Ray Stanford News Coverage for Canada

[Christopher O'Brien]

For all our Paracasters north of the border, here are several links for coverage of Stanford's historic dino track find at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. (Thanks to Jason in Calgary)

According to Dr. Martin Lockley the world's foremost dino track expert and Ray's co-author for the paper published by Scientific Reports and Nature.com:

“The concentration of mammal tracks on this site is orders of magnitude higher than any other site in the world… I don’t think I’ve ever seen a slab this size, which is a couple of square meters, where you have over 70 footprints of so many different types. This is the mother lode of Cretaceous mammal tracks.” [my emphasis]

Ray's observational & visual acuity and his undeniable intuition are off the charts. He is literally one in many millions. Dino tracks are his hobby. He prefers to look up at the trackways and footprints in the sky. THAT is his true passion and expertise. IMHO, he is the only "ufologist" that even comes close to mattering!

Here's a shot of Ray explaining the find to Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and the Goddard SFC Director Chris Scales and the Goddard article about this historic find...

 

[Randall]

For all our Paracasters north of the border, here are several links for coverage of Stanford's historic dino track find at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. (Thanks to Jason in Calgary) ...

The photograph of the piece on display next to people gives us a much better idea of its scale. It's all very interesting. Any thoughts on RPJ's comment that Ray's talent for locating these artifacts might have something to do with the psychic abilities he claimed to have had in the past?

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

The photograph of the piece on display next to people gives us a much better idea of its scale. It's all very interesting. Any thoughts on RPJ's comment that Ray's talent for locating these artifacts might have something to do with the psychic abilities he claimed to have had in the past?

I've been hinting around about Ray's obvious enhanced abilities, but nobody seems to take me seriously, so I stopped talking about it years ago.

 

[Han]

I sincerely doubt that they wouldn't pay real money unless it worked:

Scientist finds UK water companies use 'magic'* to find leaks:

Water companies use 'magic' to find leaks

Not sure how *water divination works, but it must?

 

[Randall]

I've been hinting around about Ray's obvious enhanced abilities, but nobody seems to take me seriously, so I stopped talking about it years ago.

Interesting. Did I ever mention my father was a professional geologist? Sometimes we used to go out looking for rocks and fossils. He knew what he was looking at because he was educated and had could tell from experience. We were walking along a trail one time and he asked me to look and tell him if I noticed anything out of the ordinary in an embankment. I didn't see anything but what looked to me like bits of clay compressed in around some loose tree roots. It turned out that what I was looking at weren't just bits of compressed clay, but fossils of bullet shaped creatures that used to live on the sea floor millions of years ago.

He didn't need any psychic ability to spot that stuff, and being a scientist from Kansas he would have probably been offended at the suggestion. Had he been strolling the same grounds as Ray I have absolutely no doubt that he would have noticed the same things, because when you know what to look for and are in the habit of noticing that sort of thing, it's blaringly obvious. It just seems amazing to us relatively lay-people who don't pay any attention to it. Now maybe Ray is able to psychically sniff his way to a fossil bed. I dunno. Either way I'm sure the article would have been very interesting to my dear old Dad.

 

[Randall]

I sincerely doubt that they wouldn't pay real money unless it worked: Scientist finds UK water companies use 'magic'* to find leaks: Water companies use 'magic' to find leaks Not sure how *water divination works, but it must?

They don't just do it in the UK. I used to work for the City of Calgary and an old Italian foreman showed me how it's done. He'd mark the locations and have us dig there, and he was never off in all the times I'd seen him do it. It didn't take me long to get the hang of it either. Is it just nonsense? Even after the area was marked he'd go over it with the rods to see for himself, and a couple of times he caught additional lines that we would have cut through if he hadn't called it in for a confirmation. After a season working with that crew I have to say it certainly looks like some people have the gift.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

...He didn't need any psychic ability to spot that stuff, and being a scientist from Kansas he would have probably been offended at the suggestion. Had he been strolling the same grounds as Ray I have absolutely no doubt that he would have noticed the same thing because when you know what to look for and are in the habit of noticing that sort of thing, it's blaringly obvious. It just seems amazing to us relatively lay-people who don't pay any attention to it. Now maybe Ray is able to psychically sniff his way to a fossil bed. I dunno. Either way I'm sure the article would have been very interesting to my dear old Dad.

