Well I am finally taking a break from all the painting, tiling and tenant reclamation/rehab work I have been doing on my house that I vacated 7 years ago, and moved back to on the 8th, as the Real Estate market is rapidly rising again in Sacramento so it looks like I am back in the "Flipping" Biz that the bubble burst of 2005 had put on hold! What am I doing on this "break" you may ask? Why reading about Bigfoot of course! Written by Pamela Foster, who was born and raised in Humboldt County and therefore knows about all things Bigfoot and all aspects ofthe local culture, "Bigfoot Blues" isthestoryof Samantha, the daughter ofa crusty lifelong "Bigfooter", who was raised in the neighborhood Bar chock full of the numerous colorful locals, and who finds herselfon the adventure of a lifetime during which she also unearths her authentic self and the key to love and happiness. I was hooked from chapter one, and kicked myself for starting it right before I had to head out for the evening! But once home I barely put it down until I finished it a day and a half later. I can also say that it was high-jacked off my nightstand by a non-Bigfooter who read it all inless than a day, andwholoved every second of it, so it's allure is definitely not confined tojust the Bigfooting crowd. Watch the Trailer Here:
Thank you so much for the signed copies of both your Books Pamela! I have greatly enjoyed conversing with you and hope to meet you in person this May at the Old Town Eureka Arts Alive Event where you will be signing copies at Cafe Nooner! Click these links to read more about "Bigfoot Blues"and it's wonderful Author Pamela Foster and make sure you check out her other book Redneck Goddessas well! See my Amazon Review for more.
Well I don't know about the rest of you out there, but as a result of the Ketchum "Study" delivering the death knell on Bigfoot being taken seriously in the Scientific Community and the non-Bigfoot believing population in general, I feel like I am done even trying. If Dr. Sykes fails to have success coming up with anything unequivocally verifiable and replicable by other legitimate scientists, because that is how peer review is supposed to work dear people, then I am afraid there never will be the kind of proof we need in order to be taken seriously. Yes there is always the slight chance that a body might be obtained some day, by accidental means or happenstance hopefully, because I certainly am not a proponent of killing one just so we can study them, but since that has not happened historically I am fairly dubious it is going to happen now. Will 2013 be "The Year Of The Bigfoot"? Probably not, just as 2012, 2011, 2010,..... were not. But if Sykes does hit a home run and deliver the goods then I guess we are going to be dealing with a whole new ball game. Until then I have grown weary of the pictures of blobs, the transparent hoaxers and liars, the egos and posturing, and most especially those who want to continue believing in something that has clearly failed, in the face of all the facts that it has clearly failed, and are now ludicrously insisting that those of us who understand that it has clearly failed are the ones who have closed our minds and are not "facing reality". Good luck with that mentality in the real world. The realilty is that there is no data backing up anything Ketchum is claiming. All she produced after 5 years of taking other peoples hard earned samples and money were a few small sections of mixed up snippets from known species. The entire genomes of 3 individual members of a novel species? Where is that Dr. Ketchum? If it exists please do share........
