144 lines
7.2 KiB
Plaintext
144 lines
7.2 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: MUFON REPORTER Vol 1 #3 May 15, 1993 FILE: UFO2642
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From The Lone Star (TX) MUFON Reporter Vol 1 # 3 May 15, 1993
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For subscription info, contact: the Lone Star MUFON Reporter,
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Ellen Stuart, 8103 Richard King Court, Austin, Texas 78749,
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or call (512) 288-0505.
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by Andy Abercrombie
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[Editor's note: It is easy for us to be deceived by tricks of technology,
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and this article helps to substantiate the need for us to be technically
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competent in the flaws and fallacies of instrumentation, or at least,
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have someone close at hand who is.]
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Two months ago, the Houston UFO Network (HUFON) presented to its
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members a portion of a videotape entitled "Messengers of Destiny,"
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produced by Lee Elders for Genesis lll Productions. "Messengers"
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purports to have hard the evidence for the existence of UFOs --
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videotapes taken by hundreds of individuals showing a daylight
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sighting of what appears to be a solid, structured, metallic craft
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hovering over Mexico City during the total solar eclipse of 1991.
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I had heard rumors of such an event occurring over a year ago but
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had dismissed them as unsubstantiated. If such an event truly
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happened, why hadn't the public heard about it through the national
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press that was there to cover the total eclipse? Why hadn't we seen a
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mention of the event in the supermarket tabloids -- surely they
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couldn't have passed up a story like this! At the very least, why
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hadn't the members of MUFON heard anything from our world-wide
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network about such a monumental occurrence?
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The visual evidence presented in the form of computer-enhanced
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videos is very persuasive, and to say the interest level here in
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Houston is high would be an understatement. "Incontrovertible
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proof, at last!" I have heard some say.
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I immediately ordered a copy of the tape! I felt like the first kid
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on the block to have the latest new toy. Wanting to show off my new
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"find" to my less fortunate fellow members to the west, I phoned
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Stuart of Austin MUFON. "Why, no!" she said, "We haven't seen it yet,
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but Ron Johnson told us quite a ago that there was nothing to it."
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"Nothing to it?" I snorted. "We're talking daylight sighting here,
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Ellen. Metallic disk! Hundreds of different witnesses!!"
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"Well, okay, bring it to the February 27th meeting and we'll watch
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it then," she said. I readily agreed to do so, anxious to show Austin
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MUFON just what a real Mexico City UFO looks like.
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As it turned out, Ron Johnson had a conflict for February 27th;
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it was his son's tenth birthday. Maybe, he thought, he could miss
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this one. He called Ellen, who informed him that next to nothing
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was actually planned to take place that meeting, and that she had
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agreed to let Andy Abercrombie from Houston bring a video of the
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Mexico City sightings. That news changed everything for Ron!
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As the Deputy Director of Investigations, Ron had to attend,
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however briefly.
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He had already seen the video and knew the impact it would have
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on untrained observers, like me unless he could first explain to the
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group exactly what it was they were being shown. Much like the Lone
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Ranger, Ron Johnson rode to the rescue that morning. As I was to
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learn, such is the dedication of this talented researcher. Ron
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explained that in daylight, a computer-enhanced, stationary object
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- such as videotaped and witnessed by hundreds of individuals
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during the 1991 solar eclipse in Mexico City - was nothing more than
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our old friend, the planet Venus!!
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According to Ron, Venus is never more than 20 degrees away from
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the sun. If Venus had not been in the sky at the time of the solar
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eclipse, then that fact would have been a story making headlines.
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If you know where to look, and it's not too close to the sun,
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a person can see Venus during the daylight hours -- information
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the field investigator's class had just covered, page 59 of the
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Field Investigator's Manual. (I have watched the tape again since
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Ron's explanation, and nowhere in "Messengers" is the planet Venus
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ever mentioned. If its proximity to the sun presented even the
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slightest possibility of the object's misidentification by the
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observers, that fact should have been addressed by the film's
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producers/investigators.)
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Ron then showed us a videotape of Venus he had taken from his
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backyard just after sunset the day before. He explained that when
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a small bright object is recorded against a blank, featureless
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background, the videocamera's circuitry will place a thin, black line
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beneath the object as a means of separating it from the background.
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The recorded scene zoomed from a wide angle view of Ron's backyard,
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up to the sole bright object in the sky - Venus. As predicted, below
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the bright object was a black line. This black line is always below
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the object, no matter what the position of the camera. At that point,
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the scene of Venus jumped slightly on the monitor. There was the
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bright dot with its black line at the bottom, but as the scene widened
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back to a wide angle of Ron's yard, the yard was upside down!
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"It doesn't matter whether the camera records the object upside
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down or rightside up." said Mr. Johnson. "The object will still have
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a black line added below it when played back on the monitor. "
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Ron explained that computer enhancing a spot of light the size
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of what appeared In Messengers, as well as his backyard video of
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Venus, would in no way result in an accurate depiction of the object's
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shape. When a photo or a video has been digitized for use on a
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computer, the image is broken down into pixels, or very small squares.
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An extreme enlarqement of a very small area would show the object
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broken into squares of light intensities -- a small round object
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would appear to be slightly tiered because of the enlarged squares.
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At best, the resultinq image is a distortion.
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Everything Ron said is verifiable, and with the proper equipment,
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should be easily reproduced. Computer enhancement of digitized images
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is relatively new to ufology, and the results could be easily mis-
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interpreted by experienced but well-meaning researchers.
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Ron Johnson's presentation answers how such a spectacular event
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could occur over the world's largest city, and NOT be reported by a
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single news source at the time!
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The event described in "Messengers of Destiny," never happened.
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Rather, the object had been there all the time -- the planet Venus.
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This also explains why it was stationary and seemed to disappear
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during the conclusion of the eclipse as the sky began to brighten.
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Just in case you were wondering, Ron did complete his presentation
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in time to enjoy his son's birthday party. From what I heard, he had
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as great a time as the kids did at the party!
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*******
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Andy Abercrombie is Texas MUFON's newest Assistant State Director.
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He has written articles for HUFON and is training to become a Field
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Investigator at monthly field investigator training classes held
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in Austin.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |