There is no evidence Freeman faked prints...
I'm sure that at least some among the older Bigfoot buffs still have a copy of the Good Morning America program. Should they decide to play the tape again they will see and hear ABC'S Steve Fox ask, "You tried to make fake footprints?" with Freeman answering, "Yes, I did." Fox then asks, "To create prints?" and Freeman again says, "Yes, I did." Fox is bent on being absolutely clear and so he asks, "You admit those were fake foot prints," and Freeman is seen nodding in agreement.
In November of 1995, Richard Greenwell handed me a copy of Bigfoot of the Blues. as we flew from San Francisco to Eureka, California on our way to investigate the Redwoods video site. During lulls in the conversation I paged through the book. I was initially intrigued by what I did not find. Surprisingly, there were no illustrations - -no photos of footprints, no casts, no persons straining to match step length, no sketchy eyewitness renderings. There were few or no obligatory speculations about Gigantopithecus, migratory routes or extraordinary senses or physical prowess. Instead, there was a narrative, focusing on events in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington State spanning a ten-year period between 1982 and 1992.
[1.] Joel Hardin, an acclaimed U.S. Border Patrol tracker pronounced the l982 tracts to be fakes.
[2.] Later in l984, Rene Dahinden, a life long Bigfoot investigator, examined a trackway and declared it hoaxed.
[3.] Then, in l989, Edward B. Winn "surreptitiously" removed fibers from a twisted tree branch presented by Freeman at the l989 Membership Meeting of the International Society of Cryptozoology and tested them for chemical composition and melting point. He later concluded that the fibers were a synthetic modacrylic fiber and he labeled the entire presentation as "scientific vandalism" (Edward B. Winn, l99l Physical and Morphological Analysis of Samples of Fiber Purported to be Sasquatch Hair, Cryptozoology, Vol. 10: 55-65).
Orchard immediately laid to rest the assertion that there was no Bigfoot in the Blue Mountains until Paul Freeman arrived on the scene in l982, recounting incidents dating back to l900. Frequent reports of witnesses not connected with Freeman's involvement further contradicted such allegations. For example, incidents were reported to the U.S. Forest Service in the late l960's as described by USFS employee Wayne Long. This was further corroborated by additional reports from the files of John Green and from the newly-formed North American Science Institute (NASI) of incidents throughout the Blue Mountains in both Washington and Oregon.
Since Correa evidently didn't have time to present his argument to Dr. Meldrum, I did it for him. This is the reply:
"LAL,
Sorry, but after taking a quick scan through the other lists you are participating in, I don't think it is worth my time to respond more than just briefly to the latest criticisms. They are of a different nature than the points raised by Jim. ...snip...
http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=14342&st=40&#entry300929
Neto clearly has no concept of the calculation of the mechanical advantage of the triceps surae (calf musculature) as evidenced by his comments and attempt to diagram his point.
The model of the sasquatch foot is a very natural extension of trends displayed in a size-graded sample of ape feet from gibbons to chimps to lowland gorillas to mountain gorillas, not only in relative elongation of the heel but in lessened divergence of the great toe. Humans have departed from this pattern by adopting a fixed arch.
The MT break has little to do with the loss of divegence of the big toe, until the fixation of the arch, at which point the aligned big toe becomes the distal support of the arch. There are a number of interacting modifications at play during the evolution of the modern human foot.
Sure. I can't help but agree with the above statement. Really. Honestly.(Some people should do the research required before asserting their opinions with such conviction.)
The comments about the casts and footprints illustrated on my webpage and the comaprisons made between the Laverty photo are simply without merit.
Nice of him to take the time to reply, wasn't it?
RayG said:I just don't get how an expert on primate feet can transfer that expertise to an undiscovered, uncatalogued, unknown species. Isn't it all a good guesstimate at best?
Why don't you ask him? He's still posting.
