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FINALLY... A VOICE OF REASON - Meldrum weighs in
This photograph is posted under the Fair Use doctrine of Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. Copyright 2008 SearchingforBigfoot.com
Two men from Georgia, Rick Dyer and Matthew (Matt) Whitton, from Clayton County, GA have turned the bigfoot community on its ear recently with the claim that they have a dead Bigfoot stored in a freezer.
While this is old news to some, many Oregonbigfoot.com readers have been emailing me asking for details. Read on for a complete rundown of the events thus far and an in-depth look at the claims, the evidence, the questions and the characters involved. And yes... my opinion of the whole thing.
First, the website. According to a WHOIS search, Matt Whitton, using Rick Dyer's email address, apparently registered the domain name on June 16, 2008.
The site is hosted by sitecube.com
A member originally sent me the link to the site. A flash-driven flashy but barely functional mess, the site boasted that Dyer and Whitton were "The Best Bigfoot Trackers in the World". Reading through the website, with the theme from Knight Rider blaring in the background, I was under the immediate impression that this was simply yet another of those websites created by gung-ho good ol' boys who don army fatigues and play war games in the woods in the name of bigfoot research. The only difference was that these guys had discovered a "flash website in a box" and were pulling out the stops, using every bell and whistle available to them.
As I delved deeper into the site, it became apparent that rampant ego may not be the only motive. These guys had a shopping cart, and were selling "bigfoot expeditions" starting at $499.
Wait a minute. I've been active in the research field for 18 years now and know or know of nearly every player in the field and I'd never heard of these guys. And suddenly they're busting onto the scene, selling expeditions? I can only imagine the discussions taking place in the garage as these guys sat around drinking beer and looking at the BFRO site with dollar signs in their eyes.
But it got better.
Claims of a bigfoot body. Yep, that's right. A bigfoot body, in a freezer.
These guys had really upped the ante compared to most newcomers to the scene. Most novice researchers build a black website with green text and spooky graphics and deadpan photos of themselves decked out in camo and stolen images and audio files and have all of the quintessential web links like "about bigfoot" and "about us" and "submit a report". Who WERE these guys?
So I dug deeper. They began posting YouTube videos and the news spread like wildfire through the Bigfoot community, launching two guys from Georgia from obscurity into Bigfoot Research infamy.
Shortly after the website launch, Ric Dyer and Matt "Gary" Whitton began posting YouTube videos infused with enough testosterone to choke a herd of horses. "The Best Bigfoot Trackers in the World", they claimed. The basis for their claims? They supposedly had a body.
They continued to post one video after another, seemingly enjoying the rise they were getting out of the bigfoot community. Their obvious attention-mongering didn't do much to impress serious researchers, but they soaked up the scathing commentary from the message board peanut gallery like bratty children starved for attention of any kind. They teased. They gloated. They blustered. They mocked. Due to their painful lack of maturity, the videos were almost excruciating to sit through and more than once I shut them off halfway through.
Loren Coleman over at Cryptomundo took a critical stance against them and they retaliated regularly - even going so far as to burn his book in one of their videos. They also seemed to have it out for Matt Moneymaker of the BFRO. Apparently, our Georgia boys had decided that these were the "pillars" of the community and that by chipping away at them they could topple the infrastructure.
What exactly was their modus operandi, I asked myself? It seemed to me that these guys were bored (Whitton, coincidentally - or perhaps not so - was on administrative leave due to being shot in the wrist in the line of duty) and that they were sometimes-bigfoot- afficianados who decided to take advantage of an imposed "vacation" by stirring up the mud at the bottom of Bigfoot Lake. Why? Did they have a disdain for bigfoot researchers in general, or had they been following the likes of Cryptomundo and the BFRO and decided that those in question needed to be "put in their place"? Were they so uninformed regarding the bigfoot community that they thought they could create a website out of nowhere and try to sell "expeditions" ala BFRO and had not realized that the entire bigfoot community would be up in arms at the thought?
|Policeman's claim of Bigfoot sighting a headache for boss
Matthew Whitton, a Clayton officer on medical leave, is one of 2 men alleging the find
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/13/08
The search for Bigfoot, the mythical half-man/half-gorilla beast also known as Sasquatch, may have ended in Georgia.
Or it could just be a hoax that has landed a Clayton County cop in hot water with his boss.
According to a press release issued by "Searching For Bigfoot," a California-based Web site, two men have not only found the corpse of a 7-foot-7, 500-plus pound man-monkey, but they've also found a tribe of his brethren living at an undisclosed location in the North Georgia mountains.
The men are to appear at a press conference in California with "DNA evidence and photo evidence" on Friday.
One of the supposed discoverers is Matthew Whitton, a Clayton County police officer for the past six years. He's been on medical leave since being shot in the wrist July 3 while pursuing a suspect in a Krystal robbery.
Whitton, along with fellow big-game hunter Rick Dyer, a former correctional officer, are co-owners of bigfoottracker.com and Bigfoot Global LLC., a company that offers "Bigfoot expeditions." The men are working with another Bigfoot hunter, Tom Biscardi, and Biscardi's Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., according to the press release.
Clayton police chief Jeff Turner said Wednesday that Whitton has permission to run his part-time Bigfoot tracking business on the side.
"As long as his part-time business doesn't affect his work ethic, that's his own personal business," Turner said.
But Turner said he has been inundated with e-mails and calls from media and the public since word got out that Whitton and Dyer claim to have a Bigfoot corpse. Some doubters suggest photos of said corpse look suspiciously like Bigfoot suits for sale on the internet.
"His claims of finding Bigfoot is entirely a different matter," Turner said. "Unfortunately, that's spilling over into his police life and that's where we have concerns. When he comes back from medical leave, we'll have to sit down and address those issues."
— Kathy Jefcoats and wire services
Regardless of the motive, I've learned a lot about witness credibility over the years and I know an attention whore when I see one. In this case, their credibility amounted to zilch.
The story changed and changed again. First, they had "shot" the creature. Then, they had simply "found" it. It supposedly took a day and a half to haul it out of the woods.
In one of the videos, they presented a "scientist" who was picked up at the airport and proferred an interview after his examination of the body.
When the research community, like bloodhounds on the trail of a wounded animal, noticed that the "scientist" bore a striking resemblance to Whitton's photographer brother, Martin, they posted yet another video confessing that he was in fact the brother and that they had made the "scientist" up in order to throw the "researchers" off the trail. This video came complete with a talking teddy bear holding a can of nuts who offered that the researchers could... erm... "play with them".
I was sick of the silliness by the end of the first week - the arguing and posturing was simply noise on the edges of my conciousness - children arguing over a favorite toy at the edge of the playground. I assumed they would tire of the game, as most children with short attention spans do, and find something else to do. This couldn't possible get any more ridiculous.
Boy, was I wrong this time.
They upped the ante... again.
Say Tom Biscardi's name, and any researcher worth their salt will groan.
A charismatic individual who seeks the limelight incessantly and is known for making grandiose claims himself, Thomas Biscardi has been haunting the fringes of Bigfoot research for decades. While Tom conducts every media interview with deadpan "seriousness" and his website trumpets that he is "The most reknown Bigfoot researcher", his circus-barker approach to the subject makes serious researchers cringe. He's adept at getting media exposure - and why not? The media doesn't care if a "bigfoot researcher" is credible. They want headlines and Biscardi gives them exactly that.
Step right up, folks. (Cue circus music...)
Biscardi was involved in a fiasco of similar proportions almost exactly 3 years ago.
On July 14th, 2005, Biscardi appeared on Coast to Coast with George Noory, making the sensational declaration that he was "98% sure that his group will be able to capture a Bigfoot which they have been tracking in the Happy Camp, California area." He returned on August 5th to say that he was "confident he will capture Bigfoot by Wednesday."
On August 9th, he appeared again, saying he expected capture within 2 weeks. Then, 3 days later, he moved the deadline up. One week.
On August 19th, 2005, on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, Biscardi dropped a bombshell. First, he promised Noory a "film" of Bigfoot. Then, he claimed that he was privy to the location of a LIVE bigfoot, in CAPTIVITY. The creature was apparently in a "compound": male, eight feet tall, 400 lbs., complete with "wounds" and "mosquito bites". (He gets an 'A' for originality there...) It was "communicating" with them, giving back dishes with food on them.
Biscardi announced a "special site" that would be available soon where people could watch Bigfoot going about his daily routine. Would access to the website be free? Of course! NOT.
Noory tells Biscardi, "You'll either be an intentional hero or a goat."
A couple of days later, Biscardi appeared AGAIN on C2C. (Are we seeing a pattern here?) George Noory has a conversation with Biscardi, then Loren Coleman, then Biscardi again.
COLEMAN: You have to look at it historically: There is a article from 1981 where Biscardi is claiming that a Bigfoot came out of the trees and he took a picture and Biscardi said his next step was to capture a Bigfoot. Almost exactly what he claimed after the Manitoba Bigfoot, he was already putting out feelers to collect 1.2 million dollars from corporate sponsors. This man is a Las Vegas promoter and I think his actions have spoken for themselves.
NOORY: Here we are 24 years later and this is what I have a issue with: The fact that he claims that they have one in a compound, but it sounds like after Tom (the producer of C2C) talked to him that he is now backing down a bit.
COLEMAN: I think that is what is going on. Here is a man who claims to be so interested in Bigfoot, if I knew that my associates had captured one the first thing I would do is drop everything and go over to look at it. To say there was one captured over a week ago and this seems to be to fulfill the promise he made to you to capture one in 2 weeks. The other wrinkle over the weekend one of his associates who had a blog posted probably without Tom's permission because it is now gone, that Tom claimed there was no Bigfoot it was a scam by a Nevada woman.
NOORY: That is not what he told us last week. He said they had one and two doctors were there arguing about it.
COLEMAN: Yeah and that it was 17 years old and all this other pretty fantastic stuff too. He did a lot of claiming on Friday, but over the weekend he was saying that there is no Bigfoot and it was all a scam by this woman. They even said he was taping a apology from the husband of the woman. So what are we to believe? And I think that is the whole problem. Tom still shows known fake photos faked by Ivan Marx as real ones. Tom has been around a while and his actions speak louder than his words.
