• Security incident: ISF was recently accessed by intruders. Please change your password, and change it anywhere else you used it. Read more

UFOs: The Research, the Evidence

Status
Not open for further replies.
Yes, but you state in every single UFO case that the witnesses were mistaken! HOW is that different to claiming that the “witnesses are wrong 100% of the time?”

How many times do we have to point out to you that this is WRONG. In every single case I've seen people claim that witnesses COULD BE mistaken. I have yet to see anyone claim that they always are 100% wrong all the time. You have a serious reading comprehension problem that you need to fix if you want to be taken seriously here.
 
Well, far be it from me to state the obvious (LOL), but it is clear from your posts that you have "nothing at all to add", so I am guessing that if you really ARE bored, there are plenty of other sand boxes for you to go and play in - some that might interest you even more?


Unlike you Rramjet, I already post lots of stiuff in lots of threads. It's you that needs to get out more.

Now . . .

Why did you lie about the thread being closed, Rramjet?

How was your appeal received?
 
“Oh dear” yes we ARE missing “something here”. Of course you refer to THIS reference (although you seem unable to to cite it) (http://photos.salemhistory.net/cdm4/...ISOBOX=1&REC=3) which contains a picture with a caption that reads: “This is a view from the Goodyear blimp on May 6, 1949, of Bush Pasture park before Willamette University's McCullough Stadium was built.” (Note: Salem, Oregon is some 190 miles NNE of Rogue River).
At the cruise speed of a K-class blimp 190 miles is a 7 hour round trip. At maximum speed it's about a five and a half hour round trip.

That's not the only reference though, but frankly, I can't be bothered to go look up the other one, this one will suffice. There was a Goodyear blimp in operation in the general area, within a few hours flight on the date in question.

Ergo, the point you were making that there were no blimp operations on the west coast at the time is refuted, by your own source.

Was that another memory lapse, or a lie of omission?

And I have cited this reference before - and you might have a point except that the historical record (you know, REAL evidence that you have ignored) shows that there were NO trips to Rogue River in 1949. That is:

"1947 Goodyear West Coast Blimp Tour"
(http://www.nastillamook.org/faqs/hangars/use.htm)
(1948? ...nothing
1949?... nothing
...that is there was no "tour" in 1948 or 1949 - simply, operations had ceased sometime in 1947).
Umm, no, that (very short) page is about special projects that Tillamook was used for, and includes a Goodyear blimp tour in 1947. What it most definitely does not say is that there were no Goodyear blimp operations in 1948 or 1949. It doesn't say if the blimp was housed there, or maybe housed somewhere else. It just lists 1949 as the year that the blimp did a west coast tour.

Another reading comprehension fail, because we know, from your other source, that the Goodyear blimp was still on the west coast in 1949. Which means it had to be housed and maintained somewhere.

The day was bright and clear, no adverse weather conditions, which would have made it ideal for a training flight, testing repairs, or any of maybe a dozen other reasons to fly a blimp for a few hours that wouldn't appear on any historical document.

The fact is that there was at least one blimp within easy flying distance of Rogue River on the date in question. To deny that fact requires either stupidity, insanity or dishonesty.

Moreover, you have failed to outline how it might be possible that an object that is cigar shaped, with four fins, a gondola, noisy engines and a large colourful advertising logo emblazoned on both sides could be mistaken by five witnesses (two using binoculars) for an object described as “circular (analogous to a coin), with silent motion (displaying variable aerial manoeuvrability in direction and speed) with the ability to move at the speed of a jet plane.".
Why bother, it's been done before, including photos to demonstrate the points. Like how small it would have been, even in binoculars.

And for the record - I am not saying that the Rogue River sighting was definitely a blimp.
 
Ah…interesting…so I am not the only one who has come to similar conclusions about Hartmann’s Zond IV research then? That is, there is independent confirmation of my analysis? Thank you for pointing that out!
Nah, based on your performance here, more likely you simply plagiarized somebody else’s…

I am not “compensating” for perceptual error.
Precisely, you simply dismiss the possibility without basis in ever single case… which is why you will never be a credible UFO researcher and will forever remain in the dark about the true nature of the phenomenon.

Yes, but you state in every single UFO case that the witnesses were mistaken! HOW is that different to claiming that the “witnesses are wrong 100% of the time?”
Liar.