So yes some of you may have noticed that I have shut down my Facebook account, I am enjoying the peace and quiet and drama free existence out here in the real world right now. Well if not drama-free then at least it is real drama and not the never ending round of misunderstood meanings and words and hurt feelings and bruised egos of the cyber world. I am starting some exciting new projects out here including finishing up the classes I have been taking, a new job and a move back to the Davis/Sacramento area that I consider home. So for right now I have no plans to reactivate my Facebook. Maybe in a few weeks or months I may, it all depends on how I feel and what I want to do. So to those of you in the Cyber Bigfoot World who I do consider real and true friends, take care and I will pop in once in awhile to say hi. Keep on fighting the good fight for truth and reality in Bigfoot research, but only do so if YOU are enjoying yourself and getting something out of it. Because once you no longer are it is not worth the effort. If you need to contact me you can do so here. There will always be those who just want to deny or accuse or dismiss the facts in favor of whatever their fantastical belief of the moment is, and for whatever motivation they have for holding onto that belief. Facts are facts despite someone's belief otherwise. Beliefs are fine, as long as the person who holds them is not expecting others to accept them as irrefutable reality, with no actual proof or data to back them up. Once a person starts expecting that, and dictating that anyone who questions those beliefs or asks for proof of them is "being disrespectful and must be shut down", then all you have is a cult. A cult of belief that will not accept any fact that disputes that belief, and will dismiss any evidence to the contrary as part of the "conspiracy of the closed minded big brother establishment". That is the argument of people with no data to back up their claims. That is the argument of those not dealing with reality in the real world. Belief is fine as long as you acknowledge that it is your own personal paradigm that makes you feel happy, but don't try to force others to go along with it or attack them for having proof that your particular belief is flawed. I am an open minded person. In fact I think it is entirely possible that the creatures we call Bigfoot, whatever they are, could have abilities and senses that we currently have no understanding of. I am most fascinated by this possibility and it is one of the reasons I became interested in this mystery. I find a lot of the stories from people who have experienced these unexplainable phenomena very believable. I BELIEVE that they believe what they experienced really happened. But my belief and their belief can not be considered proof or evidence at this time. Those experiences and stories should be collected and documented however because at some time in the future we may be able to understand and explain them. Everything in the Universe has an explanation, even if we do not understand what that is at the moment. But none of that changes the facts that the Ketchum Study failed, and failed in all the worst ways. It was never a transparent or above board process, but was mired in misinformation, lies and subterfuge if you honestly look at the history of the last 5 years. It failed to adhere to the principals of real science and when advised how to do so by those reviewing it, it failed to realign itself within those principles despite have many years to do so. It was clearly driven by the agenda and egos of two less than qualified or objective members of the community, whose goals as evidenced by the back-story of websites set in place before any scientific findings had even been found, was to propel their personal beliefs and to profit from that belief.
So until something worth discussing manages to surface in the Bigfoot world I will be doing the thing that I actually enjoy about Bigfooting, getting out into the beauty of nature with friends and fellow researchers and trying to figure something out for myself. If I do figure anything out I will be sure to let you all know, but I guarantee that I will not be making any claims of indisputable fact about it unless I have the data to back it up !Until that time all we can do is to share and document our anecdotal "evidence" in the hopes that it will someday lead to our actual understanding of what this great mystery is all about. Because in the end it is that mystery that brought us all here in the first place! I am not interested in "hits" or "views" or making money from Bigfoot. I am interested in the truth. The truth is out there, whatever that truth may be....................
"For those of you who think the "Angel DNA" conversation with Dr. Melba Ketchum released yesterday is photoshopped, here's the truth from the person who released it. Bigfootology.com's
Rhetman Mullis had urged Dr. Melba Ketchum to "do the right thing" and
collaborate with other scientists such as Dr. Sykes to ensure her
methodology and science was sound. In early 2012, after submitting
samples and having long conversations with Ketchum, Rhetman realized
that there was a problem and found Ketchum's conclusions highly
"questionable". Here's a statement from Rhettman Mullis regarding Dr.
Melba Ketchum and why he chose to release his conversations with her:"
I
was privy to this information shortly after it happened and it is one
of the main reasons many of us had so many doubts about her credibility
before her self-publication of unsubstantiated "data" took place 2
months ago.
