Feb 24th Atlantic Coast UFO Conference Show

[valiens]

Have any of your guests or people you know ever talk about having, what feels like manipulated (possibly mind controlish )abduction experiences at these conferences?

Yes, at the X-Conference one of the participants confided this but won't go public because s/he fears ridicule. The point for this person is to look as credible to the mainstream media as possible, even if that means only telling half the story. This is a common issue.

 

[subject x]

This show was great!
Y'all keep it up. You're a credit to the field.

 

[dorkbot]

I'm interested in seeing the piece of video that was mentioned as being shown by Peter Davenport. I have been unable to locate it on the NUFORC site. Anyone?

While I'm on the topic it has recently become more and more apparent that there seems to be a large amount of photographs and film in the hands of researchers that is not really available anywhere except if you happen to hook up with the researchers directly. I think a lot of this may be related to several factors:

1. Researchers wanting to keep certain items close to somehow give themselves the sense of having an "exclusive".

2. The old guard of ufological researchers being unsure or intimidated by the digitization process.

3. A misperception on the part of many that posting full source videos, etc. will involve large hosting/bandwidth bills.

4. A desire to somehow eventually "cash-in" on a particular photo or video even if they have no clear idea how to do this.

I'd submit that all of the above are impediments to research progress.

In the current reality of google video, bit torrent, relatively cheap and high quality flatbed scanners, cheap 1TB hard drives and widespread broadband penetration we really need to correct this situation.

Researchers need to be doing hi res scans of negatives and prints. Digital files need to be the original source files, unedited in any way. Those injecting the negatives, print scans, digital photo and video into ufology need to be digitally signing the material. There needs to be torrent trackers dedicated to this stuff. I for one would be delighted to permanently dedicate say 5kbps of my 50kbps upstream to participating in a torrent network dedicated to hosting high quality digital sources.

 

[tommyball]

Jeremy-

I just finished listening to your podcast of the conference and that was HILARIOUS!!!

How exactly did Lynne Kitei segue into her musical number? Lights? Costume change?

Unbelievable....

-todd.

 

[valiens]

Thanks!

She segued by giving us her music theater resume. Because it's not about her.

 

[tommyball]

What is Dolan's take on abductions?

I think I remember him mentioning during one interview or during his X-Conference lecture that he'd originally planned on leaving it out of the new volume of his book, but ultimately decided that it needed to be included.

-todd.

 

[BrandonD]

The most interesting thing on the show was that Richard Dolan believes Bob Lazar, now that deserves investigating...

I know there are a few important points against Lazar that can't be ignored (and he was supposedly only there for 3-4 months), but there are several points in his favor that are just as hard to ignore:

I second your position. There are several factors that tell me there's something more to Lazar's story than just a fabricated tale. But most people can't resist that overwhelming desire to put things in categories, ruling people out and stamping things with "solved" and "fraud", etc.

In my opinion, this psychological trait of people is one of the major barriers between us and an understanding of these strange phenomena.

 

[dorkbot]

I may be completely off here but one line of thought I have tossed around a bit recently is related to Stan Friedman's position that while he is not necessarily in favor of total disclosure--whether partial disclosure can exist at all is a separate argument--he wished something could be done to reduce the ridicule factor. With that in mind, I've wondered if this is in anyway related to the role that people like Lazar and Bushman(who seems to take Lazar at least somewhat seriously) play in all this.

Perhaps the point of the Lazar and Bushman stories is not to deliver any kind of factual information but to simply show up as seemingly credible people with a message that it is alright for bright people to not dismiss the entire issue out of hand. Since it seems as if Bushman is the real thing, at least in terms of having a real job as a scientist doing classified work, and as it appears as if he is not going to ever actually say anything specific, the only message I can really extract is something along the lines of, "Look at me. I'm a real scientist. I'm implying I was involved in some of this stuff and it is not a joke."

Lazar is definitely fishy and I have difficulty with his story as related but I have some trouble with the idea that he was just a "lone gunman" as it were. Lazar is definitely a bright guy and it seems to me that perpetrating a hoax that essentially made Area 51 world famous at a time when it was virtually unknown would have been enormously costly in terms of the government scrutiny and harassment that would have been the result if indeed he was just some really talented but otherwise random liar.