...how is it possible to transfer your expertise in primate feet to an undiscovered, uncatalogued, unknown species? Isn't it all [bone details/reconstruction, degree of flexion, midtarsal flexibility, etc.] a good guesstimate at best?
So, Meldrum does in fact dismiss his critics out of hand?
Well, we're even then, I guess. His ideas are also without merit, being based on a house of cards.
It also looks like Meldrum is in fact thinking "missing link" to me.
Perhaps you missed it?
"QUOTE(djmeldrum @ Mar 4 2006, 11:52 AM)
LAL,
Sorry, but after taking a quick scan through the other lists you are participating in, I don't think it is worth my time to respond more than just briefly to the latest criticisms. They are of a different nature than the points raised by Jim. Neto clearly has no concept of the calculation of the mechanical advantage of the triceps surae (calf musculature) as evidenced by his comments and attempt to diagram his point. The model of the sasquatch foot is a very natural extension of trends displayed in a size-graded sample of ape feet from gibbons to chimps to lowland gorillas to mountain gorillas, not only in relative elongation of the heel but in lessened divergence of the great toe. Humans have departed from this pattern by adopting a fixed arch.
The MT break has little to do with the loss of divegence of the big toe, until the fixation of the arch, at which point the aligned big toe becomes the distal support of the arch. There are a number of interacting modifications at play during the evolution of the modern human foot. (Some people should do the research required before asserting their opinions with such conviction.)
The comments about the casts and footprints illustrated on my webpage and the comaprisons made between the Laverty photo are simply without merit.
The particular cast you asked about is one of Timus's casts."
http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=14342&st=40&#entry300982
First of all LAL, thanks for submitting to Meldrum the incoherencies I found. Its beter than just using the standard appeal to authority. And also, whenever you have the chance, please send a "Thank you" to Meldrum. I'm also a busy man and I know how hard it is to find spare time.
Now, I am sorry to say, but the answer has not convinced me, quite possibly because he was in a hurry. Please allow me to tell why:
Note that my diagram shows that the bones act as levers that rotate around joints (the articulations). The longer the lever -bone in this case- the more efficient will the transmittion of the energy will be. Muscles generate the energy to rotate the bones (actually bones play a double role is double since they also provide support to the muscles). The longer the lever, more efficient will be the transmittion of the force. Meldrum´s bigfoot foot model shows short "levers" when compared with a human foot. Also, note that there's an extra articulation. Beside the greater complexity, this induces extra waste of energy due to attrition. What also means its not as efficient as a human foot in terms of energy saving and transmition when walking. And will also be an extra wear point. The only way to compensate for this is by raw force, increasing the sizes of the muscles involved, may not be a sound approach (more muscles = more energy needed to feed). So far, I am not convinced...
Well, gibbons, chimps, lowland and mountain gorillas have different ecological niches than the ones bigfeet are supposed to have and the species from the genus Homo have or /had. gibbons, chimps, lowland and mountain gorillas are not fully developed bipedals. Homo and bigfeet (assuming they are real and the usual suppositions about them are correct) are bipedals, adapted to stride along great distances across the terrain. Am I correct untill now? Thus, since the evolutionary proccesses tend create similar forms to achieve similar tasks, the feet of humans and bigfeet (assuming the last ones are real) must share a lot of features. The rigid arch is an example. The position of the big toe another. Even with all the "interacting modifications at play", since the evolutionary pressures were similar.
And also we must remember that if what some of the pictures show are real bigfoot footprints, they -apart from their size- are virtually indistinguishable from those produced by humans. And since a footprint is a mold of the foot that made it, and since foot shape is a function of bone structure and attached muscles, why should the foot that made those footprints (assuming it was a real foot) have a different bone structure?
And yes, I have scrolled down the page and I saw the feet comparsion. Call me obtuse if you want, but I fail to see the "modest transition in the series from a mountain gorilla to a "typical" sasquatch foot". Note I posted a similar comparsion ages ago to show how different they are.