The complete Report on the Sierra Site Sample now in! History of “Sierra Kills” Tissue Submission & Testing (Frozen & Salt-Cured Tissue) - By Bart Cutino
"As I’ve stated previously in my summary attachment to our Trent
University report regarding the “circumstantial” Sierras tissue, our
objective and responsibility to the public, fellow researchers, the
hunter/submitters and frankly ourselves, was to independently contract
multiple labs to screen this sample as a precautionary measure and
hopefully rule out “all” potential North American mammalian candidate
contributors." Continue Here 2-26-13 UPDATE II:
Breaking News! Real Geneticist who has analyzed the available Ketchum
"Sequencing" says it is a combination of human chromosome 11, cat, dog
and panda bear, amongst other things, and is the result of
contamination/mixing and poor technique. Watch 6 real Scientists
discuss all aspects of her self publication here:
UPDATE: Many of you have been citing the small sequences of genomic data that Ketchum included in one of her "supplements" as the sequencing I am calling for. This is just a small amount which she has removed from the whole genomic context, an amount far too small to prove her claims of having completed the entire genomic sequencing on several individuals of a new species, individuals who supposedly differ enough from all other known species to be a new, or hybrid one, but which resemble each other enough to be considered the same "novel species". The small nucleotide region/s she has included do not prove what she is asserting. As an example it would be like someone saying their address is 123, so they must be the person who lives at 123 Street Name, City, State, Zip Code, without showing that the person does indeed live at the same street, city, and state. Small sequences could just be a mutation/difference in one individual, but which would not make them a new species. We all have these differences, that is why each individual's DNA is like a fingerprint, no two are exactly alike except in the case of identical twins, as they derive from the same egg/sperm combination so their DNA is shared before they split from one another. This is why DNA evidence is taken so seriously in a court of law. She needs to turn over these full sequencing genomes to qualified geneticists to have them confirmed. Dr. Meldrum and Dr. Sykes would be glad to assist with this I am sure, so her argument that she can't do so because the "mainstream" does not take her seriously is a clear fallacy. I have added some new articles below as well! A review of the latest opinions on the DNA Results, including the Sierras Evidence Initiative's disclosure on their sample which was included in the Ketchum study! (See Below)
Well
for all of you who have been trying to keep up with everything
surrounding the release of the Ketchum "Paper", below are links to many of the
latest evaluations by credible sources. Once I am all moved and have
gotten settled into my new job I am hoping that Ketchum herself will
have finally released the "Amazing Data" related to her supposed Bigfoot
Genome Sequencing. Then at last some real analysis can begin on whether or
not she has succeeded, as her non-peer reviewed self-publication has
claimed. It is 12 days now since her paper was self-published and still
no sign of that actual new "genomic" data.
I
had hoped wholeheartedly over the last 2 years that she would
accomplish what she had been promising, despite all the behind the
scenes stories I was hearing from my friends and colleagues who were
working with her, and who were becoming very concerned with her
credibility. Not only because of the way she seemed to be milking her study for cash, but because of the bizarre religious connotations she was making about what her study would prove. These claims changed depending on who she was talking to and what they wanted to hear, but some of the claims where that "they" had either alien or angelic DNA present.......The last we heard from her on Coast to Coast Radio was that she was abandoning her DNA work to do further research at her "Habituation Site" (should be right around 52min 25sec in the Interview).
Personally I don't care what Sasquatch turn out to be or where they actually fit into our family tree, I just want to know the TRUTH about what they are. I was hoping we would see some real science to back up all
the witness reports and personal experiences which make up the current
circumstantial evidence for the likely existence of the Sasquatch
species, whatever that species turns out to be. Sadly no one has yet to accomplish this feat, and I can only keep on hoping that Dr. Skyes at Oxford does produce irrefutable data that we can all celebrate in it's accuracy and legitimacy!
You can read about the Scientific Process here, and hopefully get an idea of how and why the Ketchum study has so far failed to adhere to these standards, let alone release the actual sequencing data, leading to the grave disappointment of so many of us who understand why it should have been so important to do so: What Is Science And Is It Important To Bigfoot?. After all she has circumvented the actual Journalistic Peer Review Process by publishing her own data (Sorry folks but there is no evidence of the legitimate Journal she claims to have bought, and why would she do that and then obliterate all record of it's pastpublications and Academic Review Board????), yet she is now claiming she can't release her sequencing due to Genbank's discrepancies not her own, so why not just Self-Publish your Sequencing data too Dr. Ketchum? Show us the "Meat" that your claims are based on, or perhaps I should say "Steak"......