NOORY: Was does this do over all to this type of investigation?
COLEMAN: If it turns out to be a hoax, which I am not claiming one way or another, it really downplays the credibility of Bigfoot hunters. There are a lot of people that have been doing this for a long time, this guy shows up 34 years later starts asking for millions of dollars and already claims it has cost 400,000 dollars. The media gets very interested in something like this and then they disappear for years because they have been burned.
NOORY: You are right. It is the same with the UFO craze. The hoaxers spoil it for everyone.
COLEMAN: Tom had a different name and then there was The Bigfoot Research Organization and he took part of their name, there was a woman doing a art project called Waiting for Bigfoot and before you knew it Tom was creating a website called finding Bigfoot.com. So it seems like this man takes everyone else's concepts as his own and claims he is the only researcher that has been around for years... Putting to rest any notion that we should think very deeply about him.
NOORY: What do you think of his initial effort to just go searching for Bigfoot out in wild and letting people see it on the internet. That was kind of novel.
COLEMAN: Not really and that is what I am saying. After the Bigfoot Research Organization decided last year to really come up with some expeditions before you know it in January here is this man doing the exact same thing.
NOORY: So he didn't really build a better mouse trap at all ?
COLEMAN: No, he just has a better PR man in LA.
After Noory finishes with Loren Coleman, it's Biscardi's turn.
NOORY: Where are our pictures and video?
BISCARDI: You will get the whole story tomorrow. But I want equal time with what I am listening to. I am not going to get into a bashing contest with Loren Coleman
NOORY: No, he doesn't want to bash you.
BISCARDI: I don't know him, except for the time I was on your show with him. He knows this. He has been sending a lot of emails, vicious emails that he has no idea what he is talking about. I am just going to say one thing, I want everyone to go to the track record, page 16, Jan 2002, that Ray Crow put out. The headline is Loren Coleman steals photos, 20 from Peter Burn, sells them and resells them.
NOORY: But, will we have our picture of Bigfoot tomorrow?
BISCARDI: You will have the story in it's entirety. I told that to Tom (Danheiser). I don't like …
NOORY: Hold on, hold on! You said last week that you had a Bigfoot in a compound, did you not?
BISCARDI: I did tell you that it was told to me. That is exactly what I told you. And yes I did screw up by telling you, ah I don't think I told you the way…
NOORY: I gave you the benefit of doubt
BISCARDI: and I appreciate that, I really do.
NOORY: Here is my point, are we going to get a picture tomorrow or not?
BISCARDI: All I am going to tell you is that you are going to get the story tomorrow.
NOORY: So it sounds like it has changed from Friday
BISCARDI: You will see it, you will hear it. I told that to your producer Tom. I just don't want to get into this bashing.
NOORY: OK, you have a deal. Tomorrow Tom Biscardi.
George goes to break and comes back to Loren.
NOORY: Loren the search for Bigfoot is a little more fiery than finding him.
COLEMAN: (laughs) That that is pretty funny that he is bringing up the 15 year old misunderstanding that Peter Byrne and I had. Peter got all his money, there was no stolen photographs, but character assassination is certainly there in the Bigfoot field. Peter Byrne is the one in the 1970's that found out what those guys were doing and Ivan Marx was faking films. He can distract all he wants, but I think your question was the best, where is the film. It sounds like you are right and he is going to change his story and it sounds like it will be the one that leaked out over the weekend.
NOORY: I'll give him his due, he is allowed back on to talk about that, but again if there is no photo I will be very disappointed. So I will let him give his story tomorrow as he has asked and we will go from there.
COLEMAN: Great!
George takes a phone call. The caller asks if Biscardi captured a Bigfoot would it belong to him or could the government come take it?
COLEMAN: It can be protected and I am sure that would happen very quickly. If it was captured on federal land, I am sure they would have jurisdiction. Most of the wilderness land is federal or Indian reservation.
NOORY: If there was no dispute of jurisdiction would you own it?
COLEMAN: I don't think so. I think it would fall under the endangered species act.
Another caller wants to know why Biscardi doesn't just say if he has it or not. Says it seems like Biscardi is trying to ride his fame as long as possible. Why don't they just leave it alone? They are just going to turn bigfoot into a circus freak.
NOORY: You bring up a interesting question. If you find a Bigfoot and you have the means to capture it would you?
COLEMAN: Yes, I would capture it for research. Bigfoot belongs to science. If hunters think they are going to make a million dollars and this will be there own possession they have another thing coming.
On August 23, 2005, Biscardi again returns to Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. This time, with the "story" of how he was "hoodwinked".
The following is a summary of the discussion and does contain exact quotes...
George recaps Biscardi Bigfoot story up until this point. Gets Biscardi on the line and asks how he is.
BISCARDI: I am tired and disappointed, but I'm fine.
NOORY: What do you mean disappointed?
BISCARDI: Like I told Tom your producer and I told your listeners yesterday that we would have it up on our website for them to see. It is up there now. It is on greatamericanbigfoot.com. It tells the story of how we were hoodwinked.
NOORY: What do you mean hoodwinked?
BISCARDI: What happened is this all started back on the 15th of January. Some people had been following our treks, through your show believe it or not. She had contacted Peggy Marx our cofounder. This woman out of stagecoach NV and preceded to tell her the story the sounds that had been going on at her house and that there was a Bigfoot in the area. So Peggy would each day relay these stories to me. She was on a Indian Reservation and her two Indians, who were like her sons had went out to search for these things. They had seen 1 that looked like it was injured so they shot it with arrows. I am listening to these stories on a daily basis as it goes along. I am saying to Peggy is there any validity? Do you understand what you are telling me? She says I have known this woman for 25 years and she has been following the trek and listening to you on George Noory and she wants to assist us and now that there is creatures down there. I say where are they now? Peggy says they are at her compound. I said who is caring for them? She says they have two vets. They were retired veterinarians.
NOORY: That is the part of the story that you were relating Friday night then?
BISCARDI: Correct. And one of the veterinarians was jealous of the other for ownership rights as the time ran on. Kicked the other vet out, supposedly he was thrown in jail. They thought he was crazy and he just came off some spaceship from Mars and they finally let him go 2 or 3 days later. Meanwhile the doctor who had the creature moved it to another state, hoping for it's safety nothing would happen to it because the other doctor said he was going to track him down and get him and whoever was involved with him and do some serious bodily harm to them. So I am listening to these stories on a daily basis, like I told you and a couple of weeks have gone by now. Peggy is giving me updates of how they are feeding these creatures with milkshakes and bananas and with food and how they are communicating back and forth. The problem I was having with it is supposedly the male, the one that had been shot 4 or 5 times with arrows he was mending and he was really being docile and communicating with the doctors and then they find a female. I say to myself whoa. The story gets better, now we are getting to the point which was last week. And I say enough is enough, here is the deal you want me and my organization involved, fine, we will give it a safe haven and take care of it. I have all the people involved to make sure they are taken care of and secure. When can we make the transfer? Last week she says I am sending the tapes that the doctors had going 24 hours a day to watch it's habits with two of the Indian boys. Peggy calls and tells me to be on the ready and she will call when they are leaving from stagecoach.
NOORY: So at that time you still believed there was a captured Bigfoot?
BISCARDI: Correct. And the reason being, Peggy has been in this business since 1951 and I have never doubted anything she has said or done. So at that point we go down to the ranch and we got there early and Peggy comes out of the house with her hands in the air shouting we got him, we got him. I said fantastic, great work Peg, seeing is believing. She says I know, but this woman is as sincere as can be and I have known her for 20 years. I say OK. Time goes by and no calls and nothing is happening, so I tell Peggy that I have never had a opportunity to talk to this woman, but I want to talk to her now. So she says OK and gets her on the phone and I put her on speaker so my whole crew can hear. The woman says the 2 Indian boys are coming down with a box of all the tapes and when we get them to call her.
NOORY: So you tell the vast c2c audience that we have pictures coming.
BISCARDI: You bet we do, that is exactly what I do. I'll be honest with you when Tom caught me on Friday going to where we were going, I hadn't had much sleep, but I'm tired. Here I am think fruition has come for me. That it is coming to the end. It is going to be actually there. We talk to the woman and the woman seems sincere as can be and she had all the right answers.
NOORY: Did you talk to here face to face or just on the phone?
BISCARDI: No, still on the phone. So I said OK fine. Please let us know if you hear from the boys. She says they will call me when they get to the town. We rest for several hours waiting for them to call, but at 9:00 I tell Peggy, what is going on? She says I don't know. We called this woman and she doesn't answer the phone. I say this is just too much.
NOORY: Meanwhile your credibility is on the line.
BISCARDI: Without a doubt. The next morning I get the first beef in 35 years with my cofounder and I call her, Peggy this is total insanity. We have all these people and time involved.
NOORY: You have charged people for the internet service for that.
BISCARDI: Well, what we charged the people for was streaming which we had been doing. So they haven't been ripped at all. There were two people who emailed and said that they saw something last night, but this is more important. So now Peggy says to me that the woman just called and said the creatures have been kidnapped by the other doctor and they are in a town called Clearlake.
NOORY: Oh, come on.
BISCARDI: I swear to God this is exactly what is being said. And I said OK, this is absurd and I am not going to hear about it anymore and I hang up. I called back and I apologized. She says how far is it to Clearlake and I say that is 2 hours why? She says send someone over there and she gives directions to a warehouse and that is where the creature is being kept.
NOORY: Tom lets cut to the chase here so we can get to phone calls, as far as you are concerned right now, there is no Bigfoot?
BISCARDI: Nothing I have seen from these people. Can I continue the story?
NOORY: No, I don't want to get into the rest of the story because we don't have time. You admit you were duped, there is no Bigfoot, there are no pictures. I just want to move on with some calls.
BISCARDI: Let me say the thing about it is that when we finally got down to Stagecoach NV, to meet with this woman she wouldn't let us in. We found her husband and converged on his job and this poor man didn't anything about what was going on and the whole thing stemmed from the George Noory show, c2c. She was trying to compete with what we were doing.
NOORY: and you believed her!
BISCARDI: I did believe her.
NOORY: Why?
BISCARDI: Because it was too much coincidental stuff going on that made sense. Whether she read it in books and just fantasized about this, I have no idea and Peggy know her 25 years. The credibility of the stuff was just there.
