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International Bigfoot Symposium 215

DaytonCIM writes "Yup, that's right the creature that took on Steve Austin (no, not the drunk and bloated pro wrastler, but the REAL Six Million Dollar Man) has legions who gather to debate and discuss his furriness. The International Bigfoot Symposium is going on right now. SFGate also has a nice article on the grand meeting."
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International Bigfoot Symposium

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  • by bearl ( 589272 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @12:45PM (#6957773)
    On The Sixe Million Dollar Man, wasn't Bigfoot played by a drunk and bloated wrastler?

    Now you've made it way too confusing...
  • Welcome! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 14, 2003 @12:46PM (#6957781)
    I, for one, welcome our new hyperpodiatric overlords!
  • heh (Score:4, Funny)

    by OrthodonticJake ( 624565 ) <[[OrthodonticJak ... ail]}{[.][[com]]> on Sunday September 14, 2003 @12:48PM (#6957787) Homepage Journal
    Sam & Max Hit the Road references are not allowed.
  • by heironymouscoward ( 683461 ) <heironymouscowar ... m ['oo.' in gap]> on Sunday September 14, 2003 @12:50PM (#6957795) Journal
    Well, the only one I ever read. My parents had it when I was a toddler, but I think it's as relevant today as it was in the 1960's.

    On the Track of Unknown Animals [google.com] by Bernard Heuvelmans.
    • Better book (Score:3, Interesting)

      by j_w_d ( 114171 )
      Ivan T. Sanderson cameout with one titled Abominable Snowmen which was at the most comprehensive discussion available. Heuvelman's is interesting because it really cover a range of very interesting possibilities in as yet undescribed large animals. Heuvelmans includes photographs of the skin of a spotted lion (African) and the photograph of the body a large, female ape from South America.

      One of the more interesting points of Sanderson's study was a large number of footprint-cast illustrations. One of th
  • by Jacer ( 574383 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @12:53PM (#6957806) Homepage
    .... a sexy, available, female nerd. We would all like it to exist. The fairy-tale aspect of it is too grand to not want, but sooner or later we come to terms with the truth.
    • by JessLeah ( 625838 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @01:10PM (#6957897)
      Ceren Ercen [kurtspace.com]. Not sure if she's AVAILABLE, per se, but she IS sexy and she IS female. And she's a nerd.

      There are actually lots of female nerds; we're just not Sports Illustrated models (though some of us are cute). And, of course, most of us are taken...
    • The girl that I am seeing these days is hot, sexy, available, female, and scored higher on the Geek Test [innergeek.us] than I did.. although she scored in virtually every category, but had an almost ZERO score in computers, and I scored nearly every single computer question, but had a zero score for almost all other categories.

      She says the difference between nerds and geeks are that geeks get laid.

      Hmm..
    • That's why I switched from Management Information Systems to Environmental Science. Got tired of sausage-fest classes. Couldn't take that anymore.
  • by GillBates0 ( 664202 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @12:58PM (#6957831) Homepage Journal
    An authentic Native American open pit salmon barbeque (salmon run permitting) will be offered on Friday evening. Lunch on Saturday will be the Willow Creek version of a mall food court. Various fund-raising groups will provide a wide variety of luncheon choices, including Indian tacos, hot dogs, hamburgers, desserts, and snacks. A classic pit-barbequed beef dinner by the Willow Creek Kiwanis Club is on tap for Saturday evening.

    If only the /. editors had posted this before the weekend, I could've presented my research on big feet at the conference. :(

  • by fjordboy ( 169716 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @12:59PM (#6957836) Homepage
    Having recently purchased the Season 1 dvd set of "The Simpsons," I can't help but mention that some good material for the symposium to focus on would be Simpsons, season one, episode 7 (7G09)...