I still hold out some hope that something can be salvaged from all this, as so many good and legitimate people were involved in the sample collection and funding of this project. But until her actual sequencing data is seen I remain unconvinced of anything but her lack of professionalism, which is all that the news stories quoted below have had to base their opinions on as well:
2-14-13
Dr.
Meldrum's first statement on how the DNA paper was released:
[JEFF
SPEAKING] The journal was created on a GoDaddy template on Feb 4, by a
third party, with a one-year contract. There is no information about who
is editing the "journal" or who the members of an editorial board might
be. I queried the contact feature on this matter but have received no
reply. This does not appear to be a refereed journal. It appears to
merely be a front for a self-published report. The sequences have not
been uploaded to Genbank. Project Sasquatch
2-14-13
“It’s clearly a fake Vanity Journal with lots
of ShutterStock pictures, misspellings and it was only created on
2/4/13. I’ve only read the abstract and conclusion and neither makes any
sense.”
"She remained silent for the last two months
before finally posting a link to her paper on an online journal called
‘Denovo Scientific Journal.' The only problem is the journal did not
exist before 9 days ago! It was literally created to self-publish
her material, basically circumventing the peer-review process. She
later explained her reason for doing this was because of "scientific
bias" among the journals she submitted to. So, instead of sending
complementary copies to genetic specialists to garner some kind of
credibility, she has opted to send them to independent Bigfoot
researchers--the direct opposite of peer-review. That's like giving
cotton candy to a child; of course they are going to like it. Everyone
else who wants to read the paper has to pay her $30. Most journals
charge "per article" prices for those without a university proxy, but
what I find most troubling about the situation is that Ketchum's DNA
sequencing company is tanking. It currently has a rating of "F" from the
Better Business Bureau. This has led some people to speculate that she
dreamed the paper up to rake in cash from Bigfoot enthusiasts."
On behalf of myself and The Olympic Project,
I'd really like to clarify a few things about the Ketchum paper and the
Denovo Journal. Let me make this very clear. Our role in this effort was
simply to provide samples for this study. We did indeed supply many
samples including hair, tissue and saliva. I have been in support of her
effort since the beginning because I was extremely happy that someone
stood up and was willing to take this on with hopes of bettering BF
research. Our part in this was simple. We gathered samples, submitted
them and sat back with high hopes. Beyond that, we have nothing to do
with the way the paper came out, and we have nothing to do with how it's
structured. We are simply submitters. I have been receiving many phone
calls and pm messages with a large variety of questions and inquiries.
Folks, I can't answer all these questions. They are not my questions to
answer, please refer to Melbas team. My personal submission was the
Sierra sample. Genome sequencing was performed on this sample at Texas
university. It's my hope that the test results from this analysis can
now be looked at by qualified eyes in the scientific community and more
can be learned about it.
"It would be a huge story if all the work done by Ketchum and her team
ultimately leads to scientific confirmation of the reality of Sasquatch.
But at this point, the new wrinkles about the DeNovo Science Journal
have only added to the credibility issues by a foot or two -- a Bigfoot."
"However, geneticists who have seen the paper are not impressed. “To
state the obvious, no data or analyses are presented that in any way
support the claim that their samples come from a new primate or
human-primate hybrid," Leonid Kruglyak of Princeton University told the Houston Chronicle. “Instead, analyses either come back as 100 percent human, or fail in ways that suggest technical artifacts.” More at "The Scientist"
2-19-13
"To make an end-run around the process by erecting a facade in the form
of a so-called new journal and allege that it is edited and reviewed,
without providing any of that information on the public web page, it
appears that she has undertaken an effort to self-publish, just to get
it out there," Meldrum told The Huffington Post. "And, to boot, she's
charging $30 a pop for a copy of the paper."