How come all these streams were walked by hundreds of geologists, dozens of paleontologists and millions of lay-people and nobody ever noticed the thousands of tracks that Ray has collected over the past couple of decades?

 

[Randall]

How come all these streams were walked by hundreds of geologists, dozens of paleontologists and millions of lay-people and nobody ever noticed the thousands of tracks that Ray has collected over the past couple of decades?

I can't say. I imagine they simply weren't looking where Ray was and/or weren't as in tune with the environment as Ray. Like he says, while everyone else was looking up, he was looking down ( sounds exactly like something my Dad would say ) and he knew what to look for from experience. It seems like fossil hunting is one of the things he does. Amateurs can be very knowledgeable and sometimes more gifted than the so-called "experts". Maybe that's because they think a bit more outside the box because they weren't told by some institution how to think.

One thing is for certain though, when you see the pictures of the artifact he found, the prints are really obvious even to me. I might still have a sample of one of the fossils I am referring to above. If I do, I'll post a picture. Compared to the artifact Ray found, it's totally obscure and unless you really knew what you're looking at, you'd never guess it's a millions year old fossil. I have the experience of being with an actual geologist who took the time to explain this stuff to me as I was growing up. I can see how people without the benefit of that experience could be much more amazed by it.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Notice how all the mainstream news coverage refers to Ray as an "amateur," but the official Goddard article read by hundreds of scientists around the world refers to Ray as a "dinosaur track expert." Several of the local heads of the various paleo/geology groups of accredited trace evidence collectors in the area have expressed their jealousy to Ray about their inability to find tracks where Ray has found thousands. That should tell you something!

 

[Randall]

Notice how all the mainstream news coverage refers to Ray as an "amateur," but the official Goddard article read by hundreds of scientists around the world refers to Ray as a "dinosaur track expert." Several of the local heads of the various paleo/geology groups of accredited trace evidence collectors in the area have expressed their jealousy to Ray about their inability to find tracks where Ray has found thousands. That should tell you something!

Indeed it does.

Here's the sample I was mentioning in my post above. He spotted this from about 20 feet away off to the side of a hiking trail embedded in some mud. It's only 2.25 inches long and has no footprints of any kind on it. To me it looked like part of the rotting tree roots. It's not. It's part of a creature that lived on the sea floor millions of years ago. This is the kind of stuff a person who knows what they're looking at can do. Ray obviously has some of that ability. No magical powers are necessary.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Whatever. As usual, you want to engage in yet another disagreement w/ me. I refuse to argue with you. You don't even know the guy and you're telling me about the extent his abilities of which you really know nothing about. I'm telling you what the experts are saying about Ray, but of course Randall, (as usual) you know better...

 

[Han]

I don't think it is thinking 'outside' the box at all, just the opposite. It is about seeing what is actually there.
I would imagine it is similar to fishing or hunting, the best hunters are the ones who understand the most about their quarry (what they are looking for).
It is about learning all the little details to get yourself in the right place at the right time.

Luck is required, but why are some more 'lucky' than others?

They say he who dares wins, and you make your own luck?

But I think finding is a skill, or maybe a better way to say it is: you have to know 'how' to look.

A man who can read sees twice as much.

 

[Randall]

I don't think it is thinking 'outside' the box at all, just the opposite. It is about seeing what is actually there. I would imagine it is similar to fishing or hunting, the best hunters are the ones who understand the most about their quarry (what they are looking for). It is about learning all the little details to get yourself in the right place at the right time. Luck is required, but why are some more 'lucky' than others? They say he who dares wins, and you make your own luck? But I think finding is a skill, or maybe a better way to say it is: you have to know 'how' to look. A man who can read sees twice as much.