    It's the episode where the simpsons get stuck in the woods and towards the end, Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot. Here's the SNPP link. [snpp.com]

    "This specimen is either a below-average human being or a brilliant beast.
    "

    - German Scientist discussing Homer
  • um.... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by c4ffeine ( 705293 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [enieff4c]> on Sunday September 14, 2003 @01:04PM (#6957860)
    This makes me think... I can see both way's points of view. I see that there is a LOT of evidence for Bigfoot' existence and that some of it might be hard to fake, but we must wonder: why haven't we got more than 1-2 pieces of video footage of the damn thing? We really should just thouroughly comb the woods where it is supposed to be. Even if we don't find it, we'll probably find some drug caches and convicted felons on the run... It's worth a try
    • "why haven't we got more than 1-2 pieces of video footage of the damn thing?"

      are YOU going to pay for it ? will YOU spend the time to convince funders to fund such a thing ?

      welcome to the world of cryptozoology.
    • "why haven't we got more than 1-2 pieces of video footage of the damn thing?

      Maybe they have been kept out of sight working in the labs that have perfected cold fusion.

  • by JessLeah ( 625838 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @01:04PM (#6957861)
    ...if there really is such a thing as Bigfoot? I'd rather have the only real-world furries be a mink [binary.net], or a skunk [coax.net], or a vixen [ao.net]. :)

    • > ...if there really is such a thing as Bigfoot? I'd rather have the only real-world furries be a mink, or a skunk, or a vixen. :)

      Bigfoot is extinct? This strange furry couch I bought at the garage sale may be worth more than I thought!

  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 14, 2003 @01:06PM (#6957871)
    I would check records for:

    People over ten feet tall AND
    who pay more than $20,000/year for Brazilian waxes AND
    who request penis REDUCTION surgery
  • by Kymermosst ( 33885 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @01:07PM (#6957879) Journal
    Can we please have some articles about real science, and not hoaxes, lies, and scientific blunders?

  • Bigfoot was bionic, right?

    Funny how times change. Six million dollars today was 1/50th of the error margin in the Enron scandal. Imagine if such technology were available today -- Bill Gates could buy himself both bionic legs, and *both* bionic arms. He could attach it to a bionic torso, leaving only his head organic.

    Then the Slashdot icon would be almost correct. Bill Gates, the Borg.

    What a scary thought.

    Talk about an unconquerable evil.
    • Bill Gates could buy himself both bionic legs, and *both* bionic arms. He could attach it to a bionic torso, leaving only his head organic.

      Killer Robots Storm Home of Bill Gates' Childhood Bully

      SEATTLE, WA -- Walter Conrad, a 46-year old sporting-goods retail manager, was assaulted in his home by an army of killer Microsoft robots yesterday.

      Conrad, who had tormented and teased Microsoft CEO Bill Gates when the two were in junior high school together, suffered minor injuries in the attack. He sustaine

  • by Narphorium ( 667794 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @01:09PM (#6957895)
    "In any event, it's a good excuse to go camping, and it adds some color to our mundane lives."

    That's just about all there is to it.

  • Various kooks (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Henry V .009 ( 518000 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @01:12PM (#6957905) Journal
    I have a relative who is really into the Bigfoot scene. The Bigfoot believers are quite committed. They make a lot of mistakes because of that, though. What is really interesting to me is how so many of the same thought errors get made in radically different areas of human belief.

    Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World [amazon.com] is an interesting investigation of the entire phenomenon.

    It is a terribly complex mental exercise to absorb all of the information in modern life and make intelligent decisions. The fact is that there are far too many claims to investigate for anybody to examine all of them with the necessary care. So we have to rely on the consensus of experts to make decisions. And the organizations necessary for consensus have the same flaws as all human hierarchal bodies.

