect Robert Fritech, where a model grid was created. He also asserts that after these photos were taken the negatives were tampered with. My issue is, my question is, was an outside, objected party brought in, and recreated exactly the methods behind Hoagland’s image processing analysis? It would add to the credibility of his argument, and would demonstrate an example of proper scientific method. There’s no known evidence of such an effort being made.

It should be noted, based on arguments from detractors, that Mr. Hoagland once argued the lunar landings were fake, and has done a reversal to support his present arguments, which can be found here (although the tone seems needlessly hostile):

Bad Astronomy argument

I asked a friend with a fairly solid background in structural engineering if Glass could be stronger than steel in outer space. He concluded it's not possible in theory. The other point that should be questioned is the possibility that light distortions are being misinterpreted in the photographs. Unless someone can come forward with a credible explanation, can anyone claim or fully conclude that video and film imagery reacts in outer space exactly as it would in our atmosphere?

The issues concerning Richard C. Hoagland are more complicated, but no less problematic. For those who believe, or are open to the possibility of extra-terrestrial life, they should be careful to take at face value Mr. Hoagland's conclusions: "seeing isn't always believing", and for those who want to believe, that there are truths out there, they should allow themselves to be discriminating in the pursuit of such truth.

Special thanks to UFO casebook and Mufon.

Obama and real X-Files Intelligence

There's a long spell where I haven't added anything to here. It's really hard to believe that with this election, we have officially entered the 21st Century. We'll soon see how things develop, both pro and con. My deepest hope is that we will no longer be bound and shackled to 20th Century thinking. There was an interesting article about Obama's appointment for Director of National Intelligence, retired Admiral Dennis Blair.

http://www.examiner.com/x-2383-Honolulu-Exopolitics-Examiner~y2009m1d16-US-Navy-XFiles-known-to-Obamas-Intelligence-Chief

Blair will have limited access to the intelligence communities classified files on UFO's and Extra Terrestrial life. On a side note, a random thought, there's a rumor that CIA Director, Leon Panetta's associate, John Podesta is a big X-Files Fan, As well as being known for advocating for the declassification of Government documents.

Something from Chris Knowles....

They're isn't much I need to comment on about the following Link. Chris, who's contributed to the Lexicon in the past, has his own blog and his approach to myth and pop culture is taken from a deep influence from Jung. Therefore his take on "I Want To Believe" is interesting.

http://secretsun.blogspot.com/2008/12/looking-for-signs-at-end-of-age.html

Regarding Those Public Service banners....

First off, I hope everyone who visit here will consider entering our contest.

For those who have visited the new redesigned site, you probably have noticed the two public service banners. Both are subjects that I have a passionate concern for and, ideally, if I can get others involved, then I’ll be quite content. Let me try and explain why the issue of Internet Neutrality and Cyberbullying is such a concern and why it should be important to others.

All webmasters, especially in America, should be far more invested in the issue of Internet Neutrality. To put this as simply as possible, to quote from the site: Net neutrality prevents Internet providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down Web content based on it’s source, ownership or destination. Various corporate telephone and cable companies want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data, to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, while blocking or slowing down their competitors, to limit the bandwidth, and no longer have a level playing field. In truth, this issue is something I could envision The Lone Gunmen being involved with….and this isn’t a conspiracy theory. The legislation for Internet Neutrality already exists, it just needs to be reinforced and strengthened. While many on-line users and webmasters may think: "This will never affect me," such thinking is incorrect and I’d advise everyone to visit the website we have a banner for and research this for yourself.

Now Cyberbullying is another issue that seems to be overlooked, or off the radar of most users. Yet it is a very real problem which people should educate themselves on. Now, I have never been affected by the kind of Cyberbullying that some teens experience, but I can sympathize. I had an internet experience that indirectly related to the issue, during the period of 2000 through late 2001, I was involved with another website and met a person that eventually put me into a situation that was similar to the book and the film of “The Night Listener”. This person would invent crisis after crisis and invent people who didn’t exist. This ended badly for me, damaging my reputation with the site I was involved with, only for me to find out the truth after the fact, and the experience was so devastating for me, that I nearly swore of all internet activity for a period. You live and learn.

I hope this will compel users and webmasters to look into these issues.

On-Line "Fair Use", and why fans should care...

Being a webmaster of a website, that is devoted to a subject you love, can drive fans to such exuberance, that they tend to not pay attention to such details as the copyright, or "Fair use" of the subjects they write about. To be ignorant of these areas can put webmasters at risk, and they should really educate themselves.