NOORY: You let somebody interfere with your investigation and I think lost so much creditability in doing so. I think even Loren Coleman believes that the area you selected, Happy Camp, is a area with a lot of Bigfoot sightings. So you picked the right spot. You went out there and you set up your video cameras and I don't think anyone has a problem with that, it is what you promised and what they got. What has now concerned everybody is that you said that you had one in captivity. Whether it came from her or not, people looked at you Tom as the voice of finding Bigfoot and I think they feel let down. I am sure you will find that out when we go to calls. Are you ready?
BISCARDI: Yes, I am ready.
Rob says it really hurts because he was promised a Bigfoot. And Biscardi should have made them send him a picture. Where do we go from here?
BISCARDI: We haven't vacated Happy Camp. We have found prints. We have been having activity there and we are going to carry on. Yes, I was hoodwinked and maybe I was premature, but I really believed. I didn't know that so many of your listeners have such incredible imaginations.
NOORY: Oh, no don't turn it around on us and the c2c audience, at all. Don't do that because I will go right at you for that one.
BISCARDI: Well George, you have to…
NOORY: You came on here, you promised that there would be a Bigfoot.
BISCARDI: As I was promised
NOORY: Your job was to go out with your internet crew and film and video tape a Bigfoot. It had nothing to do with someone else capturing one 1500 miles away, right? You charged people, God know how much money to get that internet site. You did not promise them until you went on the air to say that you had a Bigfoot. So don't turn it around and say a c2c listener duped you
BISCARDI: They can hear it from the husband on the website.
NOORY: Are you going to refund money?
BISCARDI: I am sure if that is how the feeling was, if that is what they want I will stand by that. [Editor's note: That's a rather non-committal response...]
At the very end of the hour, George said that anyone who paid to view on Tom's website Friday thinking there was a bigfoot should be refunded and if everyone was not refunded Tom would not be back on the show.
On August 24, 2005, Tom Biscari posted these updates to the "Finding Bigfoot" website.
Special Refund Offer
To all new subscribers who registered at FindingBigfoot.Com from August 19, 2005 at 11pm through August 23, 2005 at 11:59pm:
I want to apologize, first of all, to each and every one of you who subscribed after hearing me on the George Noory show, Coast to Coast AM, on August 19, 2005. I honestly and truly believed that we had one of these creatures.
We will honor all requests for refunds due to misinformation received regarding a Bigfoot capture near Stagecoach, Nevada. Refund requests must be made directly through InSinc by August 26, 2005 at 11:59pm PST. Email: email@example.com
If it's not this one, there'll be another one out there, and we will be on the trail for it. I hope you understand, and I hope you keep watching.
Tom Biscardi
CEO and Founder
Great American Bigfoot Research Organization
Stagecoach Debunking
On July 15 our CEO and founder, Tom Biscardi, was informed by co-founder, Peggy Marx, that an acquaintance who she believed was credible claimed to have an injured Bigfoot in captivity. The woman insisted that doctors were caring for this creature, and that while we couldn't see it until it recovered from its injuries, they wanted assistance from us to protect, care for, and study it.
As weeks passed we received disturbing information that the creature was abducted by one of the doctors. Realizing the urgency and importance of making contact, we took action to ensure the creature's safety. By August 17 Tom assembled a small expedition team and made arrangements for professionals outside of the organization which included transportation, physicians, scientists and other volunteers.
Following bizarre and outrageous instructions, the team traveled four days and over 1500 miles between California and Nevada. By the third day the expedition team suspected they were being misinformed and insisted on meeting the woman immediately. They finally arrived in a desert town, Stagecoach, Nevada, and discovered the shocking truth.
Due to the outrageous course of events, it was prudent to delay the official announcement and true story. We appreciate your interest as we continue our quest to authenticate, research and study the elusive phenomena known as Bigfoot.
For a full detailed video story log onto www.findingbigfoot.com.
Incidentally, the website no longer exists.
Was Biscardi truly "duped"? Or did he knowingly participate in a hoax that caught up with him? Ever the innocent "victim", it seems to me that Biscardi did his darndest there to pass the buck.
Speaking of bucks, how many subscribers actually received a refund from Biscardi?
In the above interview, Loren Coleman alludes to Biscardi's long-standing interaction with Ivan Marx. (Peggy Marx was Ivan's wife, by the way...)
Here's Biscardi, in a 1973 Saga Magazine article (thanks to Loren at Cryptomundo.com for resurrecting this), talking about Marx's photos:
Two large, glossy color photos encased in plastic with the bluish tinge that comes from dim light were placed before me. The blowups, taken from 35mm color slides, showed a dark, furry creature remarkably resembling a man resting himself on–or perhaps climbing down–a cliff ledge. The cliff was almost sheer and composed of great, vertical slabs of stone.
"Ivan Marx took those early one morning, near dawn," Biscardi said.
"He shot them at 280 yards with a telephoto lens. What do you think of them?"
"Could be a…"
"A man in a monkey suit?" Biscardi smiled. "1 knew you were going s to say that. It's one of the first comments we get. People are afraid not to be skeptical; they're afraid of being laughed at."
He paused, and finished the glass of red wine at a gulp. "But I agree-~it could be. But it's not. You're looking at the clearest pictures of a Sasquatch ever taken." His eyes sparkled with the importance of his discovery. It was easy to see that Biscardi was convinced of Bigfoot's existence. "Only one other photograph has come as close." he went on. "And that was Roger Patterson's 12-second film. That got folks pretty excited, especially when they blew up one of the frames and distributed it to the newspapers."
Marx's laughable fur suit photographs are still promoted on Biscardi's website, searchingforbigfoot.com, with the same deadpan seriousness that Biscardi displays regarding this latest "GROUND BREAKING DISCOVERY!". Are we to seriously believe that someone who's been involved in so many bigfoot fiascos and has willfully promoted and sensationalized them is not simply repeating the past?
Back to the Georgia Bigfoot Body.
Dyer and Whitton proclaimed on a web radio interview recently that they only researcher they would involve was "the only real Bigfoot researcher"...
Yep. You got it. Tom Biscardi.
It begs the question. Why Biscardi and not Dr. Jeff Meldrum, a proponent of Sasquatch and a PhD at Idaho State University? Why not Dr. John Bindernagel?
Unless, of course, your goal is to sensationalize rather than scientifically analyze. [Or "scientific analizaton", as it was so succinctly put on BigfootTracker.com]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / August 12, 2008
DNA evidence and photo evidence to be presented at a PRESS CONFERENCE to be held on:
Date: Friday, August 15, 2008
Time: From 12Noon-1:00pm
Place: Cabana Hotel-Palo Alto, 4290 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, California 94306
(A Crown Plaza Resort)
For more information: Robert Barrows, R.M. Barrows, Inc.
Advertising & Public Relations
Burlingame, California
Searching for Bigfoot, Inc.
Menlo Park, California
Tom Biscardi, CEO
BIGFOOT BODY FOUND - EVIDENCE AND DNA DETAILS TO BE PRESENTED AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 15th FROM 12 N00N TO 1:00PM AT THE CABANA HOTEL-PALO ALTO IN PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA
A body that may very well be the body of the creature commonly known as "Bigfoot" has been found in the woods in northern Georgia.
DNA evidence and photo evidence of the creature will be
presented in a press conference on Friday, August 15th from 12 Noon to 1:00pm at the Cabana Hotel-Palo Alto at 4290 El Camino Real in Palo Alto, California, 94306. The press conference will not be open to the public. It will only be open to credentialed members of the press.
Here are some of the vital statistics on the "Bigfoot" body:
*The creature is seven feet seven inches tall.
*It weighs over five hundred pounds.
*The creature looks like it is part human and part ape-like.
*It is male.
*It has reddish hair and blackish-grey eyes.
*It has two arms and two legs, and five fingers on each hand and
five toes on each foot.
*The feet are flat and similar to human feet.
*Its footprint is sixteen and three-quarters inches long and five
and three-quarters inches wide at the heel.
*From the palm of the hand to the tip of the middle finger, its
hands are eleven and three-quarters inches long and six and one-quarter inches wide.
*The creatures walk upright. (Several of them were sighted on the
same day that the body was found.)
*The teeth are more human-like than ape-like.
*DNA tests are currently being done and the current DNA and photo evidence will be presented at the press
conference on Friday, August 15th.
The creature was found by Matthew Whitton (AKA Gary Parker) and Rick Dyer (residents of Georgia) in the woods in northern Georgia. (The exact location is being kept secret to protect the creatures.)
Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer will be flying in from Georgia to be at the press conference. Also present at the press conference will be Tom Biscardi, CEO of Searching for Bigfoot, Inc.
Whitton is a local, Georgia, police officer, who is currently on administrative leave after being wounded in the course of duty pursuing an alleged felon. Dyer is a former correctional officer. Whitton and Dyer are co-owners of bigfoottracker.com and Bigfoot Global LLC., a company that offers Bigfoot expeditions. Whitton and Dyer are working with Bigfoot hunter, Tom Biscardi, and Biscardi's Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., to present and conduct the scientific study of the evidence and information on this body.
A few weeks ago, Whitton and Dyer announced the finding of the body on the "Squatch Detective" radio show, an internet based radio show hosted by Steve Kulls. While on that show, the commentator asked Rick Dyer "Would you allow one of our people to come down and verify the body?" Dyer replied, "The only person we would allow to come down and verify the body was 'the real Bigfoot Hunter,' Tom Biscardi." The next day, the producer of the Squatch Detective show contacted Biscardi with pertinent information on how to contact Dyer and Whitton.
Extensive scientific studies will be done on the body by a team of scientists including a molecular biologist, an anthropologist, a paleontologist and other scientists over the next few months at an undisclosed location. The studies will be carefully documented and the findings will be released to the world, according to Biscardi.
Biscardi is known as "the real Bigfoot Hunter" because of his extensive investigations out in the field. He has been searching for Bigfoot since 1971 and over the past several years, he has been criss-crossing the United States and Canada tracking down the hottest leads on Bigfoot sightings.
Videography on the studies will be done under the supervision of Scott Davis, an independent producer and owner of TV Biz Productions in Phoenix, Arizona.
