Hello world.....
I haven't written for quite a few weeks for a number of reasons. One of them is that my personal life has been - shall we say - entertaining at best. In the next few months, hopefully we will see the dust settle, and hopefully, Explore with Hypnosis and The Cosmic Bridge can get back to business. But what a last couple of months it has been. I won't go into the gory details save to say that my personal life has turned upside down as my marriage of 30 years is coming to an end. I hope that for all, this becomes a new beginning. For in this world there are no endings; there are only beginnings.
And I'm not the only one who has had a rough few months. I try and avoid the national news as much as possible but it's hard to avoid the rancor and divisiveness that we have seen on the national scene. This has echoed through my own life on social media and in private conversation. As most of you know, I have very definite views on the current state of the executive branch of our government (how's that for a euphemism) - while a few others I have been in conversation with have some diametrically opposing views. This has made for some interesting exchanges over blogs, e-mail, Facebook, etc. And in spite of my desire to be a healer and a peacemaker, I have often found myself drawn in to the fray as much as anyone else. It reminds me of just how easily one can get caught up in the emotions of the moment - especially when principals are involved that are fundamental to one's world view. But enough of that, at least for now...
The other bit of rancor I have seen in the last week or so has been in the realm of MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network. In the last week or two, some very good people have left the organization for a variety of reasons. But the biggest reason is their anger at some very poorly worded and in my view, ill thought out postings by a member who is (or was) highly placed in the organization. My understanding (and hope) is that he has now been relieved of those positions - at least I hope so.
On the plus side, this has shown me that there is a powerful force for good, for reasonableness and for justice in the cyber world, and within the UFO-research community. Yet it also shows me that one little remark can send an organization into crisis. So many were outraged by these racist comments that several key MUFON members quit, while others threatened to do so. Yet this tells me that while most MUFON members are here to seek greater understanding of the UFO phenomenon, they also have a powerful sense of justice.
Unfortunately, on the negative side, this controversy has eaten up a lot of the emotional bandwidth of many of the members. Time, energy and resources that might normally have been applied to investigations or other productive pursuits have been instead focused on cleaning our organization's dirty laundry. It has cost us a lot of time, talent and money - not to mention the continuing participation of some key members who would otherwise be involved in aggressive research into the UFO phenomenon.
At the last MUFON conference, I heard some excellent reports of projects in the works: projects by the ERT, the STAR team, etc. Most encouraging, at least to me, has been the rising of at least two potential electronic UFO detection and tracking technologies. One of them, the UFOTOG2 project run by Mark D'Antonio, et.al., seems to offer great promise as a technological assistance to get some hard data about the UFO phenomenon in our back yards. I look forward to our state team being one of the early groups to deploy this system when it is ready.
But then the excrement hit the fan. As I was travelling for that several days, I had been largely away from my e-mail for a while. I was surprised to suddenly hear some key notables in the MUFON field organization, in the experiencer research world, etc. all threatening to resign. Indeed some of those I most respect in the MUFON world have departed. Reading only a little bit more brought home the reason why this was so. And I can't say as I blame them. Yet one more thing comes to mind - because something is wrong with an apple in the bushel, do we need to throw the whole bushel out? Another cliche is that we need to avoid "throwing the baby out with the bathwater."
MUFON is in the process of doing some excellent work. Sure there are issues, but so far, I believe they are surmountable. Sure we've had some turkeys say some things that have given us a big PR black eye. Things don't always work as they should. But each time, we've weathered the storm and perhaps even come out of it a better organization. To me, the key point is that we need to keep our eyes on the prize. MUFON is in business, as its mission statement states, for "The scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity". So let's keep our eyes on the prize, quit the quibbling, set aside the egos, and get back to work.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Friday, March 10, 2017
Evaluating GPS watch for tracking close encounter events
For a long time, I have been looking for and experimenting with possible ways to track the location and altitude of close encounter experiencers. The intent is to detect unusual movement possibly associated with the experience (such as being taken aboard a UFO?). As a result, I decided to experiment with some smaller GPS devices that would be able to track an experiencer's location 24/7. I looked at a number of possibilities and lately I have been experimenting with this Garmin Fenix 2 GPS Watch.