I have been fortune to never have faced a cease and desist order from 20th Century Fox for the work that's done at the XF Lexicon. Crossing fingers I'm never faced with that situation. But I have been indirectly touched by the issue. At one time, years ago, I was a forum moderator and contributor to The Harry Potter Lexicon, who's owner, after getting involved with the publisher RDR, faced a lawsuit from J.K. Rowling's legal team and Warner Bros to stop publication of a print version of that website, J.K. Rowling's argument being that such a publication would be detrimental to the eventual publication of her own reference Encyclopedia about the HP world. The RDR publishers argued "Fair Use" in publishing their unauthorized edition, without the approval of the text from JKR's circle or WB. That "Fair Use" has applied to reference books in the past.

While I am not thrilled with the legal team of RDR, and feel that Steve Vander Ark was not advised or served well by them, I have also not been thrilled with the legal team of JKR or WB either. I have a lot more to say personally on the issue, but that's neither here nor there. The point being is that fellow webmasters of X-Files sites, should pay closer attention to this issue, in light of the outcome of the JKR vrs RDR case. Here's a couple of web addresses to educate anyone interested.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/fairuse/

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/fairuse-explain.html

I do want to make it clear, as a writer of original fiction, I do believe that an author's work should be copyright protected, and others should not profit off of their work. Even if that author's work has become a cultural, and corporate, juggernaut, and I have personal doubts that the publication of a reference book from a small publisher could have much effect on that author's fortunes. But fans should respect the intellectual property of the author or creator. The precedent from this decision could affect on-line fandom in numerous areas, and webmasters should be wary of their actions, especially if it edges into the publication of their on-line work in print.

Hopefully, the relationship between corporate entertainment franchises and on-line fans will not become adversarial.

Fandom and Charity events...

I'd like to congratulate everyone behind the "all things inspired by Gillian" team for their December 6th Charity drive to cure Neurofibromatosis, a disease that has been known to lead to cancer.

http://allthings.inspiredbygillian.com/

As well as I'd like to acknowledge X-Files News for their reporting of the event.

http://www.xfilesnews.com/

The outcome bodes well for the character of those Philes who could attend, and across the board, it illustrates just how generous and caring X-Philes tend to be. Frank's appearance was very generous, and his sentiment of "I am one of you." will be appreciated by many.

Chris Carter is known for establishing "The Chris Carter Foundation", providing scholarships for students in the Sciences, so, this event on Dec 6th makes sense in a way. Chris, Frank and many Philes seem to be like minded with their view of not approaching medical scientific research as an adversary. As of this writing, I have no idea if Chris's foundation is still running, but I hope Mr. Carter continues with that avenue. It is always great to see such an example set for the belief in medical research, as has been demonstrated with Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Carter, and Mr. Spotnitz.

I hope that all X-Philes will continue to follow their example.

Blu Ray project adventures, Pt. 2

One of my staffers at the Lexicon, complimented me about what has been accomplished with the site, and that I must be 'proud'. Pride is a relative term, don't get me wrong, Indeed I am proud, of course, but no one accomplishes anything alone. You need to have others have faith in you, and to that end, I must thank Jana Fain and Frank Spotnitz for having such faith in myself and the team at the Lexicon. Both have been known to be generous with the fan base, as I previously pointed out. But it is rare in this business. The other three important people I must thank for their faith in us is Sven Davison, a very patient, generous, and pleasant man to work for, and never ceases to amaze. The two people I worked most closely with is Adam Vadnais, and Jesse Drake, and it was such a great experience working for them, as well as a real learning curve in a way. There is cast of a great many people at their company and Fox who worked on this project, all who are exceptional with their talent and professionalism. You really couldn't hope for more.

Some have been wondering what we actually did contribute to the project. In part, we were proofreaders, consultants, and researchers. We reviewed the synopsis's, characters, recommended other characters overlooked, assisted with the topics, and the dates. We also advised with a certain percentage of the video clips selected, with the hope of picking clips that were a little atypical to previous clips selected in other X-Files DVD products. I don't want to this appear, in my following point, that I am admonishing the fan base. Yet having witnessed it first hand, there are many within the Hollywood industry who do incredible work who remain faceless, and rarely get much recognition with the public. Fans can become so passionate with their love for an artist, band, writer, film, or television series, they can lose their perspective and understanding. There are many working behind the lines, or behind the camera, who love what they do, they are under incredible pressure, and do their best, as well as usually deliver. This show, "The X-Files", has established such an incredible standard, it it hard to maintain that standard. When you do, it is thrilling, when you don't, it can be very dispiriting.

I hope the public understands the intent with my points. There's really nothing left to say about the subject. I hope you enjoy the timeline feature on Blu Ray and will learn a few things, in that entertainment sort of way, along the way as well. Have fun!