Currently, Tom Biscardi and his Searching for Bigfoot Team, in conjunction with Bigfoot Global LLC., are preparing to capture another of these creatures alive. That expedition will start very soon. The dates and the locations are being kept confidential.
The body that is currently being studied is being referred to as the "RICKMAT" creature, a name derived from the names of Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton.
Last year, a film that Biscardi produced about his investigations, called "Bigfoot Lives," won first place in the Documentary category at the Pocono Mountains Film Festival. Biscardi also hosts a Bigfoot oriented internet radio show that can be heard on Wednesday nights from 7:00pm to 8:00pm PDT at www.bigfootliveradioshow.com. The show is heard in over thirty countries.
Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. has exclusive rights to all publishing rights, photo rights, television and film rights, production and distribution rights and other commercial opportunities related to the discovery and findings regarding this body and these creatures. Interested parties may contact Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., in writing, at their mailing address;
Searching for Bigfoot Inc.
1134 Crane St., Suite 216
Menlo Park, California 94025.
Additional information about Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. is available at http://www.searchingforbigfoot.com. For additional information, and to arrange an interview with Tom Biscardi, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton, contact the Searching for Bigfoot headquarters at; 650-566-4001.
Biscardi apparently flew out and had a look at the body. There is some question whether he actually "touched" the body or simply prodded it with a stick, because he was rather vague about it himself. Nonetheless, he visited the "location" (where it was found?) and posed for "photo ops" with the boys and their freezer full of... whatever... and those photos were unintentionally posted on Biscardi's site. The ever-vigilant Loren Coleman picked up on them and convinced Biscardi to allow him to post them.
The bigfoot community held its collective breath as Loren Coleman broke the story over at Cryptomundo on August 12, 2008 and the photos were displayed to the world.
A "bigfoot" in a freezer as posted at bigfootforums.com A hairy, apeish-looking thing, complete with lolling tongue and a mass of what we are to believe are "entrails" gathered on the belly of the beast.
These photos came the night before it was announced that Tom Biscardi would appear the following morning on Fox News for an exclusive interview.
Are we wondering why FOX News didn't bother to bring Biscardi's credibility into question? No, not really. The headline, "Former Hoaxer Hoaxing Another Hoax?" isn't nearly as compelling as "Dead Bigfoot in Georgia - Tom Biscardi explains".
Sadly, i t's all about ratings. Real investigative journalism took a crap at least a decade ago.
Anyway, there was Biscardi on a million televisions, blinking a million miles a minute, the photos were displayed as Biscardi, in his oh-so serious fashion, explained that a press conference would be held on Friday, August 15, 2008 and that the "DNA results" would be shared then. As the blonde barbie reporter expressed incredulity, Biscardi extended a personal offer to her... he and "the boys" would welcome her to have an exclusive viewing of the body. Interestingly, one detail he shared was that the thing was laying in "black water" in the photos because the boys had tried to pour water on it to "freeze" it and the freezer broke down because it was a...
wait for it...
"Frost-free freezer".
(Mind you, there is such a thing... but whether or not it would fail to freeze water is another question entirely!)
The bigfoot community virtually imploded. Cryptomundo crashed due to the number of visitors attempting to access the site. Biscardi's site, Searchingforbigfoot.com exceeded its bandwidth limit. The bigfoot forums bulged under a record number of those wishing to add their comments to the peanut gallery. The mood was sometimes hopeful, sometimes disdainful... and, amazingly, sometimes CONVINCED.
A number of people began discussing, almost immediately, the amazing similarites (see pic - kudos to Crow Logic, Parcher at JREF Forums, Reverend Strone and plaidlemur) between the "corpse" and a high-end bigfoot costume available on the internet via thehorrordome.com
An excellent photo analysis done by john54542 over at BFF shows that the noses look identical in shape.
[The costume in question appears to have been used in the following YouTube.com video...]
Today, Thursday August 14, 2008, the bigfoot community is still abuzz. Everything, from the entrails to the size of the freezer are being scrutinized. Rumors and speculation run rampant. The Georgia boys had been offered $10 million for the body.
Comments and speculations have included:
It is a hoax in in order to collect the million-dollar bounty from Bushnell.
It is a costume with another animal's entrails laid across it.
The tongue is too thin for a "sasquatch" tongue.
It is the real deal.
It is Eric Beckjord's dead body in a suit.
The legs wouldn't fit in a freezer that small.
No one in their right mind would involve Tom Biscardi when Jeff Meldrum would make himself readily available to examine a REAL corpse.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bigfoot afficiandos, researchers, believers and debunkers are waiting with bated breath for tomorrow and this "press conference". Some wait with the hope that this will finally be the proof that everyone has been waiting for. Others wait with the hope that their assertions of a "hoax" will be vinidicated.
Still others, like myself, wait with barely-contained dismay and trepidation. Bigfoot research is a laughable field in its own right to many. If this does turn out to be a hoax (and I for one am certainly not holding my breath that it's not, given the general lack of credibility of the participants), it will do more harm than good for the credibility of the field as a whole.
Will I be irritated? You bet. I still have to deal with questions from people about the Patterson Film/Bob Heironimous fiasco ("I thought that film was proven to be a hoax?") and the Ray Wallace claims ("I thought that whole bigfoot thing was started by a guy with wooden feet?"). Bleh.
I'll update more as more comes to light.
UPDATES: August 15, 2008
Scientific American Interview Dr. Jeff Meldrum
A press conference in Palo Alto, Calif. tomorrow [today] is planned to showcase yesterday's bold claim that the remains of a Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, have been found in northern Georgia. Matthew Whitton, a police officer, and Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, along with veteran Bigfoot tracker Tom Biscardi of Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., said they came across the seven-foot, seven-inch (2.3-meter), 500-pound (227-kilogram) body of a simianlike creature in the woods. The group also said DNA tests are being carried out and that a team of undisclosed scientists will examine the corpse.
ScientificAmerican.com contacted Jeffrey Meldrum, a prominent researcher on Sasquatch and professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University in Pocatello, who has studied Bigfoot prints and other clues like hair samples. Meldrum has written a book on the subject of whether or not the mystery beast is real, and has previously said that "the evidence that exists fully justifies the investigation and the pursuit of this question."
Cryptids, or bizarre, undocumented animals like the "Montauk monster" and the chupacabra, have been making the news rounds lately. Will this latest claim wither under scrutiny, or have these amateur Bigfoot hunters in fact really found something?
An edited transcript of what Meldrum had to say about this week's supposed discovery follows.
What do you think of this announcement of a Bigfoot body being found in Georgia?
I'm extremely skeptical about this Bigfoot claim. I haven't been contacted by any of the principal [people] involved in this. I've had interactions with Tom Biscardi [the Bigfoot hunter holding the press conference] in the past, and based on that history, I would say that anything he is involved in is suspect. The fact that the two Georgian men [who said they found the body] turned to him and not anyone with scientific credentials is very questionable.
What about the pictures?
So a picture is worth a 1,000 words. What I've seen so far is not compelling in the least, and I think the pictures cast grave doubts on their claim. It just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect. Even if [the Bigfoot carcass] had have been eviscerated by a predator or a scavenger, [the entrails] wouldn't just be sitting up on top like that. Someone says [on the Internet] that they've found an off-the-shelf costume that looks a lot like the figure in these pictures.
So apparently [the Bigfoot finders] stuffed the body into a freezer. You look at it and there doesn't seem to be any mass there, of muscles and bones and so forth. Also, they tried freezing the corpse in a block of ice—you wouldn't do that if you were trying to preserve a specimen, unless you're trying to hide the details.
So what is the story with the Sasquatch DNA evidence?
All the rumors about the Bigfoot DNA results are just that: rumors. I spoke to Curtis Nelson (a biologist from the University of Minnesota) who is doing the DNA tests, and he all he could say is that there are no results yet—he can't say anything more due to a nondisclosure agreement. Apparently Curt just received a vial of tissue in the mail, and there's no chain of custody, no validation that this tissue came from the corpse in question. Since there is no known Sasquatch genetic material to compare it to, he may just end up with a gene sequence that doesn't match any other primates, at best.
Why would anyone stake such an outrageous claim without proof?
I don't know what their motivation would be. I don't see how they think they can perpetuate such a hoax in this day and age. You hold out hope that Bigfoot will be found one day, and to some extent this is probably what that event would be like. But assuming that this kind of scenario transpires at some point, hopefully it wouldn't unfold in such a carnival atmosphere and the proper authorities and scientists would be involved.
Another nail in the corpse's coffin?
The Horrordrome costume head has a very distinctive upper lip. As does the "corpse" head. Given the similarity of the nose, and the rest of the facial proportions, it stinks. A lot. (photo comparison to be posted shortly...)
Interesting medical perspective
Oregonbigfoot.com member Nancy, a nurse, mentions the following:
Just some medical notes, to answer a few questions:
- Gases start forming in the gut and abdomen at about 4 days after death
- It is the gases in the abdomen (and not in the guts) that would expel the guts, leaving the guts intact.
- Rigor mortis starts at around 3 hours after death, but dissipates at around 72 hours after death
- The small intestine can be considerably smaller than the large intestine, even in large creatures. Stool size is determined by the girth of the large intestine, and not by that of the small intestine.
So, if the body was found at around 4 days after death, then it is possible that gases expelled the guts, and that the body would be pliable by that time to fit in the freezer. The small intestine of a Bigfoot could potentially be the size of the guts seen in the photo.
Of course, I'm not trying to say that it is a real body. The fact is, I don't know one way or the other.
I'm posting the text of Loren's blog post here this morning because Cryptomundo is crashing continually and if I simply link to it, you may not be able to get there. I've tried several times this morning and they still appear to be having server issues. Thanks to Oregonbigfoot.com forum moderator Scott Davis for accessing this. And no... before you ask... he is NOT the Scott Davis in question in the following article! *grin*
From Cryptomundo.com
"Bigfoot Body" Has Red Flags
Bushell has been offering a $1 million reward for quite some time now of an "authentic, verifiable" Sasquatch. There has been some speculation that these Georgia guys were going to try for the prize.