"The issue(s) as I see it is the way the study has been conducted and
presented. Science has no room for cloak and dagger behind the curtain
secrecy. There have been numerous inconsistencies, if not flat out lies,
obvious signs of an agenda being pushed, and now what seems to be
profiteering taking place. NDA's, copyrights for book and film deals,
viewing fees, teaser clips of videos, business contracts, financial
partnerships, I fail to see how these are normal and acceptable parts of
a non-biased scientific inquiry."
"The DeNovo Scientific Journal has no other studies, articles, papers or reviews, and only Ketchum’s paper has been “published” by the journal, NBC News
pointed out. It also is not subscribed to by any major library or
university, and its website apparently didn’t exist until three weeks
ago. In the words of LiveScience’s Benjamin Radford, “It is not an existing, known or respected journal in any sense of the word.” More at Time Magazine
2-23-13 The Sierras Initiative Information Release:
The
Sierras Site Initiative led by Bart Cutino posts a statement about why
they felt the need to do independent testing of the circumstantial Smeja
sample: Thank you Justin Smeja for respecting Wally Hersom's wishes that you not speak out about your experience with Ketchum until after she had taken her study to it's conclusion.
2-24-13 "It couldn’t be that the paper STARTED with
the premise that Sasquatch is real and the data she collected now PROVES
that. There are lines of evidence that show she had already come up
with her hypothesis long before she was able to “confirm” it through
these nuDNA results. That would be sham inquiry to me – when you already have the answer in mind and work backwards. It’s not good science." "Science is a tough gauntlet to run. She complained about the time it
took, how picky everyone was, the skepticism she got. I don’t have much
sympathy. That’s how it goes. It’s not the best system but it’s the best
one we have right now to weed out all the trash. If you want the
respect from the scientific community, you must do these annoying and
tedious things. And squarely face your critics. Instead, Melba has
chosen to plead her case to the sympathetic pro-Bigfoot audience, like
the audience of Coast to Coast AM. Twice. Some advice: that is exactly
the LAST thing you should be doing to gain credibility. Science isn’t
done on late night radio and Facebook. It doesn’t take a scientist to
tell you that. But many Bigfooters can see that this is certainly NOT
what they hoped from the promises of this DNA study." Read more at Doubtful News 2-24-13 "Ketchum referenced the Milinkovitch paper as circumstantial evidence of
Sasquatch across the modern world for centuries and the referenced
literature is incontrovertible proof of their existence.
There's only one problem with the paper she cited. It's a damn April
jokes from 2004. Apparently, the paper is well-known to many students
and it is often brought up as one of the best known April Fools jokes in
research literature. This is even noted in the paper itself:" Read more at Bigfoot Evidence 2-24-13 "Or, long story short: what happened, in the period immediately
preceding the appearance of the JAMEZ on about Jan. 4, 2013, that could
have suddenly lit a very hot fire under Dr. Ketchum, causing her to
seemingly rush into a bizarre and poorly-executed succession of
“journals” and self-publication?" "On December 26, one Tyler Huggins published, on several sites, the results of independent testing of what has been called the centerpiece of Dr. Ketchum’s paper, sample #26, aka The Sierra Steak, collected by Justin Smeja.
Why, you ask, would this have upset Dr. Ketchum’s often-stated
determined plan to have her paper published in a quality peer-reviewed
scientific journal? Let’s list the ways: Read this extensive list here at Over the line, Smokey! 2-25-13 "We pulled out some of Dr. Kokjohn's questions, but also provided the
email from Dr. Kokjohn so you can see the questions in context.
What happened to the original founder species?
The Hybrids are abundant, yet the founder species is extinct?
How could a hypothetical species so close to modern humans to
interbreed and produce viable, fertile offspring not share homology to
the same entities in their extended family?