    Here are some of the various brands of kooky ideas that I have come across:

    The AIDS Myth [virusmyth.net] The medical analysis is surprisingly deep. A lot of qualified people have weighed in on this idea.
    Carbohydrates not calories [ourcivilisation.com]. They claim that our genes are still adapting to the modern high-carbohydrate diet, and that is why so many of us are so fat. (Enter Atkins.)
    Democracy is not good government [ourcivilisation.com]
    Global Warming [ourcivilisation.com]. Discussed on Slashdot a number of times
    Shakespeare did not write Shakespeare [sobran.com] Joe Sobran thinks that the Earl of Oxford wrote everything attributed to Shakespeare of Stratford on Avon.
    Race and IQ [ssc.uwo.ca] Probably true, but kooky nonetheless.
    Multiregional Evolution [umich.edu] You can find most of Wolpoff's papers that are cited here somewhere online. I recommend "Bottlenecks and Pleistocene Human Evolution" and "Modern Human Ancestry at the Peripheries: A Test of the Replacement Theory." Wolpoff is kooky because there are very few anthropoligists left who will side with the Multiregional theory over the Out of Africa theory. (Wolpoff technically supports an Out of Africa theory, but that is how everyone refers to the debate.)

    And here is one that I will actually advocate: Bohmian Mechanics [rutgers.edu] It is about as kooky as you can get for a physicist, but I am convinced that it beats QM on the merits.
    • On carbohydrates: I mentioned it before, but I lost 20kg in less then 2 months just reducing carb intake (while augmenting calories intake). Caveat emptor.
    • And even more amazingly, some Carl Sagan fans are predisposed to the believe they are all wise and knowing.

      I won't comment on all your statements here as I would no doubt get flamed, but it is nothing new to suggest democracy is a flawed governmental system. Would you call Plato's Republic "kooky" because it makes the very same claim? Ahh yes, I should trust Carl Sagan, and completely ignore one of the greatest minds to have lived in the last 2500 years. Irrespective of your personal views on the merits
      • My list of kooks was not meant to arbitrate between who was right and who was wrong. I meant to highlight some very unpopular ideas. I share the views that you have expressed on Plato and also on Sagan's fans.

        (I want to point out, however, that my kook list is not from Sagan. I do not know of anything that he has written on Democracy or Plato.)
    • I would take a strong exception to 'Carbohydrates not calories'.

      We burn the fat we get with a food quickly. We store the carbohydrates as a fat, and burn it afterwords. If we have very low fat high carbo diet, we burn carbo albeit at a lower rate than fat. If we get a mix of fat and carbo (like ice cream), we most certainly burn the fat part and store the carbo part That's the bottom line. I know it quite well, from my own experience. I have a very low methabolism rate, yet this is reduction of carbos in
      • What you seem to be espousing is some variation on the Atkins diet, sort of the reverse. The truth of the matter is the total intake of Calories in your system. Reduce your overall caloric intake (by whatever means) and you lose weight - simple as that.
    • That first one, the HIV->AIDS deniers, is scary in a funny way. I've always figured the best way to get rid of the people who offer awards for "proof" that HIV exists [virusmyth.net] is to offer them $50 to sleep with someone who tests HIV positive.

      It would be interesting to concoct a related reward for "proof" that Bigfoot exists; although I'm not so sure about the counter-offer, money for sleeping with a sasquatch.

  • by bsDaemon ( 87307 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @01:16PM (#6957925)
    ...just some fat, naked, hair canadian like in that one episode of 'angry beavers'
  • by planarian ( 685519 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @01:18PM (#6957929)
    You know what they say about primates with big feet...
  • Bigfoot refers to the legendary beast, not the destructive big foot in Monty Python. Do not let the choice of category icon confuse you.
  • Our local newspaper published that there are no chipmunks in our county. I called a reporter out to see and photograph the chipmunks on our property in said county.

    (Unfortunately, a couple of months after that, our 3 cats wiped out the entire population. We buried their little celebrity bodies with full honors. True story.)

    My point is, it's virtually impossible to prove non-existence -- trivial to prove existence.

    • My point is, it's virtually impossible to prove non-existence -- trivial to prove existence.

      Sure, but it's a 7-foot tall primate is a lot easier to notice then a chipmunk, but so far no one has managed to call a reporter out to see and photograph the bigfeet.
  • Dr. Jane Goodall, Ph.D, CBE, Author, Scientific Director of the Gombe Stream Research Centre, Tanzania Originally scheduled as a speaker, cancelled due to scheduling conflict, now offering video presentation.

