posted on May, 29 2005 @ 04:36 PM
I've followed this thread since Friday, May 27th. I am trying hard to keep an open mind. Like many, I want so desparately for there to be
some truth to what we appear to be seeing. Yet we've been fooled so many times before that is hard not to be cynical, in the extreme, even.
Often when I find myself in quandries such as this, I find it useful to review what I have; determine what I know, acknowledge what I don't know,
and separate what I suspect from what I know and do not know.
With regard to the Topic:
I viewed the video. As with so much on the web, the quality was less than ideal. Those far more expert than I, attribute this to video compression.
I am happy to see that some one has requested the original (or at least, an original copy) from the station. Accessing the station's website, I
noted that they air some of their broadcasts in HDTV format. I do not know if this includes their newscasts, or not; if this segment of the
broadcast was in fact shot in HDTV format, more the better!
I am not concerned that the video clip we saw may have been edited; post-production editing is standard practice in the TV news business, and
virtually all segments not broadcast as Live will be edited, largely to fit the time format of the news program. I believe this point has been
addressed previously on this thread.
Editting does not necessarily indicate a hoax!
From the standpoint of establishing the veracity of the event, I find it encouraging that the reporter picked the time and location of the summoning;
an attempt to keep PY on the "up and up", perhaps? Yes, a good illusionist could have transmitted the time/location info to his accomplices with
little effort; but as I'll point out later, this info would only have been useful in perpetrating a hoax if there had been sufficient time
between the delection of the point and arrival at the location.
All this is moot of course, if the reporter himself, and therefore by extension, KTNV-TV13 were willing participants in the fabrication.
I do not know if this segment has yet aired on the station, or if it aired as shown on the video clip we've seen. I note that the video clip shows
no attempt at a disclaimer to the effect that "KTNV-TV13 makes no attempt to state that the images seen in this footage are real UFO's of
extra-terrestrial origin", in other words "we have a pretty good idea this guy's a fake, but we needed something to fill our time slot".
If the segment has not yet aired, look for the disclaimer. If it has already aired, did the station run a disclaimer of any kind pertaining to this
segment, or its "paranormal" series?
If the segment ran, without any kind of disclaimer, then the station is airing this event as a Factual Occurrance, in other words, to the best
of their knowledge, the events depicted in the story occurred as they were filmed and are being presented to the public as Fact.
For KTNV-TV13 to have aired as fact a story they knowingly fabricated, or to have knowingly participated in the promotion of a hoax as a real news
story, would be to risk their FCC broadcast license. As I pointed out to the news director of my local ABC affiliate (KTNV is also an ABC-affiliate),
if this incident is shown to be a fraud, and KTNV participated in this fraud, thsister stations across the country should demand that their ABC parent
censure KTNV. In light of recent news media scandals, ABC can not afford to have such sophmoric acts threaten its reputation.
As to the footage itself, due to the lack of quality it is difficult to say exactly what I am seeing. In some frame the object(s) look very much like
the weather balloons I've launched many times from the area near Black Rock NV as part of an on-going Rockoon project. This is especially true of
the frames in which the object appears orange-ish or "glowing", as some have described it. Latex-type weather balloons have an orangey-beige color
that will make the balloon appear to glow if lit by the sun once inflated; the inflation thins out the latex to near transparency, allowing the sun
light to filter through. Other frames appear to be showning much more tranparent objects, similar to the polyethylene and Mylar balloons favored for
high altitude/long duration balloons.
So am I saying that these UFO's are just balloons....Again? No.
I have a problem with just dismissing these as more balloons being launched and sighted on demand by some scam artist and his cronies.
It is hard to find an object, a specific object, in the air if that object is more than a certain distance from you, or if the object is small than a
certain size at that distance.
We've launched dozens of balloons in several single and multi-balloon arrays, and the launches were tracked by our best sharp eyes. We've used
naked-eye, field glasses and zoom-equipped digital cameras.
Note: A tripod is the last piece of equipment you want to use when tracking a free-flying high-altitude balloon! Depending on the height of the
tripod, you'll max out the tripod's useful filming azimuth angle long before the balloon reaches any significant altitude. And proximity to the
launch-point only exacerbates the problem: assuming a calm wind verticle loft, the tracking angle would be more acute, thus rendering the
tripod useless quicker. Best to track from launch at a distance using a mid-length zoom to provide as much "head-space" as possible in the frame,
zoom in as needed while tracking the loft. But better still is to have more than one camera. Been there, done that, got several T-shirts!
If this sounds like a lot of preparation just to successfully film a weather balloon , you're right. And in my opinion it goes a long way towards
excusing some of the short commings of the video presented. IMHO, unless he knew what he was going to be filming, there is just no way that a TV
cameraman could have gotten a better shot. But if he had known what he was about to shoot, he would have had to be in on the hoax! Of course
we would have some much better pictures.
Another problem with the balloon theory is that it takes a good deal of time to set up a balloon fill-station and actually fill the balloon. At the
distances apparent in the video, the obects filmed had to be at least 8-12FT in diameter, anything smaller would not be readily visible (see above re
aerial visibility at distance), anything closer would be identifiable as a an obvious balloon.
Assuming this was a hoax, PY would have to had had his balloon-handler/aqccomplices in position relative to the specified "summoning site" early
enough such that they could fill and release the balloon and allow it enough time to rise to the observed altitute, taking into account the prevailing
winds at ground level (crucial to launch) and at altitude (crucial to the "Manifestation" actually being witnessed by the "shills", in this case,
the reporter & cameraman). From experience, I know that it takes 10-15 minutes to fill an 8FT latex weather balloon to aprox 15lbs of lift, if I
recall, the fill rate was something like 25CFM. Try a faster fill rate and you'll likely rip the balloon.
At this point I have no firm conclusion. If it is a hoax, it's an elaborate one to be sure! But don't count on any info from the military, at least
until something hangs out over Las Vegas long enough for them to shoot at it; whether they actually do or not. The military knows the best way to get
thousands of conspiracy freaks on their case, asking questions, is to declare something a hoax!
But if this isn't a hoax, even if these object are not UFO's in the traditional sense of "vehicles from another world", then PY has accomplished a
feat of "psychic manifestation" that should be considered just as amazing!