Excluding delusional people, hoaxers, and charlatans such are yourself, we know 100% of UFO witnesses were unable to identify what they saw.

From there, we have evidence that upwards of 98.5% of those UFOs can be provisionally identified as mundane.

Precisely 0% of UFOs have been identified as alien spaceships.
 
The ONLY (repeat ONLY) “contender” blimp WAS the Goodyear blimp (based at Salem) which CLEARLY had large, colourful advertising logos emblazoned on both sides.

Really?

But surely it doesn't matter how large the logo was when the blimp would have looked like this:

blimp-1.jpg


From the tidal section of a river estuary whilst in a fishing boat.

:rolleyes:

Besides, we have already established it could have been a Navy Reserve blimp.
 
Last edited:
I am sorry, but
I sorry but you ignored the point made in my post. The subject of the post was a refutation of your assertion that:

Originally Posted by Rramjet
The UFO debunker’s beliefs rest wholly on one single premise:

The eyewitnesses are wrong 100% of the time.

That is, to maintain their position, the UFO debunkers MUST uphold the truth of that statement. That is, in 100% of UFO cases the eyewitnesses have misperceived a mundane object.

Strawman. The rest of the wall of text has been ignored, since the opening statement is totally incorrect.
The irony of your response has already been noted, but to complete the circle,
.. you do not provide enough information in your "reports" for any reasonable assessment to be made.
And yet, without sufficient information, you come to a conclusion... [/quote]A fireball could be a meteor ... and I am sorry again, but "three green lights" does not make a "classic triangle formation". We need more information here.[/quote]I have already given a description of the latter sighting right here in this thread.
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5238289&postcount=1083

The Fireball Incident, has also been discussed on the forum.
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3572972&postcount=14

The only conclusion that can be drawn from these sightings is, "unidentified" and probably "unidentifiable" - thus my sightings, to date, are sightings of UFOs. QED.
 
but but but, thats not binos, thats a telescope
Since nothing of interest is happening elsewhere on this thread.
What brings you to the conclusion that this is not the view seen through binoculars.
The cinematic convention used to represent a view through binocularsWP as two circles partially overlapping in a figure-of-eight shape is not true to life.
 
While on the subject of baseless assertions, still no response to this post, Rramjet?
I see you have carefully avoided addressing this, Rramjet.
And from Belgian Thought’s link:
“It's impossible to prove a direct link between what people are reading and watching and what they report as UFOs but one interpretation could be that the latest advances in technology may be influencing what people see in the sky” (Dr David Clarke - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8520717.stm)
But these unfounded assertions (dates of Hollywood films and technological advances) do not seem to match with the actual events...!
(sorry, but haven't learned how to do "side by side" columns here...)
Table 1.1 Major UFO Waves....
I have - here's a short selection of milestones in aviation technology put next to the dates.
A number of significant events that had worldwide coverage and interest line up with the Explosive Waves.
Demonstrably, from a very small set of significant events, it can be shown that Dr.Clarke's is NOT an wholly unfounded assertion - but your attempt at refutation is unfounded, since you offered no evidence to back your claim.
Table 1.1 Major UFO Waves
Gradual|Explosive|Events
|1896|First flight of unmanned Aerodrome No. 5 from a houseboat on the Potomac river
||An organised flyer camp at Lake Michigan. Tested was a Lilienthal-glider (reconstruction) and a biplane built by Chanute, which was the basis for the further development of flight technique
||Unmanned Aerodrome No. 6 flies a distance of 4,200 ft.
||David Schwarz's rigid airship makes its first flight at Tempelhof field
||Germans August Parseval and Bartsch Sigsfeld invent the kite balloon for observations in strong winds
1897||
Pandemic| 1908 - 1916|Wright brothers.
1909||
1913||
1946|||
|1947|Northrop_YB-49 Flying Wing
||Chuck Yeager first man to break the sound barrier in level flight
1952|||
|1957|Sputnik 1
Pandemic |1964 - 1968|Apollo missions, including landing on the moon
|1973|Mizar flying car
|1983|Beechcraft_Starship
||F/A-18 Hornet
1987||
 
I asked “ “That is what conditions are similar or the same as Rogue River that would lead to the same or similar perceptual errors? “
And it's a silly question, whch is why I ignored it and answered the question you should have been asking.
From http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/mexico/mexico.dwt
Other theories will no doubt emerge as well, (weather balloons, ball lightning, meteors) equally self-righteous in their determination to tread the conventional path, and equally wide of the mark. Such a well-recorded case requires a snappy resolution by those who cannot countenance the possibility of a contemporary UFO report becoming a cause célèbre amongst the public at large. But I suspect the case will defy a rational explanation, and remain unsolved. The aero-dynamics of the objects alone suggest intelligence, not to mention their ability to appear and disappear suddenly, yet their invisibility appears beyond our technological means at present (one presumes).
My bolding for her pleasure. Do the bolded parts sound at all familiar to you? It's almost as if you could have written the above paragraph.
 
There's the kind of UFO that turns out to be geese, like you saw...and then there's the kind that fly right over your frakking head before heading off to outer space, like I saw.

Of course, given that Limbo insists that taking hallucinogenic drugs will help you see god, him (her) seeing something fly right over his (her) frakking head and having no supporting evidence, documentation, or anything, we should absolutely take his (her) word for it without question. He (she) couldn't possibly be mistaken, or hallucinating, or anything.
 
Rramjet said:
The first point to note is that you have changed your original contention to include more that just the shape in your “challenge…
Nonsense. These items have been at stake for quite while.

Rramjet said:
Second attacking the person (my scientific training) is not a challenge to the evidence – it is mere posturing in order to “point score” – another typical UFO debunker tactic.

You started this debate claiming to have scientific training. Thus, I am attacking a claim of yours. Too bad it was a claim you made about yourself while attempting to gain some credibility and appealing to authority. It is simple as that.

A typical UFO charlatan tactics is to lie about his/hers background. Had you not used the same old worn-out discourse used by UFO creduloids and kooks, had you displayed actual skills regarding the use of scientific method, had you not displayed undeniable evidence of being ignorant of many a basic scientific fact, there would be no questioning about the actual existence and the quality of your claimed scientific training.

Now, if you label me an UFOdebunker, I will consider myself free to label you an UFO creduloid or charlatan. I’m not pretty sure yet which of these, however. Maybe a blend.

Rramjet said:
Third, my statement about the UFO debunker’s (not sceptics – because I am a sceptic and I make no such claim as you suggest) claim that the eyewitnesses are wrong 100% of the time is irrelevant to the question at hand – that is your challenge to the shape of the object at Rogue River. This is another UFO debunker tactic - bring in unrelated/irrelevant assertions to confuse and cloud the issue in order to make sure the focus is taken OFF the question asked of them.

Evasion attempt noticed. Your “skeptics say eyewitnesses are 100% of the times wrong” is not irrelevant. It is an example of misinformation spreading, twisting of an opponent’s position and poor methodology, if not of dishonest behavior. Exactly the things you and other UFOcreduloids and charlatans accuse skeptics of doing. Irrelevant things are and were actually brought by you several times, such as, for example, when presenting an article at Playboy magazine as evidence. This careless attitude regarding evidence quality is not what one would expect from a bona fide person with scientific training asking for a serious scientific study of his/hers pet hypothesis. What brings us back to your claimed scientific background.

Rramjet said:
Fourth I notice you avoid the question by reference to posts while not providing links or a proper reference (like page number) to the posts in question so that you make it difficult for anyone to check the veracity of your statement – another typical UFO debunker tactic – to cloud, obscure and otherwise make things difficult - where we should be doing precisely the opposite. Nevertheless I tracked those posts down…

Another attempt of diversion, this time coupled with false claims. Was it really hard to find a post by its number? Wow, it means you must have serious problems in you alleged scientific work when checking references at journals like Nature…

Now, prove your claims that I am intentionally "making things difficult for anyone" and "clouding, obscuring" by "not providing proper refferences".

Rramjet said:
LOL… the witnesses describe the object first coming toward them, then turning to move laterally then continuing the turn to move diagonally away from them to disappear into the distance.
And almost everything you wrote from this point crumbles as soon as one questions the precision was the eyewitnesses descriptions of the object’s trajectory. Someone with real scientific training would understand the limitations of his/hers dataset and how far can one make conclusions over it. You crossed this line ages ago.

