- An old expression says "If you play with fire you're
going to get burned."
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- Recently there have been some incredible news stories.
One such notable story is the fictional Martin Sheen/Obama interview, first
posted by Alex Jones on infowars. It was later claimed to be a "what-if"
type interview by those involved, but it was not originally posted or titled
as such. Many readers mistook the interview to be a real event.
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- If someone of notoriety with a spotless track record
of truth, no matter how famous they are, has just one brush with a bad
story it can leave a dark stain on their image. No amount of bleaching
in public will remove it for a long time to come. It won't matter if the
person reporting it simply made an innocent error or if it was intentionally
reported to create fame and call attention. The deed is done. This has
happened to many reporters, even anchor news people and talk show hosts
at national television networks. And now a radio show host.
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- I tried to be mindful of this pitfall when I wrote a
book in 2005 titled "What NASA Isn't Telling You about Mars."
Without doubt there appears to be artificial objects lying on the surface
of Mars. But it would be highly irresponsible of me to absolutely declare
what each of these artificial objects is.
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- Two large blocks of stone of the size used in the Giza pyramid
are quite obvious, but a mechanical device lying on the surface could be
used for most anything. I could not responsibly make declarations to the
reader like "This image shows a Martian helmet" or, "This
object must be a vacuum cleaner." To do so would convey to the reader
I have a superior knowledge of what these items are that no one else has.
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- Recently, an independent journalist and author began
to explore language and images created by mirror-imaging a dollar bill
and also various government seals and emblems. While it is true that certain
things can be spelled out by mirror imaging does it mean they are real?
If we spell dog backward we get god. But is this word intentional with
a secret meaning? Does it indicate that God is canine and has four legs?
Does this indicate a conspiracy theory of the highest order?
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- On the other hand, perhaps some of what is found in mirror
images is real and intentional. We can't possibly hope to know if everything
we discover is a conspiracy. A fuzzy line exists here.
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- It seems prudent and wise when something unusual is found
to let the reader decide for themselves. In engineering there is an expression
when doubt arises with a drawing or design to let another pair of eyes
take a look at it. Formal drawings done by drafting departments in companies
have title boxes. Within these title boxes are boxed signature areas for
many important details besides a title, date and part number. There are
also boxes for "Drawn by", "Checked by" and "Approved
by." Some have even more approval boxes to help prevent errors from
getting through to production.
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- This check system is effective in catching almost all
errors, but like any system it isn't foolproof. An entire drawing can be
created based on a false premise. A problem can arise if those who check
or approve drawings for manufacturing or construction are only looking
for typos or drawing errors. A serious blatant design flaw can easily get
by everyone.
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- Two such blatant design errors that went through to fabrication
were the Seattle-Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940 that resonated in the wind
and eventually destroyed itself just four months after it was opened. Used
in colleges today as a bad engineering example, film footage shows the
bridge known as Gallopin' Gertie twisted badly in high winds. Fortunately
no one was on it when it twisted apart and fell into the water below.
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- Another design flaw was the Hyatt Regency hotel skywalk
which collapsed. When it collapsed without warning, it killed 114 people
and injured 200 more.
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- But when we report on an unusual discovery, such as mirror
image in currency or objects, or other text found hidden in a public object
what then? How can we implement a "checked by" and "approved
by?" We can only let the reader decide for themselves what they see.
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- Ted Twietmeyer
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