Here's a statement from Bushnell regarding this:
"We have seen the news reports and Internet photos of the alleged Bigfoot capture. The contest rules posted on our website clearly state that the Bigfoot must be captured on a Trail Camera and verified by our panel of judges. No photos have been submitted to Bushnell at this time. We look forward to their statement and the results of the press conference on Friday." -
Bushnell Press Relations Department
Thanks again to Oregonbigfoot.com's' Scott Davis for unearthing this. :)
Legend of Bigfoot: Discovery? Try Hoax.
Veteran Bigfoot Bounty Hunter Claims Big Find, but Even Believers Cry Foul
(Quoted text below is on page 2 of the 3 page article)
I know Curt Nelson. He's a rather stand-up guy and a good scientist. The fact that they're sending him a hunk of tissue without any CONTEXT, also known as "chain of evidence" means that any DNA results won't mean squat. For all we know, Mr. Whitton could have saved a hunk of flesh that was blown off his arm when he was shot. (A couple of readers have contacted me, by the way, and mentioned a rumor that Whitton may have shot HIMSELF accidentally. I'm looking into this...)
But suddenly, here we have Biscardi keeping the body at an unknown location, when earlier he was quoted as saying the following:
"We'll release the DNA analysis, and we'll have the body right next to the two boys ... then you can see it's real, that it's not all bullshit."
(See article here)
CNN just finished running a live stream of the press conference.
Here's a stream of conciousness play by play as I watch...
"I didn't believe in it at the time..." Whitton says. Meaning that he didn't believe in bigfoot prior to finding the body.
Um... photos on the videos show the date of January 2005. ???
Biscardi just ignored the question from a reporter about "What about the video footage?" Go figure.
Biscardi referring to the Georgia boys: "They did not want to give these photos out..." Wonder why?
Says they have a photo of the tongue and teeth up close that they will distribute.
Whitton is wearing a bigfoottracker.com hat. The fact that these guys continue to self-promote doesn't say much for their credibility.
Biscardi saying they received "death threats" as a response to why Whitton posted all of the stupid YouTube videos.
Perhaps that because of people like me, who spend their entire waking hours trying to educate the public that there IS actually something credible to this phenomenon and these guys blow it away on a lark?
Whitton is now addressing YouTube.com videos... "We just decided to have a little fun with it."
How nice for you.
Admits to having "my brother play the role of a doctor." Says it's because the PSYCHOS were bothing them and it was to "Give them something to do over the weekend."
I had something to do. I was busy working, trying to do CREDIBLE research. Now I have to do damage control. Thanks, boys.
Whitton: Body is in undisclosed location. Will be taken to a "safe house". Autopsy will be done.
Says he's planning on going with Biscardi to try to capture a "live Bigfoot".
Whitton: "A deceased one is very groundbreaking but a live one would be excellent, too." Those walking in woods they saw "didn't make any sounds".
Whitton: "I wanna protect the species, ok..." "...Stalkers who think they can get to be a part of television." Describes bigfooters as delusional. Jealous.
How about infernally irritated at the fact that you're making all of us look like one gigantic horse's ass?
Why having press conference in CA? Stuttering... Tom's from CA... stuttering... doesn't seem to have an answer for that one. Maybe because they hooked up with Biscardi, who has a publicist who tries to sell JINGLES AND NOVELS AND SCULPTURE AND TALKING HEADSTONES on the side?
"We didn't track 'em. We got what we got."
Please explain, HOW, then, you are the "best bigfoot trackers in the world"?
Biscardi is currently addressing the previous hoax. Condescendingly.
Did he honestly just call that female reporter "Dear"?
He says the "monies was refunded".
He's getting defensive now.
Why does he keep addressing the press as "You people"?
Biscardi on Meldrum: "He's not a true anthropologist..."
You've. GOT. To. Be. Kidding. Me.
Reporter: "Is this just a publicity stunt?"
Biscardi: "Do you think these guys would have come this far and put their reputations on the line..."
What reputation, please?
Biscardi comments on DNA:
First one: "messed up" - Um, would that be CONTAMINATED? Perhaps because it was collected by people who have no clue how to do collect a clean sample? God forbid you let a real scientist do it.
Second: human (Hey guys, let's throw some human DNA in to really screw things up. Hey, Whitton, let's have part of the scab off your arm. That'll mess with their heads...)
Third: INTESTINES =POSSUM "Must have been something it ate." Yes, that's what Biscardi said. Why does this not surprise me?
Thank you. That's all we needed to hear.
Providing two pictures. One of bipedal creature walking upright. Another of the tongue and teeth.
Igor and Dmitri showing up from Russia next week. (Please, PLEASE don't drag Dmitri Bayanov into this.)
"Gary" was Whitton's "stage name" to provide "anonymity".
Whitton: "Like I said, we weren't bigfoot hunters until we found that. We were gonna do that (take people on expeditions). I don't know now. I think $499 is probably way cheap. I didn't realize how big this thing was gonna blow up..."
Do I detect a little remorse here? Can't back out now, huh? Ride it all the way to the end?
Reporter: You promoted yourself first as bigfoot hunters?
Whitton: "We weren't in the bigfoot business."
I could have told you that.
Whitton: "We haven't made anything yet. (Money) We just haven't made any money. We are in business. We're gonna talk about that Tom and we'll come up with a plan. "
I'm sure you will.
Whitton: "It was at the beginning of June. I don't know the exact date. "(Referring to when they "found" the body.)
That's interesting. You've found, as Biscardi so eloquently put it, "The 8th Wonder of the World" and you don't know exactly WHEN this occurred?
Whitton won't discuss his law enforcement career. Looks very unscomfortable.
You'd better hope you can sell that thing, or at least enough photos of it before it's fully debunked because I highly doubt you'll have a job to go back to.
Whitton: "I really didn't think it would be this big. I was thinking it would be a big story locally."
Whitton: "Once we hooked up with Tom, we wanted to share it with the world... the people who are real critics... the youtube videos... we weren't intending on releasing anything... we were just having fun with it..."
Whitton regarding expeditions: "We really didn't know what we were doing at the time..."
Whitton: "about 9 hours" to take the bigfoot out. Says he didn't SEE ANYTHING when they were in the woods.
Um... didn't they say they had seen AND FILMED several other creatures?
Reporter: How big is the freezer?
Dyer: A big one. A big white one.
Thank you, Ric Dyer. That was terribly descriptive.
Filling up the freezer with water to put it in a block of ice, Dyer says.
Isn't that what you're SUPPOSED to do with a suit that's intended to be a sideshow exhibit, after all?
I've got media banging on the door, and for a change I'm taking the interviews. If somebody doesn't do some damage control here, this is going to turn out to be another Wallace or Hieronimous.
Hi, Autumn --
Thanks for keeping me on your email list. It especially feels good to know that I'll receive any late-breaking bigfoot developments, hoaxes or otherwise!
Here's a funny photo my sister made. I hope you think it's as funny as I do!!!
Hoping you are doing fine.
Elkton, OR
At 4:00 pm PST today I'll be doing an interview regarding this whole mess on the Ron & Don Show out of Seattle.
You can listen live here: http://www.ronanddon.com/
Biscardi said Whitton and Dyer had gotten death threats from Sasquatch fanatics, whom Whitton deemed "psychos."
None of this was likely to dissuade skeptics, even among Bigfoot experts, who questioned Biscardi's past ventures and noticed that the body in the freezer looked a lot like a Sasquatch Halloween costume available on the Internet .
"It definitely looks like our costume," Jerry Parrino, owner of TheHorrorDome.com, told FOXNews.com.
View the entire article here
Well, here they are... the long anticipated photos from the press conference.
A couple of comments here. That's supposedly bigfoot's mouth.
Is it just me, or do the lips looks similar? Have you ever seen a mustache growth pattern that starts at the lip and goes... UP? Not, of course, that we would know what a Sasquatch's mustache might look like. I supposed it's entirely possible that it's hair-growth pattern might be different than ours. But think about it for a moment... bigfoot's generally are reported to have hair in the same places we do... just more of it. (Heck, they come in same colors we do, too. Blonde, black, brown, auburn, white, grey...)
The tongue. OK, I've had a problem with the tongue from the get-go. MY tongue is thicker than that, for crying out loud.
Here's a hint: "By the second week after death, the abdomen, scrotum, breasts, and tongue swell; the eyes bulge out. A bloody fluid seeps out of the mouth and nose."
You can read all about rigor mortis and postmortem body changes here, if you're not too squeamish.
"Hey, guys, I have an idea... let's slit the mouth open on the mask and stick some Billy-Bob teeth in there, and take that tongue out of the taxidermied cougar over there and stick it in there and we'll have ourselves a REAL dead-lookin' thing..."
These teeth, perhaps? Or ones similar? (These were discovered over on Bigfootforums.com by gpucci. Nice job!)
Incidentally, one of the gripes that many folks, including one of the reporters, have had with the teeth is that they say the photo shows the "bigfoot" having "6 incisors" or 6 teeth. Well, that's just plain WRONG, folks, and that kind of debunking will get you debunked yourselves. *grin* There are only 6 teeth VISIBLE in the photograph... but if you count from the first lefthand incisor to the back tooth, there are four on the side that's visible. 4 x 2 does not equal six. We would assume, if Bigfoot is anything like a human and the teeth, erm, match on both sides of the head, that there are EIGHT teeth in question here.
Curious, isn't it, how that just happens to be the same number of teeth in ol' "Buckster's" mouth, eh?
UPDATE: Apeman over at BFF clarified this for me. Despite the TOTAL number of teeth, there are apparently 6 incisors in the "body" photo. I'm going to quote him and let him take it from here:
The reporter was correctly pointing out that the pics Biscardi showed and we've all seen now show 6 teeth that all appear to be incisors- as opposed to 4 incisors and 2 canines as we'd expect in any primate. Even if there are more teeth hidden around the corners or lips and not visible in the pic, it doesn't really matter. With 6 incisors the teeth are either from a non primate (like a cow, horse, sheep, etc) or are from a fake set of buck teeth where they apparently often add extra incisors to fill the space and create the enlarged overbite/buck tooth effect. Either way, they are another smoking gun (as if we needed another).
The lack of proper dental formula for a supposed primate should be the last nail in the coffin of hoax for anyone that was holding out any hope... and also shows the amateur nature of this hoax.