Other parts demonstrate clearly your ignorance of geometry, such as for example, this section:
Rramjet said:
First you are not exactly correct that a blimp is a “prolate ellipsoid” – if seen at an angle from below, the closer end will be larger than the further end – in other words there are TWO foci – not one focus. Moreover, it will only be “circular” when seen directly head (or tail) on – and patently the witnesses were well below the object.
An ellipsoid is a 3d object, Rramjet. I could go on but the other errors were already discussed elsewhere.

You also misrepresented the very sketches from the eyewitnesses when you wrote:
Rramjet said:
Yet the witnesses saw, described and drew an object that maintained the same aspect ratio throughout! Thus “circular” object is reasonably inferred and definitely NOT a blimp.
This is not true. First of all, two sketches posted right here at this thread show different perceived X/Y ratios- thus you claim that the object maintained the perceived ratio is not backed by the evidence. Your second error is that similar differences in perceived ratios can be achieved using either oblate (cigar-like) or prolate (pizza-like) ellipsoids – it all depends on the perspective.

Distorts the evidence and fails at a simple geometric evaluation… What type of scientist are you exactly?

Thanks for exposing the flawed methods used by many an UFOlogist so clearly.
 
Why do you keep refilling the bowl of peanuts? I can't help myself!

Ah…interesting…so I am not the only one who has come to similar conclusions about Hartmann’s Zond IV research then? That is, there is independent confirmation of my analysis? Thank you for pointing that out!

Probably not. Sparks argument was flawed as well and the approach was trying to find flaws in Hartmann’s research in order to validate the reliability of eyewitness testimony. Your approach was the same. Of course both of you completely missed Hartmann’s point on this and I can equally demonstrate that various scientists agreed with Hartmann’s information (i.e. Menzel, those writing the Condon report, and the National Academy of sciences). I don’t recall Hynek and McDonald arguing about the way Hartmann presented his work either so it pretty much means they could not find fault in it. I suggest that those actual scientists with credentials trump the work of a UFO proponent with (as I recall) a degree in engineering and somebody who claims to be a scientist. If you want to say your work has been validated, I think you are on very weak ground. Additionally, based on your past history of parroting others work, I would not be surprised if you found this and simply paraphrased his work as your own. Of course you could be Brad Sparks but that is doubtful. He would not claim to be a scientist. Some UFO researchers have a line they do not cross (i.e. lying about their credentials).

I am not “compensating” for perceptual error. I am USING perceptual error and the circumstances in which it is manifest to asses UFO cases of veracity and reliability.

Yet you provide us with no information on how you performed this on RR. How about giving us the actual case studies that duplicate the events at RR so we can determine the degree of perceptual error and the reports reliability?

…and STILL you refuse (or cannot) outline the circumstances which lead to perceptual error in the “Japanese pilots” case (that you also fail – again…ugh… to provide a link or proper reference to the case also indicates that you possibly have something to hide and that th4 case actually is not as you describe it).

First of all, I did list a source but you obviously missed it. Second of all, I would think that a scientist might be interested in checking out the story (i.e. do some homework) but apparently, you are too busy trying to avoid the issue.

This is merely YOUR interpretation of events. In other words you have provided a third (or fourth or fifth, sixth…? hand account).

I see. Actual moments in history are questioned as anecdotal accounts subject to error but UFO reports are not. We know these events happened at Coral Sea because military historians recorded them from the after action reports and accounts of what transpired. We don’t know exactly what happened at RR simply because there is nothing to confirm what transpired. That is the difference between actual history and UFO reports.

HOW is it relevant to rogue River? (That is, what circumstances were the same or similar?) As far as I can tell NOTHING about the case bears on Rogue River – but then of course you have not supplied me with the information that might be relevant – so I reserve judgement until you can show me how the cases might be related.

It is relevant because the main points of your argument are that the witnesses were trained observers, saw the object clearly of a significant period of time, and used binoculars. These factors prevented them from misperceiving a blimp or aircraft as a flying disc. In this case, the pilots had a clear view of the ship for a significant period of time, used optical instruments (even examined the ship closely on the first wave of the attack), and were trained observers with recognition charts. These are circumstances similar to that at Rogue River. The only difference is the target (a large ship) and the background (the ocean vs the blue sky). Yet despite having a significant advantage over the RR witnesses (duration of observation and training to recognize these kinds of targets), they failed to properly identify the target and viewed it as something it was not. THAT is why it is relevant. I expect you to dismiss as not being exactly the same but the fact remains that people misidentify things all the time even when they have training. Therefore, you can not make the claim that it is impossible for the RR witnesses to misidentify something mundane (blimp/aircraft) as something exotic (flying disc).