I began this experiment a week or so before the International UFO Conference (mid February) and have been running it for approximately six weeks. I have found that the Garmin Fenix 2 seems to meet my requirements (ability to track location and altitude, and be wearable all the time). However, it has a number of inconveniences and rough edges that make it not so simple to use.
Unfortunately the GPS didn't have altitude built into it so it couldn't conclusively establish that he had been 'picked up' in some way. But as a result, I have been increasingly interested in using GPS with altimeter to track possible anomalous movements of experiencers - perhaps associated with their abduction or contact events.
I have been waiting for the price to come down (I'm a cheap engineer at heart). To date the smaller trackers haven't been easily kept on the body 24/7. For some time I've been using the GPSTracks app on my iPhone with excellent result. However it is an iPhone app and it isn't easy to keep an iPhone attached to the body all night (at least without annoying a significant other).
So now that the price of GPS watches had come down, I have been testing the Garmin Fenix 2. This looked like the closest match to what I needed - GPS capability, altitude tracking, reasonably long battery life, ability to wear it 24/7, and data retrievable to a computer. Of these, the Fenix 2 appeared to most closely match my requirements. It was reasonably priced, as well as being oriented toward general purpose use.
One of the biggest issues is the battery life while the GPS is running. I have found it to be about a half day to a full day or so - it seems pretty variable. So the user needs to remember to recharge it about twice a day. I found it works best to plug it into the computer in the evening at about 9PM, while I am on the computer, and in the morning after waking up. You will want it to have a full charge each night when you go to bed. You will also want to make sure the device is turned on and the keys are locked (more on that later).
I found the device often lost satellite lock when inside a building. I also noted that it is easy to accidentally turn it off. I found on several occasions, the device became deactivated during the night. I noticed the GPS was off and when I pressed the on button, the 'Resume' option came up. It wasn't clear how long the recorder was off or how it got deactivated, but most likely it was due to my accidentally pressing the start/stop button sometime during the night. The start/stop button is in the upper right hand corner, easily accessible. Unfortunately, that makes it easy to accidentally bump it and turn off the tracker as well. However there is also a button lock function, so you can lock out the buttons and prevent yourself from turning off the device during the night. I found it pretty easy to make a mistake and accidentally lose or not record a night's worth of data.
I subjectively noted some of these mysterious 'off' times occurred when something unusual might have been going on. One time was while I was at the International UFO Congress. I woke up that morning feeling very groggy and recalled a number of rather unusual dreams. In addition, my roommate had a large geometric bruise-like mark on his abdomen. Several other people at the conference described possible unusual events during that 24 to 48 hour time period. Coincidence? Perhaps. But if the GPS device had been running the entire time, it would have been easier to rule out my having "gone somewhere" during the night.
Another issue is the nonstandard way the device records data. I haven't yet found an easy way to save the data from the Garmin software into a standard format like CSV. That makes it hard to save the data in a way that other programs can analyze it. In addition, the accompanying PC software has been pretty temperamental. It requires use of their website to sync with the watch and download data. This is an inconvenience, although the site actually works pretty well. Furthermore, it won't display (at least not very rapidly) while the device is syncing with the computer. Note: I am using an old dinosaur of a laptop to run the software, so that goes some way toward explaining the lack of speed.
.
I began this experiment a week or so before the International UFO Conference (mid February) and have been running it for approximately six weeks. I have found that the Garmin Fenix 2 seems to meet my requirements (ability to track location and altitude, and be wearable all the time). However, it has a number of inconveniences and rough edges that make it not so simple to use.
Background
I got the idea after working on "The Case of the Flying Fisherman" about 10 years ago. In that case, the witness/experiencer had a fisherman's GPS device attached to the side of his boat. He used it to record the locations of fishing spots, etc. However he also had missing time experiences. On several occasions he noticed a discontinuity in his conscious experience, finding himself and his boat in a different location. The memories faded until he later noticed unusual GPS traces that seemed to correspond with the time and location of his experiences. Each time, a trace diverged from the point where his missing time began and ended in an arc - frequently passing over land. The trace would resume some time later in an arc that ended at the point where his memory resumed.Unfortunately the GPS didn't have altitude built into it so it couldn't conclusively establish that he had been 'picked up' in some way. But as a result, I have been increasingly interested in using GPS with altimeter to track possible anomalous movements of experiencers - perhaps associated with their abduction or contact events.