    Originally, Dr. Jane Goodall had committed to filling this slot, however, the museum was informed last week by Nona Gandelman, the VP/Director of Communications for the Jane Goodall Institute, that Dr. Goodall must meet with high-level officials from the Congo in September in an effort to preserve for

  • /. Icon (Score:4, Funny)

    by DJ Rubbie ( 621940 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @01:27PM (#6957981) Homepage Journal
    The foot icon for this article needs to be bigger, and hairy-er..

  • Evidence so far: A few rocks chucked at the group from a wooded covert.

    "That's classic primate threat display behavior," Hiers said. "It's nothing that a bear could or would do . . .

    Yeah, no human would throw rocks like that.


    (When's there's something strange, in your forest glade, Who ya gonna call?)
  • by Foozy ( 552529 )
    Harry and the Hendersons(1987) with John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon with a guest spot by Don Ameche. That Lithgow phone call to the cops ranks as one of the funniest scenes of '80s Hollywood (well before his 3rd Rock thing) - and "...nip it in the bud..." has new meaning for me now.
    One reviewer here [simplest-shop.com] calls it the "Best Movie Ever Made" but I think that's a stretch...
  • With all this evidence of footprints and sightings, I'm simply surprised no one has made a good discovery of feces or urine samples which show the various characteristics of the so called 'sasquatch'. Footprints and photographs are easy to find and fake - poop is not so easy (does it contain any processed food? Human! Does it contain samples of its own hair? Study the hair! What kind and amount of bacteria are present. etc)

    It would be better if one could find skeletal remains as well - It's unlikely
  • big foot (Score:3, Funny)

    by digidave ( 259925 ) on Sunday September 14, 2003 @02:41PM (#6958303)
    A friend of mine wears size 14. Is that big enough? I think we can all say for certain that people with big feet do exist, so what's all the debate about?
  • We should get the military involved. We could use some of the same technology they used to track down Osama bin... oh... nevermind.

  • Anyone interested in Bigfoot, or Sasquatch should start at the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization [bfro.net].

    They maintain a very well organized and qualified sightings database, many of which have been followed up on by BFRO staff.

    I found the site because I was looking for some explanation of my own experience.

    They address many common misconceptions and questions surrounding bigfoot such as:
    "What is a bigfoot, or sasquatch?
    Where is the physical evidence?
    Why aren't there more photos?
    How many are there?
    Are they
  • were some of the dumbest posts I've seen on Slashdot.

    One moron wants to "thoroughly comb" the woods. This idiot has never been in ANY woods, let alone the Pacific Northwest, the Chiapas province, or anywhere else where the territory is seriously rugged. Nor does he have any experience, as the late Ivan Sanderson had, in animal collecting. Sanderson once pointed out that animal collectors do not "comb" an area for their collections, and that no one has yet used animal collecting technigues to get close t
  • Original Hoaxers (Score:3, Interesting)

    by po8 ( 187055 ) on Monday September 15, 2003 @01:37AM (#6961794)

    When I was a young boy growing up on the Oregon coast, I personally met and chatted with one of the two guys whose hoax could be credited with starting the whole Bigfoot scare. Their "Bigfoot tracks" were the first to make the papers, and were the subject of investigation by many "qualified" anthropologists, etc., who pronounced them genuine.

    They later were implicated in the hoax and confessed. Apparently, it all happened just like you'd expect. They cut giant feet out of plywood, strapped them to their shoes, and went clomping around (in the snow? don't recall), then brought their friend to see the tracks they'd "found", as a gag. When the friend got the papers to come look at the tracks, they decided they might get in trouble if they confessed, so they hid the plywood feet and kept mum. They thought the anthropologists were hilarious.

    Let me reiterate. They eventually confessed. Freely. In the newspaper. To this day, some folks still believe those tracks were real.

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