Hope that makes sense.
PS- The "Buckster" teeth actually DO NOT match the hoax, they show a proper primate dental formula- 4 incisors following by a pointed canine on each side and then what should be and looks like a pre-molar on each side.
Thanks for that, Apeman. And here I was thinking I was so durned smart. ;)
Anyway, back to the photos...
And the blobsquatch photo? Absolutely NOTHING in that photo to suggest it's anything other than a person in a fur suit.
C'mon guys... honestly. Some funky DNA tesst and crummy photos don't tell us anything. If you want to back up your extraordinary claims, how about some extraordinary evidence? How about using a spokesperson who actually has some credibility? How about letting Jeff Meldrum examine the corpse?
I issue a challenge to you, right here, right now, Mr. Biscardi. Let Meldrum examine it. You have nothing to lose. Unless, of course, it's a hoax.
The boys from Georgia maybe thought this through?
If you have a real corpse and you want it validated, you call Meldrum. If you want attention, fame or money? Call Biscardi.
Just because it freaked me out when I saw it:
Now THAT'S a monkey suit.
Click here to view
An email from a reader:
Hello Autumn, my name is Scott Leeman.
...I just received our local newspaper which was talking about this "body" that has been found. Personally I don't buy it. I have seen numerous photos with undetermined results and the Patterson film.
From what I have seen, the head of what he has in the freezer really doesn't seem to be symmetrically correct. It appears to be equivalent to that of a humans head in size.
But the one thing I must say...I have worked with a long time friend in the refrigeration and appliance repair industry and his claims of the "frost-free freezer" are totally bogus. A chest freezer works on the exact same principal of that found in the top of a refrigerator. The "frost-free" feature only means the appliance will cycle the timer to shut the compressor down for a short period as to prevent any build-up of condensation. Any water left in the bottom surely will freeze like an iceberg. The timer does not kick off for such a prolonged period of time that water be it in zip-loc bags or just laying in the bottom will not freeze.
I suspect that the time of this unveiling of the body, you will see an excuse something along the lines of "due to the freezer, the body had taken on a rapid decay and we could not preserve it as it was found". That's my two cents on this whole scam. Furthermore, this idea of these guys being the "best" there is and ever will be is just a bunch of BS. I too couldn't stomach their tacky videos from youtube.com I made it about 2 minutes into it and felt nauseated by such blasphemy. Anywho, as mentioned..that's my input on the subject. I am very interested to see his excuses when he crashes and burns yet again with his trumped up scam.
All the best in your research...
Scott Leeman
Thanks for that, Scott. I kind of figured as much. Try again, guys.
Just received the following update from Loren Coleman over at Cryptomundo at 11:00 a.m. PST:
No Cryptomundo yet, so here's a message the old-fashion way....
A source who wishes to remain anonymous writes me: "There will be a breaking development today [Sunday, August 17th] on Fox News sometime that you do NOT want to miss involving this GA body situation." Supposedly, "it will answer everyone's questions once and for all."
No information on the what or the when, so I have no idea what's up.
It sounds like Megan Kelly went and filmed the "body" with her
filmcrew, and is going to show more footage on her morning show. If so, then Fox News will tease with some footage on their straight news today. It won't be clear enough to definitely show a "body" exists, but it will be enough to keep the circus alive. That is just my educated guess of the day. But I don't know, and it could be Fox filming Biscardi with the costume, as far as any of us know.
I have the feeling the person that wrote me wanted to have me send out word, drumming up hope that positive proof would be forthcoming. I don't think that is happening, however.
But frankly, I don't know.
What I do know is that I have a life to live, and I'm not watching
Fox News for the next eight hours to wait on something that may or may not pan out. I would quickly become brain dead from watching a full day of Fox News's strange twists on the run-of-the-mill news, in hopes they might say something intriguing about Bigfoot.
I guess I will have to wait for the YouTube re-runs.
A followup from Loren:
"I'm being told Fox News at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. Cannot confirm but
that's what I'm being told."
And another:
Deep throat writes: "The 3:30 p.m. time may be 4:30 p.m. Eastern."
Or it could be 3:30 p.m. Pacific.
It appears someone is playing games.
Deep throat says: "I'm told now 3:30 p.m. Eastern, but not sure if
it will be aired live or not. Guess we will see."
Well, there came and went the 12:30 PST (3:30 EST) deadline and nada. FOX news is blathering in the background. Only for you guys would I turn on FOX news. *grin*
We received word this morning from Oregonbigfoot.com member Henry May:
"Steve Kulls' show is tonight at 9:00 EST/8:00 Central about this whole issue, but Sean Forker spilled the beans last night on the Sasquatch Experience by reporting a day ahead of time that Steve examined the so-called body and found it to be a hoax.
He is now stranded till Tuesday in the area where the safehouse was where the so-called body was kept. (The show from last night is no longer in the archives). Steve Kulls will be calling in to the Squatch Detective Radio show tonight at 9:00 EST/6:00 Pacific and will reveal all. He has a ton of backstory to reveal on this entire issue and will do so, so if you all want to tune in, it can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TheSquatchDetective"
I heard a rumor this morning, as well, that Steve Kulls is "stranded", because Biscardi bought him a...
wait for it...
"one-way ticket".
Kindly wipe the tears of mirth from your eyes and straighten up your act, dear reader. We have more to discuss here.
Yes, it gets even more bizarre.
Another reader, Timothy Carr, sends me the following. I've been hearing conflicting stories as well about Whitton's gunshot wound (remember the arm on the pillow in the above videos?). Timothy, bloodhound that he is, had unearthed some rather interesting contradictions regarding this. THANKS, TIM! :D
OK, I have found several links to articles that differ widely in their details. On top of that, I received a letter from Chief of Police with yet another differing account.
First, here are the links -
In one report, Whitton is shot as he chased the suspect:
"Donald walked into the restaurant and shot the manager in the head, Dickens says. Cheryl Alphabet, 49, is in critical condition at Atlanta Medical Center.
Clayton County Officer Mathew Whitton, shot in the arm as he chased the suspect, is now out of surgery.
In another report, we get a different account:
Police said Donald slipped through the side door of the restaurant, located near Stockbridge, shot Alphabet inside and shot Clayton County police Officer Matthew Whitton, 28, outside during a struggle over the officer's gun.
In this final article, more details are revealed, but this article raised the most questions in my mind:
A Clayton County police officer arrived at the restaurant just as Donald took off in the manager's red Pontiac Sunfire.
During a chase, Donald jumped out of the car and began wrestling with Officer Matthew Whitton, a six-year veteran of the Clayton County Police Department. An altercation involving the officer and Donald resulted in a struggle for the officer's service weapon.
Whitton was able to maintain possession of his weapon however, received a single gunshot wound to the left wrist during the incident. Donald escaped on foot. Whitton is expected to recover.
Then Tim follows up with this email:
Here is a statement from Chief Turner:
The suspect tried to take Officer Whitton's gun and during the struggle it went off and struck him in his left wrist. The suspect took the gun and pointed it at Whitton's head and then pulled the trigger. The gun misfired and Whitton was able to grab the gun back at which time the suspect fled.
Timothy Carr had a bunch of questions about this scenario. So do I, after reading the Chief's statement. I won't get into all of them here, but if you think about it you'll likely be able to figure it out. If Whitton was the only one at the scene, just how believable is this story? How believable is ANYTHING Whitton claims, at this point?
Seems to me that Chief Turner might want to conduct a little investigating of his own. ;)
(I have a song running through my head suddenly...
Shot through the arm
And you're to blame
You give Bigfoot
A bad name...
I think that's how the words go. I'm not really sure. I'm not a huge Bon Jovi fan...)
I have nothing but respect for our boys in blue, who risk their lives every day sniffing out the bad guys. I just don't have much respect for a guy who tries to ruin the credibility of something I've worked 18 years to educate the public about.
The Jeff Rense Program, tonight, 11 PM- Midnight Eastern, 10-11 PM Central, 9-10 PM Mountain, 8-9 PM Pacific.
(Before the story emerges that Hurricane Fay has destroyed all traces of this bit of north Georgia fakery, there is no time like now for a postmortem of this possum trot.)
Bigfoot Hoax: Loren Coleman
(live from Maine)
OK... An anonymous source just happened to have a couple of corpses in a freezer. Both of these animals were roadkill.
Here are some photos for you to peruse. Keep in mind that the bobcat was hit by a car during the night and was picked up within just hours, while it was still limp. Rigor mortis had not yet set in. It was gutted and frozen solid, stored in a freezer. It has never thawed.
The buzzard, likewise, was hit by a car. It was also very fresh, still limp, when picked up. It was not gutted but was frozen immediately. It, too, has remained frozen solid the entire time.
A couple of things to note here... the tongue on the bobcat, while curled and slightly protruding (very slightly), is NOT HANGING OUT like a dog's in the hot summer sun. Also, the eyeballs on both creatures are sunken back in their heads. This happens to corpses whether they're frozen or not and occurs fairly quickly.
I highly doubt that anyone would say that either the bobcat or the buzzard are hoaxed. ;)
(P.S. I know... I said, "Awwww..." when I saw the bobcat, too. Beautiful creature. The buzzard? Well, yeah, him too, except that the poor thing wasn't blessed with good looks from the get-go. He's still a creature, though, so it makes me sad for him. I don't feel at all sorry for that latex and synthetic fur thing pictured above. Call me callous...)
(P.P.S. We're nothing, if not thorough, here at Oregonbigfoot.com)
I'm listening to Steve Kulls on Squatchdetective radio right now. He has not made his statement yet.
At 6:36 p.m. on 8/18/08, I'm going to make an official prediction.
Biscardi's going to say HE was hoaxed. It's his M.O.
Just wait and see...
Gee, Autumn, why on earth would you have the word "truth" in quotes up there? Could it be because you feel that the "truth", as it was exposed, isn't the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, my delightful reader. You are incredibly perceptive.
Anyone who caught the SquatchDetective radio show last night watched the train wreck unfold in slow motion. Very slow motion. The earth shook from the number of jaws hitting the floor simultaneously. (At last count, I think it was 540. At least, that was the number that the hosts made sure to let everyone know were in the chat rooms, as a tickled-pink Becky Sawyer put it: "Hanging on your every word, Steve".