In cases like Rogue River we search the perceptual research literature and theory to see if there is ANYTHING about the case which could have lead to misperceptions and if we find any, then we must account for them. If we find none that apply then we can discount them as a source of error. THIS is BASIC science Astrophotographer and I find myself wondering why I should have to explain it to you… but there it is, obviously my mistake in this thread is to assume a basic understanding of the scientific method among the readership. Equally Obvious is the fact that I will have to reassess that assumption and bear it in mind for the future.

You have not presented this “perceptual literature” to show how you demonstrated this is the case. That is basic science. Since you have not done this, you can not claim that you have been able to rule out perceptual errors or “account” for them (isn’t that the same things as “compensating” for perceptual error, which you deny you are doing?).

Meanwhile, the forum has presented various sources that demonstrate that witnesses can be in error about their observations. You have, as is typical in your unscientific approach, dismissed them with the usual wave of the hand.

Yes, but you state in every single UFO case that the witnesses were mistaken! HOW is that different to claiming that the “witnesses are wrong 100% of the time?”

My you are a bit on the dense side for a person who claims to have a high degree of education. It is my contention that there is the potential for human error. You have NOT demonstrated how you can compensate for said error and identify when it actually occurs. We are describing the same kind of phenomenon that includes Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, Elvis sightings after his death, fairies, angels, dragons, etc. They are things that nobody has any evidence for existing. Until it can be shown these things actually exist (and I am not talking about UFOs but actual physical craft that are flown by “somebody else”), then the potential for human error or hoax being the source of the report is high.

The Arnold sighting [1947] was crucial for the development of the context of UFO sightings in the United States. The two words, “flying saucer,” set the tone for the unexplained sightings that followed; they provided a useful and easily accessible label for the unexplained phenomenon, and, unfortunately, established the giggle factor from the very beginning. (p. 6)

For the first five years after the Arnold sighting, the New York Times consistently took a humorous stance toward the controversy (Jacobs 1976, pp. 34-36).13 It printed a tongue-in-cheek editorial which identified the unidentified objects as “atoms escaping from an overwrought bomb,” Air Force anti-radar devices, visitors from another planet or afterimages of light on the human eye. Another suggestion was that the objects, all silver, were coins that “high riding government officials” scattered to reduce the country’s overhead. Life Magazine (21 July, 1947) suggested that these sightings were not unlike those of the Loch Ness Monster. (p. 7)

The New York Times also interviewed Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko and air pioneer Orville Wright. Tongue in check, Gromyko suggested that UFOs were discs from Soviet discus throwers practicing for the Olympic Games. Orville Wright believed that no scientific basis for the objects existed and then hinted that somehow the government was involved and that its intentions were manipulative in nature. “It is more propaganda to stir up the people and excite them to believe that a foreign power has designs on this nation.” In the same article (10 July 1947, p. 23) the Times quoted a Princeton psychologist, Leo Creeps, as saying that the real problem was whether the flying saucer was an illusion with objective reference or whether it was “delusionary in nature.” (pp 7 -8)
(http://www.narcap.org/commentary/ufocritique.pdf)
​

So you basically are cutting and pasting what NARCAP told you? Do you have the articles and how many people on the west coast had access to the NY times? Of course, this is a document describing newspapers from 1947 and not 1949. I demonstrated that there was no ridicule in 1949 on the subject and the AF had publicly declared that UFO reports were not a joke and were being taken seriously. You will have to do better than that to demonstrate that people were afraid of ridicule. Based on this argument, nobody would have bothered to file any UFO reports after 1947, yet they did. Apparently, not everyone read the NY times. Most of the media headlines did not ridicule witnesses at all.
 
Last edited:
Rramjet, why don't you just tell us about your scientific career? Which advanced degrees you hold, the kind of jobs you have held. No locations needed, you will still be anonymous.

Also, I'm still waiting for the quotes of people on this thread who said Unidentified Flying Objects (spelled out as a reminder of what the acronym means) don't exist. I'm not saying that they are not there, I just don't have the patience to follow this thread closely.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

ISF - Join now!

Every member here is approved by hand. No bots, no spam, just people who care about evidence and honest debate.

Membership is free!

Create your free account

Back
Top Bottom