I have been waiting for the price to come down (I'm a cheap engineer at heart). To date the smaller trackers haven't been easily kept on the body 24/7. For some time I've been using the GPSTracks app on my iPhone with excellent result. However it is an iPhone app and it isn't easy to keep an iPhone attached to the body all night (at least without annoying a significant other).
So now that the price of GPS watches had come down, I have been testing the Garmin Fenix 2. This looked like the closest match to what I needed - GPS capability, altitude tracking, reasonably long battery life, ability to wear it 24/7, and data retrievable to a computer. Of these, the Fenix 2 appeared to most closely match my requirements. It was reasonably priced, as well as being oriented toward general purpose use.
Evaluation
I bought the Fenix 2 device a couple of months ago, refurbished through Amazon, for approximately $125 (very rough estimate). This is in a price range many experiencers could conceivable afford so I decided to evaluate it for possible use as a CE4 tracking tool. So far the device has been pretty reliable, although it definitely has its limitations.One of the biggest issues is the battery life while the GPS is running. I have found it to be about a half day to a full day or so - it seems pretty variable. So the user needs to remember to recharge it about twice a day. I found it works best to plug it into the computer in the evening at about 9PM, while I am on the computer, and in the morning after waking up. You will want it to have a full charge each night when you go to bed. You will also want to make sure the device is turned on and the keys are locked (more on that later).
I found the device often lost satellite lock when inside a building. I also noted that it is easy to accidentally turn it off. I found on several occasions, the device became deactivated during the night. I noticed the GPS was off and when I pressed the on button, the 'Resume' option came up. It wasn't clear how long the recorder was off or how it got deactivated, but most likely it was due to my accidentally pressing the start/stop button sometime during the night. The start/stop button is in the upper right hand corner, easily accessible. Unfortunately, that makes it easy to accidentally bump it and turn off the tracker as well. However there is also a button lock function, so you can lock out the buttons and prevent yourself from turning off the device during the night. I found it pretty easy to make a mistake and accidentally lose or not record a night's worth of data.
I subjectively noted some of these mysterious 'off' times occurred when something unusual might have been going on. One time was while I was at the International UFO Congress. I woke up that morning feeling very groggy and recalled a number of rather unusual dreams. In addition, my roommate had a large geometric bruise-like mark on his abdomen. Several other people at the conference described possible unusual events during that 24 to 48 hour time period. Coincidence? Perhaps. But if the GPS device had been running the entire time, it would have been easier to rule out my having "gone somewhere" during the night.
Another issue is the nonstandard way the device records data. I haven't yet found an easy way to save the data from the Garmin software into a standard format like CSV. That makes it hard to save the data in a way that other programs can analyze it. In addition, the accompanying PC software has been pretty temperamental. It requires use of their website to sync with the watch and download data. This is an inconvenience, although the site actually works pretty well. Furthermore, it won't display (at least not very rapidly) while the device is syncing with the computer. Note: I am using an old dinosaur of a laptop to run the software, so that goes some way toward explaining the lack of speed.
Conclusions
The difficulty of retrieving data could be a major issue. Garmin needs to address this in future releases of their software. The other disadvantages are mostly inconveniences and in each case there are likely workarounds for them. If one is careful and makes sure the settings are correct, it is likely to work just fine. The device recorded data quite reliably and did its job well in spite of these annoyances. However, the issues combine to suggest that while it would work for the purposes of experiencer and anomaly tracking, it looks like this device isn't quite there yet for general use.Alternatives
The best app I've found so far remains the GPSTracks app on my iPhone 6S Plus. I have found it records nearly flawlessly, often when the Garmin Fenix 2 loses satellite lock. It also saves data in CSV format, easy to analyze with other software. I also notice that the GPSTracks app now has a stand-alone version that runs on the Apple watch, series 2. The Apple watch is rather expensive (approximately $400) so I have not jumped on that bandwagon. However the Series 2 has an on-board GPS, so I think it might be time to try that as another technology alternative for possible anomaly tracking..
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