Where did the sequences not in GenBank originate?
Dr. Kokjohn added, "I am not impressed with the data I have seen, but
from that I draw no conclusions regarding the existence or non-existence
of Bigfoot."
It should be noted we reached out to Dr. Melba
Ketchum to see if she had any insight to any of these questions; we gave
her ample time to respond and she did not have a comment at the time of
this post." Read more at The Bigfoot Lunch Club
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013: Has Ketchum Committed Professional Suicide? Well
Melba Ketchum has just hammered the last nail into the coffin of her
scientific credibility. She has created a website posing as a real
Scientific Journal in order to publish her own paper without any actual
review or corroboration from other members of the Academic Community.
This is not how legitimate data becomes part of our scientific knowledge
base. This is how those who practice Pseudoscience operate. Read
about the announcement here: Bigfoot Evidence
This, "Denovo A Scientific Journal", is a brand new website
with no history of actual publications. I can find no record of this
being a real "Journal" or any past issues or papers from other authors
that have been published by them. She has just created this as a way to fool the
naive into thinking she has been accepted by a real peer reviewed
journal. Anyone can make up a fake Journal on a new Website and publish anything
they want. This proves nothing except that she is the fraud all of us who have been
practicing critical thinking have come to believe she was months
ago......
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com/) Domain Name: DENOVOJOURNAL.COM Created on: 04-Feb-13 Expires on: 04-Feb-14 Last Updated on: 04-Feb-13 Ding Dong the Fraud has just committed professional suicide. Long live Dr Sykes..........
Read about pseudoscience and why real peer review is imperative to real science here: What Is Science And Is It Important To Bigfoot? UDATE - The Scientific Community is weighing in: FromSciGuy - A science blog with Eric Berger "If Ketchum really had the goods she would have co-authored the paper
with reputable scientists and gotten the work published in a reputable
scientific journal. Instead she’s playing to an audience that doesn’t
understand how science works, that wants to believe Bigfoot exists and
is willing to send her some cash to further their delusions." ________________________________________________________________________ From scienceblogs.com "How did she get it published? Well, she says she bought an existing journal and renamed it (the Journal of Cosmology was on the market, and I hoped most fervently that that was it…but no, JoC is still online). So she owns the journal. It’s now called De Novo. Then she came out with a special edition. It’s Volume 1, Issue 1. It contains precisely one paper, hers. You should be laughing by this point." ________________________________________________________________________ From Doubtful News: "We finally see the other authors, at least. Note that none are academics, but forensic specialists. Problem one.
Problem two: This is a brand new journal.
Was it launched JUST for this paper? Well, this is an interesting and
HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS twist. We do not know what the standards are for
review. There are no rules for starting up your own journal and calling
it “peer reviewed”. And, indeed, that’s what was done Problem three: The paper costs $30 to download. No academic
institution is going to have access to a new journal site so they will
have to pay to review it. Some Bigfoot bloggers have received embargoed
copies. Bigfoot bloggers. With NO scientific qualifications. I have yet
to see any genetic specialists comment on the paper but it’s very early
and I expect some will. I have requested access to the paper.
Problem four: Excuses. Check this out from the Sasquatch Genome Project page My initial opinions of this latest news? It’s a fiasco. It’s
unprofessional and disappointing. The websites are amateurish, the goals
are delusional and it smacks of a self-serving money-making venture.
Melba has positioned herself as a self-named expert with additional
projects set up to collect funds and protect an animal she insists
exists. It has not been confirmed, contrary to her opinion that she has
“proven” it."
Thank you so much for the signed copies of both your Books Pamela! I have greatly enjoyed conversing with you and hope to meet you in person this May at the Old Town Eureka Arts Alive Event where you will be signing copies at Cafe Nooner! Click these links to read more about "Bigfoot Blues" and it's wonderful Author Pamela Foster and make sure you check out her other book Redneck Goddess as well!
