Bigfoot Conference

[Vitriolis]

Quote:

"Bigfoot: Often Imitated, Never Invalidated."

There was a Bigfoot conference in Texas yesterday, I'm surprised no one has posted it yet. Sorry about the sloppy post I'm still figuring out the new forum.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051015/...oot_conference

A couple of gems from the article

Quote:

"It's not a matter of believing, like faith, when you believe in something you can't see," said Daryl G. Colyer, a Lorena businessman who has investigated hundreds of reported Bigfoot sightings in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

"It's a flesh-and-blood animal that just has not been discovered yet. And I think we're getting closer and closer and closer," Colyer said.

and

Quote:

Jimmy Chilcutt, a retired fingerprint analysis expert for the Conroe Police Department, said many of the hundreds of prints he examined belonged to a primate, but not a human, ape, gorilla or chimpanzee.

Like Chilcutt, other well-respected professionals have come forward to say such evidence should not be dismissed.

Being a fingerprint analyst apparently makes him an expert in primate feet..ok.
Nice example of uncritical reporting.

[Skeptical Greg]

Originally Posted by Vitriolis

..........................
Being a fingerprint analyst apparently makes him an expert in primate feet..ok.
Nice example of uncritical reporting.

It's easy to be an expert on something that is not documented.. You make it up as you go along..

Anthing that doesn't fit what we know about animal behavior and anatomy, is just a new feature of this remarkable creature.

[jimtron]

Quote:

"It's a flesh-and-blood animal that just has not been discovered yet."

You can't argue with that logic.

[CFLarsen]

Show me a specimen.

[WildCat]

Originally Posted by CFLarsen

Show me a specimen.

[LTC8K6]

Bigfoot can even make bear tracks to fool you.....

[Starthinker]

I used to believe in big foot as my father adamantly swears he had an encounter, he even mentioned it on his deathbed. But I've since interviewed several deer and raccoons and even some bears and if the forest animals don't believe in big foot, why should we?

[Psi Baba]

Funny, the article doesn't mention that they were supposed to announce at the conference a new $1 million bounty for evidence leading to the live capture of Bigfoot or similar cryptoid.
http://lorencoleman.com/reward.html

[Correa Neto]

Ah...

Loren Coleman... The guy responsable for the "pearl" that can be found at http://lorencoleman.com/bigfoot_iraq.html

A small excerpt:

Quote:

Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman says the legend of Bigfoot dates back 5000 years to ancient Mesopotamia -- now modern Iraq -- and a hairy creature named "Enkidu."

Enkidu plays a major role in the Epic of King Gilgamesh, and Coleman claims Gilgamesh and Enkidu engaged in a lot of cross-species gay sex, with an occasional threesome.

Fantastic, eh?

[William Parcher]

Quote:

"To me it's still an open question, but here's some evidence that warrants some serious consideration, so give it a chance," said Jeff Meldrum, associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University who has studied more than 150 casts of footprints. "This is not a paranormal question; it's a biological question."

Meldrum is what you might call a mad scientist. He wants the evidence for Bigfoot to be given a chance. What does that mean? A chance for what? Bigfoot has never been denied the chance to be confirmed as a real creature. Yet, there is no kind of good evidence that Bigfoot is anything other than a Bighoax.

What does Meldrum want to happen? Does he want scientists to go on expeditions to find Bigfoot? A zillion people trudging through the PNW for centuries have not produced a single bit of confirmatory evidence. Does this crackpot professor think that a funded "scientific" exploration would yield a specimen? This man is not rational or reasonable.

Quote:

"This is not a paranormal question; it's a biological question."

Bullcrap! It is neither question. It is a question of human culture. Meldrum seems to ignore that which has already been confirmed... that humans create and cultivate myths and will fake evidence and contort rationality to support these myths.

Bigfoot is not about primate anatomy or locomotion. Bigfoot is about cultural anthropology. Yes, Bigfoot is a study in primates. But it is a study of the human primate. What causes humans to believe in and create false realities about a non-existent wild bipedal primate?

Dr. Meldrum could serve humanity and science by simply consulting with other professors in his own university. He could call on the expertise and resources of cultural anthropologists on myths and myth-making. He could also call on criminologists for information on forgery and fraud. Instead, Meldrum plays the role of a stupid credulous "reseacher" in the exact same adult fantasy game that he is trying to understand. Does he realize that Bigfootery is making him their very own patsy?

Meldrum is an example of how scientists fail the very enterprise that they are engaged in.

[LAL]

Originally Posted by Vitriolis

There was a Bigfoot conference in Texas yesterday, I'm surprised no one has posted it yet. Sorry about the sloppy post I'm still figuring out the new forum.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051015/...oot_conference

A couple of gems from the article



and



Being a fingerprint analyst apparently makes him an expert in primate feet..ok.
Nice example of uncritical reporting.

