Saturday, April 27, 2019

UFO Congress backpedals on Ken Johnston

        This is a laugh. The UFO Congress, promoting its 2019 meet-up, has tacked a VERY STRONG disclaimer onto its page about Ken Johnston. Having referred to him as "Dr. Johnston" in the blurb, the following has now been added:

NOTE: Ken Johnston is not a doctor and does not have an accredited Ph.D.

        In four paragraphs, the text explains that Johnston was deceptive in claiming the Ph.D. in the first place, stating that his doctorate was conferred by the Reformed Baptist Seminary. In fact it was “The Reform Baptists Theological Seminary,”  one of several diploma mills run by tax-protester William Conklin. In other words, a worthless piece of paper.


Resolution
        I also take issue with one other factoid in the blurb. It describes Johnston's Apollo photo collection as "...of a higher resolution than what is found on-line." It's a tricky point because they are attempting to compare the resolution of a 10x8 photoprint with that of a digital image, but consider these points:

Point 1. The online NASA Apollo image library generally offers its products in two different resolutions—low and high. Take a look at a typical listing, Magazine C from Apollo 17. The hi-res images, suffixed HR, are jpgs of at least 500kb, on up to 1600kb. They are typically 2400 pixels square and the numerical resolution in metres per pixel depends, of course, on how far away the subject is. But this resolution is more than adequate for inspecting the surface, and far more convenient than peering at a photoprint through a loupe.

Point 2. Any serious researcher for whom that resolution is inadequate can, by paying a modest fee, order up extremely hi-res digital images in .tiff format that are scanned direct from the camera negatives. This is what I did when investigating Hoagland's "Data's Head" claim, and I received a version of AS17-137-21000 that was 46.1 MB, 5190 x 6175 px.

AS17-137-21000HR.jpg

Point 3. The first exposure of Ken's photo collection occurred in early 1995, when he showed a selection to Hoagland after a lecture in Seattle. That means that these prints had been in Johnston's ring binders for at least 20 years and, even in glassine envelopes, some fading and discoloration would be inevitable (More on that here).

Point 4. Hoagland has always claimed that Johnston's print-set shows things that NASA's equivalents do not. But the fact is, he's not actually comparing a print to a digital image—he's comparing his own scan of a print to NASA's scan. Hoagland's scanner glass is quite clearly contaminated.

Part of Hoagland's scan of AS10-32-4820

        Bottom line, I do not think the claim made for this collection is sustainable.

Thanks to James Oberg for monitoring this

11 comments:

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

My doctorate is awarded by Reverend Kirby Hensley, of the Universal Life Church, in Modesto, California. He is the man who won a Federal Court case, which found that Churches have the legal right to confer graduate degrees, thus setting the precedent for other churches to follow suit. Multnomah County in Orygun, says I can legally bury dead people, and marry those who would wish they were dead. Hensley in an interview with Tom Snyder said, that he would ordain for free anyone who was watching that TV show, the reason being that Churches don't have to pay taxes, and that he want's for everyone to have to pay taxes, or for nobody to have to pay taxes.

OneBigMonkey said...

The other point about Johnston's claim is that somehow he has managed to convince people that these copies of his are unique. The reality is that anyone could write in and order them - the details are in any number of NASA Apollo reports from the era. There are still many of them floating around on ebay. What he allegedly found and 'rescued' was probably surplus stock nobody wanted.

expat said...

Yes, Hoagland and Bara have both claimed that these were "precious first-generation prints" but they were nothing of the sort.

Anonymous said...

"Orygun?" Apparently fake, worthless doctorates do not include an elementary spelling test. A since when was a doctorate required to marry people or bury dead ones? Of course in the case of the Orbs Blabberer telling the difference between a live person and a dead one may be beyond its mental capacity...

THE said...

Orygun is the correct pronunciation, and I never said that a doctorate is required to become registered as an ordained minister. However, the work for the Doctorate in Religious Humanities, required successful 80% completion of an open book exam with twenty questions, along with a nominal cash donation.

Anonymous said...

The correct spelling is "Oregon." And yeah that cash donation is the most important thing I am sure in being granted a worthless, fake doctorate.

THE said...

You know what I mean then by Orygun, but the doctorate is useful in legally entitling oneself as 'Doctor,' as opposed to Mister, Miss, Ms, Mam, Reverend, or Captain. It's a way of avoiding the casual disrespect of being dragged into a first name basis.

Monkey Nuts said...

Hey Theo, you ain't no real doctor.

Anonymous said...

Why don'y you just go by Suzie, Sally, Jane, Frank or whatever your name is? You have to pay money to get a worthless doctorate to avoid a simple social interaction? It is certainly true, there is one born every minute. No one cares if you bought a useless doctorate when your claims, comments and communications shows you are at best a loon, and at worst someone to avoid.

expat said...

OK, chaps, that's enough Thedora-bashing.

Doctor THE said...

Thank you Patrick. I don't know why everybody says that you're no gentleman?