Wow. Must be some kind of new internet radio record. 540. Geez. Wow.)
Of course, the jaws didn't hit the floor, when Steve began talking, because he admitted that the body was a fake. Nope. We all pretty much expected that.
The jaws began hitting the floor when Steve said that Biscardi was the VICTIM in all of this.
They began with a "timeline"... after hemming and hawing and talking about everything BUT the "body", waiting until 10 pm EST, claiming that FOX News was planning on running a story on it and they didn't want to scoop them - I'm sorry, did you just say that an internet radio program could SCOOP FOX News? FOX never ran a thing, as far as I saw.
The timeline appeared to be a convoluted attempt to get the story straight by those involved. It failed rather miserably.
Before we go any further, let's examine that timeline, shall we?
From SearchForBigfoot.com
Good afternoon. I am Steve Kulls Executive Director of Squatchdetective.com and Host of Squatchdetective Radio. I am here with Bob Schmalzbach, Vice President of Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. I had been invited to be a witness of the thawing of the alleged Bigfoot Body by the Searching for Bigfoot team. As an independent researcher, it has been Squatchdetective.com's goal to obtain proof positive in all cases when either trying to substantiate a claim or debunk it, so as there is no question to the matter's certainty. Having worked in the past, with Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., I understand that it has always been their corporate goal, "to tell it like they see it, as it happens, and when it happens". In my organization's limited involvement with Searching For Bigfoot, Inc. it is and has been the goal of both organizations to obtain the truth in this and all matters.
On July 9th, 2008, Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer placed a video on Youtube making the claim they had recovered the body of a Bigfoot body. Their website, Bigfoottracker.com also echoed the sentiment. At that time I had doubts and followed the story for two weeks when on July 25th, 2008 I placed a video response to challenge them to come on to Squatchdetective Radio on July 28th, 2008.
On July 14th, 2008 an article was published where Whitton released a statement to his local newspaper, the Clayton Times Daily stating that they had recovered the body of a Bigfoot.
The afternoon of July 28th, 2008, Ricky Dyer asked if I would call him and after interviewing him using various forensic interviewing techniques, which I have been trained on, I could not get an accurate read on him as I was seeing deception on numerous things, but insisted he had a body in his possession.At one point he asked me who Tom Biscardi was. I immediately surmised however their motive was financial.
After concluding my one plus hour long phone call with Dyer I called the CEO of Searching for Bigfoot, Tom Biscardi, and we discussed the matter. We, at that time decided it best to turn the investigation over to Mr. Biscardi and his team. My involvement in the remainder of the process was as an independent observer.
The following are my observations and the facts as I understand and know them:
On August 1st, 2008 Tom Biscardi traveled to Georgia and on August 2nd was given a sample, allegedly, from the corpse, for DNA testing. The DNA was hand delivered to Dr. Curt Nelson of Michigan and a chain of custody of the said sample was maintained from the time it was received from Ricky Dyer and Matthew Whitton.
On August 4th, 2008 both Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer entered a legally binding contract with Searching For Bigfoot, Inc .recognizing the fact that Searching for Bigfoot, had absolutely nothing to do in the demise or storage of the corpse until such time as it was transferred to Searching For Bigfoot for the benefit of scientific study, marketing and promotion.
On August 10th, 2008 Tom Biscardi received an email from Dr. Nelson that after the amplifications of two of the three samples, that the size of the DNA was consistent with human/ape DNA.
On or about August 12th, 2008, Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer requested an undisclosed sum of money as an advance, expected from the marketing and promotion, and as a good faith gesture of the contract.
On August 14th, 2008, after signing a transfer receipt for the amount money requested and counting said money, Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer led the Searching for Bigfoot Team to a location and turned over a freezer with something appearing large, hairy, and frozen in ice.
On August 15th, 2008, Tom Biscardi, Ricky Dyer and Matthew Whitton held a press conference at the Cabana Hotel in Paolo Alto, California, announcing that the corpse of a creature fitting the description known as "Bigfoot" had been discovered. A police officer of seven years, on medical leave, labeled as a hero for being wounded in the line of duty, got up in front of the world and told the world of how he and Ricky Dyer uncovered this creature. This has since been proven a lie. It is notable that Rick Dyer insisted on this press conference and told Tom Biscardi he would not release the "body" unless the conference was held on this specific date.
On August 16th, 2008 the freezer containing the alleged corpse arrived with the Searching For Bigfoot Team. I arrived on location at 6PM to provide initial verification examination, biohazard control and consult for security measures at the location. At that time the ice was being thawed slowly without aid, to prevent any decomposition of the alleged corpse. We estimated that the freezer and its contents weighed over 1500 pounds and it would take several days or longer to thaw completely.
On August 17th, 2008 Searching for Bigfoot Team Director of Field Operations, TJ Biscardi and myself, were up early to discover that some hair was now exposed. I extracted some from the alleged corpse and examined it and had some concerns. Bob Schmalzbach arrived and concurred. We burned said sample and said hair sample melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair.
At that time we contacted Mr. Biscardi who gave us permission to begin an expedited melting process. We set up a salamander heater to heat the freezer. Within one hour we were able to see the partially exposed head, as I was now able to touch it, I was able to feel that it seemed mostly firm, but unusually hollow in one small section. This was yet another ominous sign. Within the next hour of thaw, a break appeared up near the feet area. As the team and I began examining this area near the feet, I observed the foot which looked unnatural, reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot.
At that point we immediately contacted, Tom Biscardi and advised him of the situation and he began to take action on his end. Later that day, Tom Biscardi informed us that both Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer admitted it was a costume. They reportedly agreed to sign a promissory note and admission of what they had done, and set a meeting in their hotel room in California for 8AM on August 17th, 2008.
At that time I drew up the documents for Mr. Biscardi. On August 17th, 2008 Tom Biscardi went to the hotel where Dyer and Whitton were staying and found that they had left. At this time action is being instigated against the perpetrators of this fraud. Tom Biscardi asked us to contact you, the press, and share all that we have discovered.
The motives behind this fraud are still unknown at this time. It is still unclear why Whitton who, being a police officer for the Clayton County Police Department in Georgia got up before the world and lied and was complicit in a scheme to defraud in a felonious manner.
At this time the victim of this series of deceptions, Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., is seeking justice for themselves and for all the people who were deceived by this deception. Due to this event peoples lives have been disrupted and many people, so wanting vindication about there prior experiences were hurt. Let us all try to be mindful of such.
On behalf of myself I can say with certainty Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer not the best Bigfoot trackers in the world!
Thank you.
So. There you have it. No mention from Steve Kulls about the fact that Biscardi stood up in front of a room full of press and millions of television viewers and TOLD A BALD FACE LIE about having touched the body and confirmed its authenticity PRIOR to the press conference.
Why is Steve spinning this story to make it all about the GA boys and painting Tom as the "victim"?
VICTIM? Please.
First of all, if Steve's above account is even remotely accurate (which I doubt and can you blame me?), Biscardi is at least guilty of being the stupidest bigfoot researcher I've ever encountered.
Who in their right mind, if they gave a rat's ass about the credibility of this field, would agree to hold a press conference and announce to the world that they have a body when they haven't even examined it?
If you care at all about your credibility as a researcher, why on earth would you LIE in front of millions of people? Why would you take an investor's money and hand it over to a couple of yahoos from Georgia when you haven't even tested the "body"?
This "truth" that we're being fed stinks as much as the original story, Steve. I, for one, am not buying it. Biscardi lied and you're covering for him. Shame on you.
Once again, sadly, we have Biscardi either jumping the gun in his rush for media attention or blatantly and deliberately taking a known falsehood and going to the media with it, only to claim that he was "duped" or "hoodwinked" and passing the blame off on the hoaxers - WHOM BISCARDI, AND ONLY HE, WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR BRINGING INTO THE LIMELIGHT.
Again, refer back to the C2C hoax he was involved in 3 years ago.
Someone supposedly had a sasquatch in captivity, and Tom Biscardi went on a national radio show to "tell the world", and immediately began selling subscriptions to a website to "watch Bigfoot in his daily routine" via webcam. Then he says that HE was hoaxed and it was all the fault of one of Noory's listeners, a woman from NV, who had "hoodwinked" him.
Now, it's a body. He calls a national press conference and blatantly lies about having TOUCHED it and it being real, then uploads a link selling access to the photos on his website for $2 a pop (which was taken down shortly after). Then he says he was hoaxed and it was all the fault of the GA boys, who "duped" him.
I waited on the line, during the radio show last night, to take Kulls to task over the lies Biscardi told the press. I never got through. But Kathy Strain did. "Why are you covering for him?" She asked. "You're killing your own credibility."
Steve didn't say a word.
What was there to say?
Reportedly, there are warrants out for the arrest of Ric Dyer and Matt Whitton. Felony fraud charges. Biscardi, apparently, gets to defraud the public and the media and damage the credibility of our research field and go free.
Yes, Dyer and Whitton were hoaxers. I've come across plenty of them in my day. They stink, and you can usually smell them a mile away.
Wouldn't you think Tom could smell it, too? Tom Biscardi's supposedly been researching bigfoot for 30+ years. Trouble is, if Biscardi were a real researcher and not simply a hoaxer himself who exploits this subject for fame and personal gain, he would have known that and dealt with them accordingly.
Instead, Biscardi gave up any hope of claiming to be a true researcher the moment he stepped onstage and told the world that he had touched the body and that it was real. At that point, he became a WITNESS. A witness who lied.
There may or may not be further updates on this. I've wasted far too much time on it as it is. Thanks to everyone who has sent emails of support, additional details, dirt, theories and opinions.
Thanks to my pal Craig Woolheater, AKA "Tex", from TexasBigfoot.org for the heads up this morning on this. You da best, man.
I don't think I'm even going to bother to comment on this. Biscardi's words pretty much say it all.
While the hoaxers are initially responsible, yes, you expect such behavior from hoaxers. NOT from "veteran" researchers.
Thanks to Morgan P for sending this one in!
Feel free to email me if you think I've missed something, but otherwise, I'm going back to REAL research.
All media content in this article is posted under the Fair Use doctrine of Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.