See? I am still unconvinced. The answer don't seem, IMHO to have really touched the issues I raised. Actually it seemed quite vague. Understood what I wrote LAL? Because I tried to make the explanation as simple as possible so everybody interested in the subject can understand.
Sure. I can't help but agree with the above statement. Really. Honestly.
Not sure if its directed to me, but if it was, I think the above statment is without merit, thus I will not answer. If not, sorry, nothing to see here, move one, move on.
Yes, it was very nice of him to reply. And I was also very nice to reply, don't you think?
When will you be nice as we are and either back or remove the claims and insinuations you made about me?
Oh, and if JREF is such a waste of time, why you still post here?
Now, if you forgive me, I will go back to my RL, where my lovely wife and son wait for me.
We saw it the first time Lu..
St. Meldrum ( of the holy Church of Bigfoot ) will not demean himself by discussing the observations of amateurs...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
In case you don't get it..
" The comments about the casts and footprints illustrated on my webpage and the comaprisons made between the Laverty photo are simply without merit."
....... Is not an argument.. It's an opinion..
Looks like he contradicted your claim that we were not looking at ' his ' web page...
They're a third wider. The toes are relatively longer. Some seem to show a bunched plantar pad. Human feet may reach some of the lengths, but not the width. The print is not an exact mold, depending on substrate, and casts tend to be slightly larger that the print.
Some seem to show a bunched plantar pad.
One I share.
So be it.Done.
The rigid arch may be a late development that evolved in anatomically modern humans.
They're a third wider. The toes are relatively longer. Some seem to show a bunched plantar pad. Human feet may reach some of the lengths, but not the width. The print is not an exact mold, depending on substrate, and casts tend to be slightly larger that the print.
No, it wasn't. It referred to Bill's claims about fakes on the web page.
I have already explained I can't retract a claim I didn't make. I asked if Pat Kelley was you under a different SN. That is not a claim, any more than another poster's suggestion about Hunster and me being "sock puppets". I assume that was a joke too.
If I'd made the claim, I would have retracted it, but I wasn't serious in the first place. The point was that Kelley seemed to have a similar style and arguments, that's all. I didn't mean it to be offensive, although it evidently was. We were rather, uh, adamant at the time as I recall, and I've felt rather insulted myself for reasons I've already explained.
So, I'm sorry you took offense. Does that work?
I did insinuate you weren't actually writing a paper and that turned out to be true, so I don't think I need to retract on that one. Anything else seemed to be a leap on your part and I think we'vee been over that before.
I think I'm usually the nicest person here, but that's just me.
Posting on BFF is also a waste of time?I explained that on BFF.
I gets my adrenaline flowing, sometimes, and I need that. Posting on message boards in general is a rather a waste of time, IMO, but it's fun and is good brain exercise and I have time to waste. I've found it helps ward off depression. I've made some good cyber friends, too. I still get PMs from AOL folks wondering where I went.
Thanks for the reply. I'll repost on BFF in case Meldrum's still posting.
(RL? Room living?)
Hey Dfoor, the teeth are too white!If this shows up you will witness the world's very first game trail cam pic of the big guy.
- Dfoot
Hey Dfoor, the teeth are too white!
Easier to nitpick when one already know its a hoax, eh?
Hoax? What hoax? That has yet to be proven. Till then I'm leaning more towards the idea that this is the face of Bigfoot. I find this more compelling than some dents in the mud.
Besides, the flash is what caused the teeth to appear too white according to my dentist - and he's a CRYPTOTOOTHOLOGIST (He who studies teeth that have never been studied) and is much more qualified than you or I to make judgements here.
As you can see in the image that followed the previous one, these teeth are obviously stained in the tradition of a true omnivore. The head is in motion. The eyes appear to be adapted to night vision (though I still have to ask my optometrist about that one). I can see nothing in this photo that would point to a hoax.
At this juncture you are being warned that your 'Doubting Thomas' ways may cause you to be frozen out from further discussion of this subject.
Deeply Offended,
Dfoot