In fact, he's the only expert with a database of primate prints, numbering about a thousand examples, as I recall. He started studying them because he was looking for a way to establish race and gender from prints; apes don't interbreed the way humans do. He made National Geographic for his work on Meldrum's cast collection (he went into this as a sceptic, BTW).

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...3_bigfoot.html

This thread on the conference has been going on for over a year:

http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.p...opic=8356&st=0

[LAL]

Originally Posted by William Parcher

Meldrum is what you might call a mad scientist. He wants the evidence for Bigfoot to be given a chance. What does that mean? A chance for what? Bigfoot has never been denied the chance to be confirmed as a real creature. Yet, there is no kind of good evidence that Bigfoot is anything other than a Bighoax.

What does Meldrum want to happen? Does he want scientists to go on expeditions to find Bigfoot? A zillion people trudging through the PNW for centuries have not produced a single bit of confirmatory evidence. Does this crackpot professor think that a funded "scientific" exploration would yield a specimen? This man is not rational or reasonable.



Bullcrap! It is neither question. It is a question of human culture. Meldrum seems to ignore that which has already been confirmed... that humans create and cultivate myths and will fake evidence and contort rationality to support these myths.

Bigfoot is not about primate anatomy or locomotion. Bigfoot is about cultural anthropology. Yes, Bigfoot is a study in primates. But it is a study of the human primate. What causes humans to believe in and create false realities about a non-existent wild bipedal primate?

Dr. Meldrum could serve humanity and science by simply consulting with other professors in his own university. He could call on the expertise and resources of cultural anthropologists on myths and myth-making. He could also call on criminologists for information on forgery and fraud. Instead, Meldrum plays the role of a stupid credulous "reseacher" in the exact same adult fantasy game that he is trying to understand. Does he realize that Bigfootery is making him their very own patsy?

Meldrum is an example of how scientists fail the very enterprise that they are engaged in.

Speaking of bullcrap, I can find no better word to describe your entire post. Meldrum's methodology has been praised even by collegues who don't agree with his conclusions on Sasquatches. He's an expert on primate locomotion. His research continues despite disparaging attitudes such as yours above.

Just what research have you done? Any on Meldrum? Start here:

http://www.isu.edu/bios/Professors_Staff/meldrum_d.htm

Did you know he and Daegling were college roommates? Did you know Daegling's book has been pretty well debunked right down to measurements of German army chests?

You may not like Meldrum's evidence, but at least he provides it rather than resorting to psychobabble cultural explanations having to do with people in areas of rather heavy precipitation having a primordial need to see manlike monsters whereas people in drier climates evidently don't.

Every time I read your posts the phrase "supercilious pseudointellectualism" comes to mind, rather like a tune one can't get rid of once it enters the brain.

[LAL]

Originally Posted by Psi Baba

Funny, the article doesn't mention that they were supposed to announce at the conference a new $1 million bounty for evidence leading to the live capture of Bigfoot or similar cryptoid.
http://lorencoleman.com/reward.html

The bounty was withdrawn due to legal cautions. This is addressed on another thread on this forum.

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=46020&page=2

[Skeptical Greg]

Originally Posted by LAL

The bounty was withdrawn due to legal cautions. This is addressed on another thread on this forum.

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=46020&page=2

The bounty was a joke.


As has been pointed out, real Bigfoot evidence, dead or alive would be worth millions...

We are waiting.

[LTC8K6]

Chilcutt is an expert on primate dermatoglyphs simply because he says he is. That's it. Chilcutt claims to be an expert, and everyone is just supposed to accept that. This, despite the fact that he has no evidence whatsoever to support his claims, except his own claims.

Footers like to say others agree with Chilcutt, but when you look closely, the smoke disappears rapidly.

Until Meldrum corrects his bearfoot errors, I don't trust anything he says about bigfoot, period. Anyone who takes a good clear photo of a bear track, and then proceeds to use it as an example of bigfoots midtarsal break, has serious problems as far as I am concerned. He used it twice, in fact!

This error should make even die hard bigfoot believers ask questions. When Lu won't even acknowledge such an obvious error, I can only think she is being dishonest again.

[LTC8K6]

Someone will eventually get to Meldrum and inform him of his stupidity, and his errors will likely be corrected without comment, and Meldrum's rep will be unaffected amongst footers.

Later on, they will swear he never made such an error.....

Just like they do with Napier, Green, Krantz, etc....

[William Parcher]

Originally Posted by LAL

Speaking of bullcrap, I can find no better word to describe your entire post.

Every time I read your posts the phrase "supercilious pseudointellectualism" comes to mind, rather like a tune one can't get rid of once it enters the brain.

I don't give a rat's ass what you think about me. Mostly because you are the kind of person that thinks that Bigfoot is a truly real creature.