text:
Drop the chainsaw
Not sure I agree, there's just something about a woman with power tools :)
Maybe body language, facial ex<x>pression? Some guys think some girls may be too hard to get and wont try. Maybe they think you are out of their league? Drop a brother some hints? Good luck.
Could it be the unapproachable attitude? Just a guess.
Lol I'm not sure height is a factor when a woman is unapproachable, maybe with guys? It could be that you're really attractive? Some men find it hard to speak with beautiful women. I've heard women are jealous of beautiful girls as well and that may contribute to it as well. Other than that however...it could be your perceived demeanor? Haha, maybe people think you come off as a ***** when they first meet you?
If they were scared of your height, could your team be 5 year olds? It's probably your attitude like someone else said, appearence doesn't tend to be that scary, unless you look like shrek.
nothin sounds good youre preety short.just look cute and wanting but dont look obvious-imma guy i read girls lol
what makes you think you are unapproachable?
Some times women need to approach men. After being turned down so many times they kinda give up.
I don't even know! Do you mean by guys? Like they're intimidated or something? I've been told before that guys like me but are nervous to say anything, and I'm like why? I'm hardly attractive. Guys are hard to read I guess. But if you weren't referring to guys, then I'm sorry for wasting your time lol
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Someone in the Bay Area is hiring
Published 4:00 am, Sunday, February 1, 2009
Bay Area jobs: ... and the ugly
So, there's good news and bad news on the Bay Area employment front. First, the good news. Ten percent of Bay Area companies say they will be hiring in the next month. Now, the bad. Almost half of them, 46 percent, will be laying people off. This according to the Bay Area Council's "Business Confidence Survey," due out this week. The council, a business-sponsored public-policy advocacy organization, surveyed 503 CEOs of companies of all sizes and across the business spectrum throughout the nine-county Bay Area. More details to come, including a breakdown by industry and county, when the report is released.
- FOX Business Beat: Twitter bot purge; Uber new ride share program Fox5DC
- Small Business Wednesday: Pink Daisy Company Brandpoint
- Fox Business Beat: Friday, February 23 Fox5DC
- McDonald's Planning Big Change for Happy Meals Wibbitz
- Council passes paid sick leave policy Fox7
- GAP President and CEO Jeff Kirwan Is Leaving Fortune
- REAL ESTATE This Tech Billionaire Has Just Been Revealed as the Owner of NYC's Most Expensive Apartment Time
- Elderly Man Learns How to Use Phone Jukin Media
- The Shocking Amount Americans Spend on Impulse Buys in Their Lifetime Buzz 60
- The Definitive Guide To Shorts Esquire
The report won't name them - confidentiality required - but we're most interested in that blessed 10 percent who are helping to stimulate us.
Models of restraint
Blasting away at Wall Street "irresponsibility" (read: obscene payouts), President Obama last week called on "folks who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility." We have three Bay Area candidates who deserve garlands on that score:
Mechanics Bank. The Richmond bank actually went one better, withdrawing its application for $60 million from the federal government's TARP bailout program. Too many strings attached, said CEO Steven Buster, who oversees the bank's 33 branches and $2.7 billion in assets. "Besides, we're extremely well capitalized, and respectably profitable."
Intel Corp. and HP. The two Silicon Valley giants signed on last month to the "say on pay" policy, which gives shareholders the right to weigh in on executive compensation. At Intel's board meeting in May, shareholders get to approve or disapprove its compensation committee's "philosophy, policies and procedures." Hewlett-Packard has a lesser, nonbinding policy, which won't go into effect until 2010. Presumably CEO Mark Hurd will still have some left over from the approximately $33.5 million he made last year.
Less clear on the concept
Google Inc.'s concept of a stimulus, on the other hand, appears to embrace one of the more notorious excesses of the dot-com years. Google is "repricing" its employees' stock options, most of which became worthless as the market tanked, along with Google's stock. By the time the "repriced" options are vested, assuming the stock goes up, employees are magically rich again. Google shareholders, who have seen the stock price halved over the past year, should be so lucky, which is why words like "shame" have been attached to the practice. As Adam Lashinsky noted in Fortune magazine: "This is a well-known farce, as old as the Valley, which tells itself first that it offers generous stock options as a form of incentive and then, when share prices plummet, moves the ball so its employees, whose incentives apparently didn't work, can be re-incentivized."
We don't know whether Obama suggested to CEO Eric Schmidt, sitting at his right hand at a White House confab last week, that having a job should be incentive enough these days.
Enlightenment ahead
Forget Davos. Here comes TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), the Bay Area's version of great thinkers and doers gathering at the mountaintop. Well, actually, Long Beach. This week's conference, called "The Great Unveiling," features Bill Gates, Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, "neurological anthropologist" Oliver Sacks, novelist Elizabeth Gilbert ("Eat, Pray, Love"), along with futurists and pioneers of all sorts. Oh, and my boss, Chronicle Business Editor Al Saracevic, will be at the invitation-only affair, filing dispatches. I expect solutions to the great mysteries of the economy to be unveiled.


text:
The two day call for papers conference focused on the latest developments in methods and techniques of computational electromagnetics spanning applications in fields as diverse as electrical machines, power apparatus, antennas, waveguides and optical instruments. Challenges of electromagnetic hazards, EMC and EMI, low frequency and high frequency devices were also covered.
The proceedings includes 77 peer reviewed technical papers, submitted from leading academic and research institutions from over 24 countries, representing some of the most cutting edge research available.
The 77 posters were grouped into the following conference sessions: Theory and methodology; Numerical methods and techniques; Algorithms and formulations; Multi-physics, coupled problems, optimisation; Modelling and simulation of devices and systems.
Each interactive poster session was preceded by "one-minute, one-slide" presentation by poster author.


text:
Leave a Reply2 Comments
I loved how you decorated this table and all of your ideas with the Disney's Frozen theme. Please let me know where I can find all those candies and decorations. I'm planning my daughter's 5th birthday in June and it would be great.
Thank you!
I am in malaysia where to get the deco things please


text:
Beyond Good & Evil Original Soundtrack OST
Platforms: Playstation 2 (PS2), Microsoft Windows(PC), Nintendo Gamecube (GCN), Xbox .
Players take control of the main character, Jade, a young reporter, and must use her abilities in both stealth and combat to traverse through multiple levels in this adventure game laden with stealth and puzzle elements. Players will need to take pictures of their enemies and show just how bad the military junta that controls the world the game takes place on is, and attempt to overthrow it.


text:
Twelve South offers new Rutledge BookBook for MacBooks
March 15th 2014
By Mike Flaminio
The original BookBook is a nifty case for your MacBook laptop that resembles an old classic book. It has two hard cover pieces, a soft padded interior, hard spine, and zips shut. It was a unique design that was followed by products for iPhones and iPads.
This week Twelve South announced a new version of the BookBook they're calling the Rutledge. It's the same basic idea, but gets a new leather treatment.
Each cover is hand-finished with a new color layering technique that makes every Rutledge truly a one-of-a-kind work of art.
The case is available for Apple's 11-inch, 13-inch, and 15-inch MacBooks. It sells for $99.99.


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Seeking therapy can be a daunting task. Those who have been in counseling realize that it takes courage and determination to seek help and share your issues with a therapist. That is why choosing the right therapist for you is so important. In addition to proper training and experience, you should look for a therapist with whom you feel comfortable. Take your time and do your research. A good therapist will not mind if you call to ask a few brief questions. You can then schedule a consultation to make sure the "fit" is the right one.
Recently Updated:
Contact page
About page
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-Rebecca, Editor


text:
Let your child know that the home is not a free-for-all. Make a schedule for play time, reading time, etc. A schedule will help add structure to a hyperactive child's life.
Many people say you should not say "no" to children. I think it's necessary. Your child will think twice about running around and acting unruly if she knows you will not approve and will voice it to her in private and public.
Regulate your child's sugar intake. Sweets are not a good thing in a hyperactive child's life. Less sugar equals a more relaxed child.
Keep the noise levels down in your household. A serene atmosphere will set the right tone.
Have him learn a new skill like playing the piano or swimming. This will keep him busy as well as help burn off some of that extra energy.
Serve your child calming and healthy beverages like chamomile iced tea. This tastes great and hopefully will keep her a bit calmer.
Let your child's teacher know that he is hyperactive (if they're not aware already). Ask the teacher to be in communication with you about what your child eats and how he interacts with other children.
For a while, try to keep the play dates to one-on-one. Hyperactive children can fight and grab sometimes. With just two kids, you can supervise your hyperactive child better.
Could the foods your child eats cause bad behaviors?
How to encourage good behavior
Is your defiant child driving you crazy?
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One of my readers gave me a cool resource, in response to my story about going to my son's 6th grade teacher asking her to reconsider her policy of giving candy for good behavior and academic performance.
It's called, How to Reward and Motivate Kids Without Using Food. Here it is.
I bet few teachers have ever seen this. But it's a great idea and I'm supportive of anyone who tries to interrupt the easy path to good behavior and good grades. That path is a cop-out, and the results to children are harmful. With 1/3 of our kids overweight, and childhood diabetes and asthma and ADD skyrocketing, we don't need to add calories, acidity, and disease risk to their too-sedentary school day.
Not to mention the tooth decay, depression, fatigue, vulnerability to viruses and bacterial infections, and many other consequences that come with feeding a kid sugar and salt as a reward.
When I talked to the teacher about my wish that my son not be rewarded with candy in the classroom, she said, "Can I give him pretzels instead?" I said, "Uhhh, white flour. Salt." She laughed and said, okay.
(It's still rewarding behavior with junk food.)
I hope parents and teachers read this report and share it with others, because it has lots of great ideas.
EVERY time I have a conversation with other parents about the junk-food-in-the-classroom thing, they express their frustration and disapproval. Even regular "Standard American Diet" families aren't happy about their subpar diet being supplemented with an extra couple pocketfuls of candy almost every day.
But it's like Matthew said with the Zumba class last week—WHY were we the only ones to leave, or say anything, about the music that made our ears ring long afterward? Virtually all the parents dislike it. Virtually none SAY anything.
I wish more people would speak up. I talk to the teachers in a respectful, non-threatening way. If you're a parent, I hope you will, too.