This line of speculation makes me wonder if Bushman is like the second or third generation of Lazar and the story has been subdued to make it more credible. I could be completely wrong though. Just kicking the idea around.

 

[valiens]

What is Dolan's take on abductions?

I think I remember him mentioning during one interview or during his X-Conference lecture that he'd originally planned on leaving it out of the new volume of his book, but ultimately decided that it needed to be included.

-todd.

I think he takes abductions at face value and wants to take what little we know about the various beings from that testimony and extrapolate from there. (As opposed to just supposing things about them and building from there or trying to decipher whether biblical text, for example, is talking about angels or aliens.) It's just kinda, "What do we know? Well, we know they're telepathic. We know they haven't eaten us yet. We know that some abductees perceive horrible experiences filled with terror and some perceive contactee scenarios. We know they drive cool cars." So what does that tell us about them and us...that sort of thing.

 

[pininmefin]

Awesome show!!!

David/Jeremy: Did Dolan give any sort of update on his forthcoming book?

Thanks,
Todd

It is forthcoming. I don't remember if he gave a release date. I do know that he wanted it to cover from where he left off to present but there was so much info that it's now going to be part two of a trilogy.

I spoke with him and he said the first book is nearly complete.It should be out by late summer.The second(or third) instalment is pretty much ready in raw format(as he was writting this as one book)However My critsisim of the show(as I hinted at) still remains.I didnt see either david or his sidekick there on sunday.A realy good set of questions were asked on proof of evidence(such as hand writing)wich wasnt done.I know the show is taped on sunday but I would have liked to have gotten davids take on the whole show.Not just a one day snap shot.

 

[valiens]

They were there for part of Sunday but left early. I stayed through the whole thing.

 

[Ron Collins]

This is the second critique of a conference I've heard on the show. Form the first, I know I will never attend the X-conference. So thanks for that and this one. I was wondering, are there any you would want to go and see?

Oh, I went to the MUFON one in Denver last year and heard Sam Maranto speak about "the O’Hare incident". Or at least that is what it started out as. For a whopping 10 minutes of "I was told I would have some images to show you but they were not sent to me in time." and a bunch of other stall speak. Then the topic quickly altered to 4 video's of lights in the sky. He couldn’t show us the "entire" video as he "didn’t have permission". In fact he nearly had a hissy fit when the person running the laptop didn’t get it shut off in time. Then he switched tactics and started in on some documents he had issues with. All in all it was a very disjointed approach. The guy seemed nice enough to speak with afterwards but in his presentation he sounded like a complete tool.

 

[valiens]

I, for one, wouldn't miss the X-Conference for anything. I love the whole thing--the disappointment, the pleasant surprises, the lunacy, the sanity (played by Dolan again this year). I'm all in for the circus. Perhaps ironically, the only thing that would make me feel sick enough to not want to go to one of these is if the audience were comprised of alien mask-wearing, tin foil hat people or other such Trekery. Or if the panel was all John Lear types and New Age frauds. That, I find physically offensive, like I really think I'd loose my lunch or punch a wall.

But to have a stage full of self-serious people, some good, some not so good...well, that's just the right amount of aggravation for me to want to go. Plus, with the X-Conference, the way the Hilton Hotel is set up, if you're staying there it provides an excellent opportunity to hang out with everyone after hours with zero pressure to do or be anywhere else. Except maybe the hot tub.

 

[SnakeOil]

Ahem...

Did they sell crystals at this shindig? Cuz if I can't get a crystal or a "reading", I'm just not interested.

Yes, I'm being facetious. I've got a lot more cynical comments to make, but I'm too lazy to type them all.

BTW, great show, guys. That Harris chic is a dingbat. I saw her do a talk in Denver a couple of years ago. Dingbat, wingnut...fruitcake...I digress...

 

[pininmefin]

They were there for part of Sunday but left early. I stayed through the whole thing.

Shame I was looking forword to meeting you guys.Hopefully next year.The promoter is determined to make this a yearly event.

 

[Grokl]

LOL...

The show was GOLD.
I havent stopped laughing yet...
Then onto Vaeni's Show..... Bloody hilarious

Pity we dont have too many of those circuses here in Oz.
Cheers