All very true. What I meant by my comment there is that sometimes what we're told is the way things are by the institutions can blind us to the exceptions to the rules. So someone who doesn't know fossils aren't supposed to be found someplace or doesn't know it's atypical, might be more open to seeing those exceptions than people who go looking in all the usual places.

 

[marduk]

I can't say. I imagine they simply weren't looking where Ray was and/or weren't as in tune with the environment as Ray. Like he says, while everyone else was looking up, he was looking down ( sounds exactly like something my Dad would say ) and he knew what to look for from experience. It seems like fossil hunting is one of the things he does. Amateurs can be very knowledgeable and sometimes more gifted than the so-called "experts". Maybe that's because they think a bit more outside the box because they weren't told by some institution how to think.

One thing is for certain though, when you see the pictures of the artifact he found, the prints are really obvious even to me. I might still have a sample of one of the fossils I am referring to above. If I do, I'll post a picture. Compared to the artifact Ray found, it's totally obscure and unless you really knew what you're looking at, you'd never guess it's a millions year old fossil. I have the experience of being with an actual geologist who took the time to explain this stuff to me as I was growing up. I can see how people without the benefit of that experience could be much more amazed by it.

When Ray described it to me, he gave the impression they were covered by a layer of underbrush, with only some of it visible as impressions. I get the gist that it was the layout of the site - the topology, the sedimentation, etc that told him there might be tracks. And then the forms of the regular depressions just leapt out at him. After clearing some debris away, they were quite visible.

 

[marduk]

Indeed it does.

Here's the sample I was mentioning in my post above. He spotted this from about 20 feet away off to the side of a hiking trail embedded in some mud. It's only 2.25 inches long and has no footprints of any kind on it. To me it looked like part of the rotting tree roots. It's not. It's part of a creature that lived on the sea floor millions of years ago. This is the kind of stuff a person who knows what they're looking at can do. Ray obviously has some of that ability. No magical powers are necessary.

I can't speak for the guy, but he's never given me the impression that it's anything but his visual acuity mixed with knowledge about both geology and archaeology - which is actually not that common as specialities.

 

[Randall]

Whatever. As usual, you want to engage in yet another disagreement w/ me. I refuse to argue with you. You don't even know the guy and you're telling me about the extent his abilities of which you really know nothing about. I'm telling you what the experts are saying about Ray, but of course Randall, (as usual) you know better...

Okay Chris. Fine. I won't argue. Stanford is the Edgar Cayce of fossil hunters and would unquestionably be just as adept at psychically zeroing-in on ley lines, faery mounds, and a pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Randall, let's not push it. Chris believes in Ray and has for many years. Stanford's achievements are well known, and it's leave it at that. If you do have questions, we can have you come on next time Ray is on the show to question him about these matters.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Okay Chris. Fine. I won't argue. Stanford is the Edgar Cayce of fossil hunters and is unquestionably just as adept at psychically zeroing-in on ley lines, faery mounds, and a pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow.

Dude, your passive aggressive BS concerning an individual you have never met and don't really have a reason to denigrate, nor refute is NOT appreciated!

 

[Randall]

Randall, let's not push it. Chris believes in Ray and has for many years. Stanford's achievements are well known, and it's leave it at that. If you do have questions, we can have you come on next time Ray is on the show to question him about these matters.

Okay, no problem. Let's let Chris and RPJ's opinions on Ray's psychic fossil finding ability go completely unchallenged and stick-up for Chris' right to defend that with snarky unsubstantiated comments about my personal intent. Fire away. I won't say another word.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Okay, no problem. Let's let Chris and RPJ's opinions on Ray's psychic fossil finding ability go completely unchallenged and stick-up for Chris' right to defend that with snarky unsubstantiated comments about the personal intent. Fire away. I won't say another word.

Meet the man, then judge. And thank you for stopping your adversarial passive aggressiveness. I'm also done here.